The Cradle of Forestry in America invites all ages to come learn about insects and their relatives on Saturday, June 24th in honor of National Pollinator Week.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., activities and displays around the Cradle’s Forest Discovery Center explore the fascinating and important world of arthropods.
Activities include special walks and talks throughout the day. At 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., fly in on bug hunts, enjoy a talk and short walk on plant-insect interactions at 11:15 a.m., jump in as a citizen scientist at 2:30 p.m., and crawl into on-going buggy games and crafts.
Learn about monarch butterflies, their migration, and how you can help their survival with conservationist Joyce Pearsall. See an enclosed observation hive containing thousands of live honeybees from 1-4 p.m. Learn about the fascinating life-cycle of these social insects, how honey is made, and how to get started as a beekeeper.
Lunch is available in the Café at the Cradle from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Admission to the day-time Bug Day event at the Cradle of Forestry is $5 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 cradleofforestry.com. Informative web resources related to Bug Day and National Pollinator Week are pollinator.org, monarchwatch.org, and fs.fed.us. To find many on-line nature-oriented resources visit the USDA Forest Service’s NatureWatch website, fs.fed.us/naturewatch/.