National Wildlife Week, Mar. 18 - 24

The mission of the Beaufort District Collection is to acquire, preserve, maintain and make accessible a research collection of permanent value which records the heritage and history of the people, places, culture, and natural environment of Beaufort County, Jasper County and Hampton County in lowcountry South Carolina. To accomplish our mission, we highlight certain of our resources during proclaimed national weeks of celebration.  This year we've adding "National Wildlife Week" to our roster of themes.

 

National Wildlife Week is National Wildlife Federation's longest-running education program designed around teaching and connecting kids to the awesome wonders of wildlife. Each year, the organization picks a theme and provides fun and informative educational materials, curriculum and activities for educators and caregivers to use with kids. The 2013 National Wildlife Week theme is "Branching Out for Wildlife"—celebrating trees and their importance to wildlife and people.  Check out all the options available for our youngsters on their National Wildlife Week website.

But as the BDC's customers are older than age 12, here are a few things from the "Virtual BDC" that highlight the themes of trees and wildlife which may appeal to teens and adults: 

"Oak Trees and Shrubs of the Lowcountry," an article by Dennis Adams on our Local History & Nature pages  

"Spanish Moss" [the article] by Dennis Adams and "Spanish Moss [the video]" from Beaufort County History Moment vignettes with Natalie Hefter  

Sand Flies breed in the salt marshes and inland species love water in tree pockets. 

For folks who prefer books, the BDC and the Local History sections have Woodland Walks by Todd Ballantine and South Carolina's Lowcountry Naturally by Marvin Bouknight. (Did you know that Spanish moss actually blooms?  Neither did I, until Marvin Bouknight showed me a photograph he took!) You can hear a podcast of Bouknight describing his book courtesy of CityTrex.  The sounds of nature in the background of his talk are so soothing.  Bouknight has a website, Nature Nook, too.  

Heads up: Bouknight will be sharing his deep knowledge (and beautiful photographs) in a natural history presentation at Beaufort Branch Library on May 21st. 

For people who prefer visual presentations of information on their own schedule, we recommend the Coastal Kingdom DVDs (call # 508.7579 COA, BDC and local history sections) or you can get the video on demand through the Coastal Kingdom TV website at http://www.coastalkingdom.com/.  Test your knowledge and sight recognition of local fauna with the "Creature Quiz" feature on the site.  Test your Coastal Kingdom is a collaboration of Tony Mills, naturalist of The Lowcountry Institute and Beaufort County government's County Channel.  

Expeditions with Patrick McMillan (call # 508.7579 MCM) is another fine series exploring the depth and scope of South Carolina's diverse ecosystems.  In the BDC, we even have some old segments of SCETV's NatureScene with Rudy Mancke on VHS!

As you can tell, we take our stewardship of materials about local natural history seriously.