Written by: Lige Nie, Bruce and Ginny Roberts Forest Management Intern As the summer draws to a close and my time as the Duke Forest summer intern comes to an end, I want to take this opportunity to reflect on this transformative internship experience. As a Master of Forestry and […]
Tyler Gibson
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Written by: Maggie Heraty, Forest Restoration Intern This summer, I served as a Forest Restoration Intern at the Duke Forest, leveraging funds from the New Hope Creek Teaching and Research Fund, established last year through a generous gift from Tim and Lori Rowe. Previously, I was the Duke Forest’s Senior […]
The Duke Forest is pleased to announce that Dr. Nicki Cagle has been named the inaugural Director of Natural & Cultural Resources Interpretation, with all of her faculty service hours as a Senior Lecturer in Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment now formally dedicated to the Duke Forest. While […]
The restoration of New Hope Creek reached a major milestone last year with the removal of the Concrete Bridge and the Billy Erwin Dam, allowing the creek to flow freely through the Duke Forest for the first time in nearly a century. While construction has concluded, the scientific work is […]
Written by: Andre Chan, MF ‘26 Surveys in the Duke Forest All year long, coverboards lie flat on the Duke Forest floor at research sites called transects. To the untrained eye, they are nothing worth noting—simple wooden and tin sheets laid in a straight line over several hundred feet. But […]
For Lirio Hittle, MF ’92, the Duke Forest has long been more than a place to study trees. It is where a self-described “life-long city dweller” discovered a passion that would shape the course of her life and career. In a reflection she shared on our website several years ago, […]
The Duke Forest is pleased to welcome Lige Nie as the 2026 Bruce and Ginny Roberts Duke Forest Intern! Lige is pursuing a Master of Forestry and a Master of Business Administration at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Fuqua School of Business. Her forestry coursework includes Forest […]
Almost exactly one year ago, the New Hope Creek restoration projects were beginning on the ground. By December 2025, the new clear-span bridge was complete, and the in-stream barriers had been removed. However, the monitoring work to assess the impact of these projects is ongoing and will continue for years […]
The Duke Forest recently hosted the 2026–2027 cohort of Duke University’s Climate and Sustainability Teaching (CAST) Fellows for a portion of the Fellowship Kick-Off Workshop. The CAST Program is a faculty development initiative that provides tangible support and a peer-learning community to encourage interdisciplinary teaching on climate and sustainability across […]
Photos courtesy of Susan Reeves We recently hosted a group of community members in the Duke Forest on a beautiful morning to learn about wild butterflies and the Carolinas Butterfly Monitoring Program (Carolinas BMP) from Jeff Pippen. Jeff is a butterfly expert and leads the Carolinas BMP, which engages community scientists in tracking […]
The month leading up to Earth Day was a busy one as we engaged over 300 young learners, both in the classroom and in the Forest! Elementary students from local schools took part in presentations and field trips with Duke Forest staff to learn more about nature in their schools’ […]
New Hope Creek Restoration: A Community Effort New Hope Creek is the lifeblood of the Duke Forest’s Korstian Division and a vital tributary to Jordan Lake, a drinking water source for our region. Currently, the creek is the focus of a three-phase restoration effort that is as much about people […]
Over sixty community members joined us at New Hope Creek near the Wooden Bridge in the Korstian Division for our first-ever Biodiversity Day. Local experts led small groups through nearby habitats while sharing their knowledge on plants, fungi, birds, fish, and mussels. Participants also learned about how our ongoing restoration […]
This summer, we had the pleasure of hosting Chloe, a Durham resident and undergraduate student at Brown University, as our intern. Chloe is a Presidential Scholar at Brown, a program designed for high-achieving, creative students to foster intellectual curiosity through research, leadership, and community engagement. She came to us by […]
The North Carolina Master Naturalists Program, run through N.C. Cooperative Extension, provides opportunities for community members to learn about and contribute to conservation and stewardship. Adult students across a wide range of ages and with varied professional backgrounds apply to the year-long Master Naturalists program and form a cohort that […]
Two and a half months into the New Hope Creek Restoration Project, the new clear-span bridge is taking shape! Our partners at Sanford Contractors drilled and poured the primary concrete support pillars that are fixed to the bedrock beneath the floodplain. They also formed and poured the “end bents,” which […]
The week before classes started, the Duke Forest hosted three First-Year Experiential Orientation groups. Before these new Duke students arrive on campus, they choose from dozens of orientation options based on their interests and passions. This year, the Duke Forest hosted Project Global, Project Herd, and Project Earth, which all […]
Written by: Sara Childs, Executive Director of the Duke Forest I had never been to the Adirondacks, and I knew nothing of its history – not the cultural, ecological, or geological. I was wowed by all of it. My very first stop on the trip, before arriving at Paul Smith’s […]
This summer, the Duke Forest hosted two programs designed to spark curiosity and connect young learners with nature. From welcoming summer campers displaced by flood damage to hosting families for story time and hands-on exploration, the Forest continues to serve as a living classroom where imagination, discovery, and stewardship take […]
Employees from Google’s Durham office recently joined several Duke Forest Staff and Forest Steward volunteers for a service event as part of their global “GoogleServe” campaign. The group learned how to identify non-native Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) and spent a hot couple of hours combing through the forest, cutting out […]
The newly-formed Triangle Mycological Society (TMS) recently hosted a Fungal Foray in the Duke Forest. Foraging for and collecting mushrooms (or anything!) in the Forest is strictly prohibited. However, under the guidance of Rytas Vilgalys, Duke Professor of Biology, who holds a current research registration approval through the Office of […]
The Duke Forest and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) have been working together as partners since 2023 around the New Hope Creek Restoration Projects. Our mutual goals include protecting and improving habitat within New Hope Creek for freshwater mussels and enhancing the populations of native mussel species. After […]
Tropical Storm Chantal brought significant damage to many natural areas in our region, and the Duke Forest was no exception. All six divisions of the Forest sustained damage, with the Korstian Division hit hardest due to intense flooding along New Hope Creek. Water levels there rose to heights not seen […]
Duke Forest Executive Director Sara Childs recently gave a keynote address at the Carolina Biodiversity Collaborative (CBC) Annual Symposium, hosted at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. The CBC’s mission is to address the biodiversity crisis by advocating for biodiversity research, promoting education in biodiversity-related careers, and engaging in […]
On Wednesday, June 11, Duke Forest staff joined Libby White from the Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Lab at the Concrete Bridge for the second and final pre-restoration drone flight of New Hope Creek. This flight, along with one from last fall, captured high-resolution LiDAR and visible light data during two […]