Cradle of Forestry Celebrates Bug Day and National Pollinator Week

PISGAH FOREST, N.C., June 21, 2016 - The Cradle of Forestry in America invites all ages to come learn about insects and their relatives on Saturday, June 25 in honor of National Pollinator Week.

Activities and displays around the Cradle's Forest Discovery Center explore the fascinating and important world of arthropods from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Learn about monarch butterflies, their migration, and how you can help their survival. See an enclosed observation hive containing thousands of live honeybees. Learn about the fascinating lifecycle of these social insects, how honey is made, and how to get started as a beekeeper.  Meet a naturalist along the Cradle's paved trails and discover evidence among the forest's many leaves that bugs are excellent botanists.

Activities include pond explorations at 10:00 and 2:00, bug hunts at 11:30 and 3:30, and on-going buggy games and crafts. 

At 1:00 p.m. Cradle of Forestry interpreter Devin Gentry will present a program "Why Are We Letting the Grass Grow?" addressing a continuing project to convert selected lawn areas around the Cradle's Forest Discovery Center to native landscaping. This effort to sustain the interdependence between plants and pollinators, including monarchs, can be duplicated by homeowners. 

Admission to the day-time Bug Day event at the Cradle of Forestry is $5.00 for adults and free for youth under 16 years of age. Friends of the Cradle Annual Pass, America the Beautiful, Golden Age and Every Kid in a Park passes are honored. Admission includes the new film, First in Forestry: Carl Alwin Schenck and the Biltmore Forest School, hands-on exhibits, a scavenger hunt, the Adventure Zone, and historic cabins and antique equipment on two paved trails. The Cradle of Forestry is located on Hwy. 276 in the Pisgah National Forest, six miles north of Looking Glass Falls and four miles south of the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 412.

For more information call 828-877-3130 or go to www.cradleofforestry.com. Informative web resources related to Bug Day and National Pollinator Week are www.pollinator.org, www.monarchwatch.org, and www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators.   

To find many on-line nature-oriented resources visit the USDA Forest Service's NatureWatch website, www.fs.fed.us/outdoors/naturewatch/.