BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.1//EN TZID:America/New_York X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VEVENT UID:0-125@dukeforest.duke.edu DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251004T090000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251004T150000 DTSTAMP:20250918T194036Z URL:https://dukeforest.duke.edu/events/new-hope-creek-biodiversity-day/ SUMMARY:New Hope Creek Biodiversity Day DESCRIPTION:Saturday\, October 4th\, 2025\n9-11:45 am | 12-2:45 pm\nJoin us for New Hope Creek Biodiversity Day—a celebration of the unique flora a nd fauna that call New Hope Creek home! This event will also highlight how the Duke Forest’s ongoing restoration projects will ultimately restore habitat connectivity\, improve in-stream aquatic habitat\, and stabilize s tream banks for wildlife. We will host two sessions\, one in the morning a nd one in the afternoon\, each offering a series of interactive presentati ons led by experts on the topics of native mussels\, plants\, fungi\, and birds of the Duke Forest. When signing up for a session\, you will be able to rank the presentation topics based on your interests. Tour participant s will rotate through two presentations during the session. Our staff will do their best to place you in the presentation rotation that interests yo u most.\nAudience: This tour is geared toward adult audiences (ages 18+). Any minors interested in participating must have a parent or guardian p resent and have an active interest in the subject.\nAccessibility:\n\n\n Tour participants will be on their feet throughout this nearly 3-hour tour \, walking and standing during presentations.\n Some speakers will lead t our participants off-trail as part of the tour experience. Off-trail walki ng is otherwise not permitted without the express supervision of Duke Fore st Staff or guest speakers. Walking in a forested environment involves obs tacles\, uneven surfaces\, significant slopes\, and moderate distances. We invite participants to bring trekking poles or a walking stick if needed. \n Our registration form includes a question where you can share details about any accessibility needs you may have. If you have accessibility con siderations that you would like to make our staff aware of\, please let us know.\n There are NO BATHROOMS in the tour area\, but a port-a-potty wil l be nearby for our tour speakers or emergencies. Please plan accordingly. \n\nSign-Up Here\nSpace is limited to 40 participants in each session. T o increase the reach of our tours\, the first 10 tour slots will be first- come\, first-served\, and the remaining slots will be filled from a waitli st. You will receive a notification of your status\, as to whether you are a confirmed participant or remain on the waitlist\, by the end of the day on Friday\, September 26. Confirmed participants will receive full event details shortly thereafter. Rain date is Sunday\, October 5\, 2025.\nOur t ours are small and often fill quickly\, and we hope to engage a mix of fol ks new to the Duke Forest and past participants. Thank you for your unders tanding.\n\nSpeaker Bios\nMussels\nBrena Jones has been a biologist with t he NC Wildlife Resources Commission for the past 20 years\, with a focus o n rare freshwater fish\, mussels\, crayfish\, and aquatic snails\, as well as their associated habitats across the watersheds of central and eastern NC. She is excited to share information with you about some of our hidden treasures living rich lives beneath the surface of our state’s waters\, and how those lives are connected to each of us. (AM SESSION)\n \;\n\ n \;\nLangston Rimmer is a biologist with the NC Wildlife Resources Co mmission with a focus on applied ecology of rare freshwater fish\, mussels \, crayfish\, and aquatic snails across the watersheds of central and east ern NC. He has been exploring the forests and streams of NC since he was a kid and is excited to share information with you about some our beautiful streams and rivers. (PM SESSION)\nRecently\, NCWRC has been partnering wi th the Duke Forest to help protect rare mussel species which live in New H ope Creek. We relocated these animals out of the way of an ongoing barrie r removal project to avoid species impacts\, and we also stocked some youn g mussels\, a rare native species called the Notched Rainbow. Join us for the event to learn more about these exciting conservation projects!\n\n\n\ n\n\n \;\nPlants\nRobert Peet is a Research Professor in the Biology D epartment at UNC Chapel Hill. His research emphasizes forest dynamics\, bi ogeography\, vegetation pattern\, species diversity and the development an d exploration of large-scale biodiversity databases. One project of partic ular relevance for this event is a study of the composition and long-term dynamics of Duke Forest vegetation\, a project he started with Norm Christ ensen in 1977 and which still occupies some of his time. He has served the Ecological Society of America as Secretary and Editor-in-Chief\, the Inte rnational Association for Vegetation Science as President and co-founder o f its premier journal\, Journal of Vegetation Science\, and he co-organize d and serves on the US National Vegetation Classification Panel. He is one of four primary organizers of the Carolina Vegetation Survey\, a 35-year effort to document and better understand the natural vegetation of the Car olinas.\nDuring the Duke Forest Biodiversity Day event Dr. Peet will help participants better understand the patten of vegetation on the local lands cape and how it reflects topographic position\, underlying geology\, distu rbance events and past land use. He will also discuss how this information can help guide land management and the protection of biodiversity.\n\nFun gi\nRytas Vilgalys is a prominent American mycologist and Professor of Bio logy at Duke University\, where he also has joint appointments in the Depa rtment of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology and Nicholas School for the Environment. Vilgalys is renowned for his pioneering work in fungal molec ular systematics and evolutionary biology and his key role in transitionin g fungal taxonomy from traditional morphology-based methods to modern geno me-based approaches. His research encompasses a wide range of areas\, incl uding fungal ecology\, medical mycology\, plant pathology\, and genetics.  Current research addresses microbial ecology of fungi in ecosystems\, an d especially their symbiotic mycorrhizal relationships with plants. Dr. V ilgalys earned his Ph.D. in Botany from Virginia Tech in 1985 with a disse rtation on the evolutionary genetics and systematics of fungi. He has rece ived several honors including American Academy of Microbiology Fellow\, Am erican Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow\, and the Disting uished Mycologist Award from the Mycological Society of America in 2014 (w as also president of the MSA in 2010).\n\nBirds\nAlex Nickley is an avid b irder and amateur naturalist with a background in language and culture. Af ter graduating from Duke with an MA in East Asian Studies\, Alex spent fou r fruitful years working for Middlebury College and CET in the beautiful a nd highly diverse province of Yunnan\, China. During his stint in China he developed several custom programs that focused on culture and the environ ment in addition to administering Chinese language programs for students s tudying abroad. He also birded like crazy in places ranging from Kunming ’s urban jungle to the virgin forests and snowcapped peaks of Tibetan Yu nnan. Alex now works for the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute at Duke and b irds campus whenever he gets the chance. He also has the distinguished hon or of serving as the founding advisor for the Duke Birding Club! ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://dukeforest.duke.edu/files/2025/09/Rugani _resizedNHC-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250309T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR