North American Sarracenia Conservancy

The 9th Annual online NASC Benefit Auction is about here.  The auction will run from Saturday, April 21, 2012 until Saturday, May 5, 2012.

Auction forum and rules are located at TerraForums, sponsored by FlyTrapShop; a new subforum will appear specifically for the auction, but people are already posting “teasers” on what they plan on donating. For the uninitiated, a quick explanation is that generous donors donate seed, plants, art, or anything else that other users bid on. The final total paid by the bidder goes to NASC and the bidder receives the item. Every year we thank the generosity of our donors for supporting this event as our main source of fundraising to keep our organization running.

The proceeds from this year’s auction will be combined with last year’s to create maximum impact at the Boiling Spring Lakes Preserve, in cooperation with our friends at the Nature Conservancy. This site, on the outskirts of the town of Boiling Spring Lakes, NC, includes many lands immediately threatened by expanding development. The region is home to Dionaea muscipula, Drosera brevifolia, D. capillaris and D. intermedia, Sarracenia flava, S. purpurea and S. rubra, as well as Utricularia inflata and U. purpurea.

Though it already includes nearly 7,000 acres, we’re working to connect disjoint portions of the preserve and create a wider perimeter around the most sensitive areas in order to maximize the value of protections the Nature Conservancy provides.

Additional funds could be allocated to a pilot project in the threatened Dulany Bog in Western North Carolina, which is home to one of the southern-most northern subspecies of Sarracenia purpurea. A long-term management plan is in development with the Highlands Biological Research Station, the landowners of the parcel.

NASC will be at the 2012 Fire in the Lakes Festival in Boiling Springs Lakes, NC on March 31st.

Without prescribed burning the longleaf pines in Boiling Spring Lakes and across the region would disappear. So, too, would the red-cockaded woodpeckers, venus flytraps and a host of other carnivorous and rare plants that need fire to thrive and survive. The importance of controlled burning is cause for a daylong festival at Boiling Spring Lakes Community Center on March 31st from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The highlight of the festival is a demonstration controlled burn to give festival goers the opportunity to see how burns are conducted and learn more about their importance to the ecosystem. Fire equipment will be on display and Smoky Bear is scheduled to be a special guest. Games, food, live music, animals, raffles and face painting are also on the day’s agenda.

The Boiling Spring Lakes Preserve is managed through controlled burning. Fire once occurred naturally and regularly across North Carolina. Low-intensity fires burned every few years fueled by grass, leaves, pine straw, and other forest debris. They kept the forest open, allowing sunlight to penetrate to its floor and reducing buildup of dangerous fuel loads. Fire suppression altered the landscape, allowing fuels to accumulate and putting people and communities in jeopardy. Without fire, many native plants and animals would disappear and the safety of southeastern North Carolina communities would be jeopardized.

The North American Sarracenia Conservancy had several snakes to show at the 2011 festival. A real crowd pleaser and they will be back for 2012!