There’s something special about taking your children, and then your children’s children, to the Nature Center. Seeing the animals and play areas through their eyes helps you rediscover memories that had long been stored away. There’s a sense of belonging, and a beautiful knowledge that one day, this little one might just carry on the tradition and visit the Nature Center with their own children.

In a few years, the WNC Nature Center will celebrate its 50^th anniversary. How do we make sure it is still here and thriving for the next 50 years? The long and short of it is that we cannot, unless we give a gift beyond our lifetimes.

The Friends of the WNC Nature Center have launched a formal Legacy Giving program to ensure future generations get to experience the plants and animals of the Southern Appalachians Mountains firsthand at the Nature Center. 

Legacy giving has already played an important role in the Friends of the WNC Nature Center’s story. When the pandemic temporarily closed the Nature Center for six months, there was a significant loss in funds usually generated by guests purchasing memberships, event tickets, and items from the Gift Shop. The survival of the Friends was greatly helped by donations provided through planned gifts that arrived that spring. 

One such gift was given by Dr. Steven Alan Williams, who passed away in late 2019 after an extended battle with cancer. Steven was simply a wonderful person who loved animals of all kinds, especially his miniature Schnauzers, pictured below. An Asheville native, he deeply appreciated the Nature Center throughout his life and believed in the Nature Center’s mission of conservation and education in support of native Appalachian species.

Steven built his career on his love for music, being an exceptional musician, teacher, and mentor throughout his life. As we reflect on our past and consider our futures, it can be disconcerting to recognize how fleeting our time on this earth is. Steven was able to realize that the symphony of his life was coming to an end, and he chose to leave a legacy gift to the Friends of the WNC Nature Center that would resonate for years to come. 

By naming the Friends of the WNC Nature Center as a beneficiary of your will or trust, life insurance policy, or retirement plan, you help prepare us for every challenge and let us plan for the future. To leave a gift in your will, simply share this sentence with your attorney or financial planner: “I bequeath $___ or ___% of my estate to The Friends of the WNC Nature Center (Tax ID #23-7412910), PO Box 19151, Asheville, NC 28815. For more information, please contact Director of Development Kate Frost at [email protected].

For more than 20 years, Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accredited institutions across North America have thrown a Party for the Planet to celebrate Earth Day (April 22), Endangered Species Day (May 15), and World’s Ocean Day (June 8) through various events, activities, and celebrations that encourage families to take action to improve the planet and inspire the next generation of conservationists.

The WNC Nature Center reopened to the public in October after a six-month closure due to the pandemic. Although the usual season for the Party for the Planet has passed, the WNC Nature Center will be wrapping up the year with a virtual Party for the Planet.

During the month of December, the WNC Nature Center is asking families to share ways they have helped improve the planet in 2020 and pledge to help it in 2021. Activities like picking up litter, planting native plants, recycling, creating a monarch butterfly garden, riding a bike, reducing plastic use, and taking shorter showers are all ways to contribute toward a cleaner, healthier planet.

To participate in the WNC Nature Center’s virtual Party for the Planet, upload a picture and a blurb on your favorite social media platform to highlight something you are already doing and something you’d like to pledge to incorporate into your life in 2021. Be sure to tag #wildwnc, #keepashevillewild, #wncnaturecenter, and #partyfortheplanet, then visit the WNC Nature Center Gift Shop to pick up a free reusable straw while supplies last.

Eli Strull, Curator of Education and Guest Experience at the WNC Nature Center, has been working with his Education Team to highlight conservation as an integral part of the Nature Center’s mission: “We are thrilled to partner with AZA and engage with our community in simple, effective conservation efforts to benefit people and wildlife. It is a joy to participate in unique education efforts during this unconventional year and we are so excited to celebrate Party for the Planet with all of our participants.”

This summer at the Environmental Educators of North Carolina (EENC) conference, hundreds of formal and informal educators came together virtually to learn everything education! At the end of the conference, it was announced that not one, but two educators from the WNC Nature Center won prestigious awards! Congratulations to Alayna Schmidt and Tori Duval, pictured above left to right.

Alayna Schmidt, Education Specialist for the WNC Nature Center (City of Asheville), was awarded the Outstanding Practitioner award. This award recognizes a member of the Environmental Educators of North Carolina who works regularly as an environmental educator, lending their skills to the growing body of environmental education as a profession. The individual will have made significant contributions to the Environmental Educators of North Carolina through statewide participation, leadership in their region, and being an advocate for high quality education through how they teach, live, and do. This award goes to a passionate leader in the Environmental Education field who has focused on building partnerships with various organizations.

In addition to being a guiding force to inspire Young Naturalist Teen Volunteers, Alayna passionately works for equity and inclusion in the outdoors through programming, education and personal and professional growth. Alayna participates in Everybody’s Environment, a collective of environmental organizations in Western North Carolina working to support racially equitable leadership in our field. In addition, she organized the Nature Center’s inaugural Sensory Inclusion Celebration event. Alayna also responded quickly to community needs during the COVID-19 pandemic and moved teen programming into distance volunteering to keep the community safe and engaged with the Nature Center. She has co-led a community call for EENC this summer, and has even recently been the recipient of a $500 grant through the Children and Nature’s Network’s Youth Outdoor Equity Leadership Fund. Alayna supports the mission of EENC and sets a standard of excellence for environmental educators in North Carolina. 

Tori Duval, Outreach Educator for the Friends of the WNC Nature Center (501(c)3), was awarded the Outstanding Newcomer award. This award recognizes an Environmental Educators of North Carolina member of five years or less who has made significant contributions to EENC during their short time with the organization.

Tori is a certified environmental educator and interpretive guide and has been the outreach educator at the WNC Nature Center since 2016. In that time, she has built an outreach education program that now reaches 10,000 individuals annually. She is a one-woman show, responsible for program design, marketing, scheduling, program delivery, and evaluation. 

Tori has made her mark on the Environmental Education world in such a short period of time! She began working at the Nature Center in 2016, joined EENC in 2019, and has already established an education program with a 10,000 participant per year reach! When the Nature Center closed temporarily to the public in March due to COVID-19, Tori worked to offer interactive virtual education opportunities. She reached over 1,000 students in April and May, providing distance learning programs for grades K-10. She is now partnering with the City Education staff to increase the reach of the distance learning program in the fall. All of her accomplishments support the mission of EENC to build connections, provide professional development, and promote excellence for North Carolina’s community of environmental educators. Tori makes an effort to be involved in the Environmental Education community; she has presented at professional conferences, served on planning committees, and works to partner with fellow facilities to further expand the reach of the messages that she teaches. Most importantly, she inspires the public to fall in love with nature and become more environmentally literate citizens. 

As you can see, the Nature Center has a lot to celebrate, including our award-winning team of passionate educators! The Education Team at the Nature Center is offering live virtual education programs for K-12 classes. These interactive lessons are 30 to 45 minutes long, correlate with state learning standards, and always involve meeting an animal ambassador! Check out dev.wildwnc.org/schools-and-groups for more information!  

September 19 marks International Red Panda Day, and the WNC Nature Center has a lot to celebrate!  It has officially been a year and a half since the red pandas, Leafa and Phoenix, were introduced to Asheville as the newest residents of the Nature Center home! 

According to Nature Center Animal Curator Erin Oldread, Leafa and Phoenix have become quite the super stars! “Our guests love to see and meet the red pandas,” she said. “We often hear how their cute, fluffy faces look like stuffed animals.”  When the keepers are asked which animals are their favorite to work with, the red pandas is a common answer.  What makes them such interesting animals? “They are full of personality!” says Erin. “Our red pandas are intelligent but lazy. Keepers have to build a strong relationship based on trust to work with them on husbandry behaviors.”  

Husbandry behaviors are an important part of animal care that enhance the animals’ daily lives by creating opportunities for the animals to interact with their environment as they would in the wild. These behaviors also teach the animal to participate in their daily and veterinary care.    

Because of the training involved with husbandry behaviors, Leafa and Phoenix have been adjusting well to their Asheville home. As transplants from Chicago, they have thoroughly appreciated their air conditioned indoor space, locally grown bamboo, and fresh variety of fruits.  Chesley, one of the red pandas’ main keepers, loves caring for them: “Our Red Pandas both have amazing personalities, and it is a privilege to work with them. They are most active when they forage for fruit and vegetables that we scatter around their habitat. I really enjoy watching them climb, especially Phoenix!”

The prehistoric cousin of the red panda, Bristol’s panda, once called the Appalachian region home more than five million years ago, which is why its present day ancestors reside at the WNC Nature Center. The red panda habitat is the first of the Nature Center’s Prehistoric Appalachia exhibits. 

Through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, WNC Nature Center had the opportunity to bring the endangered red panda to Western North Carolina as a part of its Species Survival Program, which helps to secure this species’ future. In the past, Leafa and Phoenix have contributed greatly to their species with four cubs. You can celebrate International Red Panda Day by symbolically adopting Leafa and Phoenix at dev.wildwnc.org/adopt.