Email Newsletter from the Duke Forest Teaching and Research Laboratory at Duke University
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Happy holidays from the Duke Forest team! We are grateful for our community of advocates, supporters, volunteers, and visitors. As you wrap up this year, we wish you the peace and comfort of time spent with friends, family, and the Forest!
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Forest Reopens for Weekday Recreational Access |
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The 17th annual Deer Herd Reduction Program in the Durham, Korstian, and Blackwood Divisions is now complete. Recreational visitors may resume daily access to these divisions during daylight hours.
This program is vitally important for protecting the ecological integrity of the Forest and the health of the White-Tailed Deer population. It is one of the most important management activities we do to steward the Forest and to protect its ever-important teaching and research mission. Each year, we rely on the interest, understanding, and support of visitors to the Duke Forest, like you, who choose to recreate elsewhere during fall weekdays. Thank you.
Deer management is a year-round effort for our staff. We will now begin the process of administratively closing out the season with our group of hunters, receiving their feedback, analyzing the season's data, reporting to the NC Wildlife Resource Commission, closing out the processing stations, preparing for early spotlight surveys (to estimate the deer population each year) with help from Nicholas School student volunteers, and incorporating findings into our management plan. Soon after, we will start all over again and begin planning for the 2025 deer herd reduction hunt. You can read more about the many facets of our year-round deer management efforts in the FAQs on our website.
Please follow all posted signage and the Regulations & Safety Considerations on our website. Official maps are also available for download there.
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Registration Open: Research Tour
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Saturday, February 1, 2025 | 1 to 4 p.m.
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Renowned as Duke University’s largest laboratory and outdoor classroom, the Duke Forest hosts dozens of teaching and research projects, large and small, each year. Researchers come from across disciplines and academic institutions to study in this unique setting. Join us for an engaging tour of research project sites and hear directly from the researchers about their studies in the Duke Forest!
Our presenters include Zhiming Yang from North Carolina Central University, Charles Mitchell from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Tong Qiu from Duke University. These dedicated researchers are studying natural processes across scales, from local to global.
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Become a Friend Before Year-End |
As we enter Duke University’s second century, your engagement and financial support play a crucial role in sustaining the Duke Forest Teaching & Research Laboratory and its mission. Your generosity fuels the education of students of all ages, supports research breakthroughs across disciplines, drives conservation and restoration efforts, and facilitates recreational access.
Join our team in stewarding this invaluable resource. Become a Friend of the Duke Forest with a $50+ gift today! Or reach out to tyler.gibson@duke.edu to learn about current priorities and make a significant gift before the end of the year. Thank you!
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The Duke Forest hosted a team from International Woodland Company |
On November 22, 2024, the Duke Forest staff hosted managers from the International Woodland Company (IWC). IWC is a global company based in Copenhagen, Denmark, focusing on responsible natural resources investment, including in agriculture and timber lands. Four members from the IWC Asset Management team joined a tour in Duke Forest’s Durham Division, including Herb Yancy and Grace Tregidgo (Master of Forestry/Master of Environmental Management graduates from Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment), as well as Rodney Howell and Asger Oleson.
The goal of the tour was to discuss and demonstrate how we approach sustainable forest management and our certification with the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC® C008350). This included aspects of harvest rotation, chemical use, species selection for replanting, and general approaches to managing wildlife, water quality, and carbon sequestration. We also discussed historical and current research in the Duke Forest Teaching and Research Laboratory.
The tour was led by Forest Supervisor, Tom Craven, and former Duke Forest Manager, Judson Edeburn. Together they provided a comprehensive discussion of the current and historical experience with certification in the Duke Forest. Several current Nicholas School students and faculty also joined the tour. After the tour, the group gathered for lunch and conversation about IWC’s approaches to responsible natural resources investment, land acquisition, and sustainable land management.
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Celebrating Maggie Heraty and Her Next Chapter |
We are both saddened and excited to announce a transition within our team: Maggie Heraty, our Senior Program Coordinator since December 2021, will move to a part-time role in the new year as she explores new educational and professional experiences. While we’ll miss her full-time presence, we are thrilled to continue benefiting from her expertise and passion on several special projects through 2025.
Maggie has been a vital force in advancing Duke Forest’s mission across teaching and research, management and stewardship, and community engagement. She relaunched (after the COVID-19 pandemic) and expanded the Herpetofauna Community Science program, engaging volunteers in the scientific process and fostering biodiversity research. She launched the Forest Stewards program, empowering individuals in our community to care for the Duke Forest and promote responsible recreation. Maggie has also managed our yearly Deer Herd Reduction Program, a key management initiative that supports the long-term health of the forest.
She has advanced several special projects including a visioning process for the future of Duke Forest’s cabin as a hub for teaching, research, and community engagement, and she has mentored several undergraduate and graduate students through programs like Duke’s Climate+ and courses such as Community-Based Environmental Management. Maggie’s enthusiasm has shone through as a host for Shepherd Nature Trail tours, teaching events, and educational collaborations like our recent partnership with the Nasher Museum of Art. Her ecological expertise, clear communication, and deep passion for the Duke Forest have earned her widespread praise.
As Maggie transitions, we eagerly anticipate her continued contributions and creative insights in this new role. Please join us in celebrating her remarkable journey with the Duke Forest and wishing her success on her new path.
Thank you, Maggie, for all you do!
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Our small team stays busy maintaining and managing this incredible land base for teaching, research, sustainable natural resource use, and conservation. Some priorities on our field crew's list this month are:
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Mission Action and Support
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- Wrap-up the 2024 deer season (e.g., close check-in and processing stations, remove closed signs).
- Provide field support and documentation in preparation for our annual forest stewardship audit.
- Clear roads, culverts, and ditches of leaves and debris.
- Complete the timber harvest in Dailey Division.
- Replace a culvert, repair a bridge, and seed log decks in Dailey Division.
- Control invasive plants before cold weather sets in.
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Secure materials to repair the footbridge near the Rhodo Bluff connector trail.
- Follow up on Forest Steward reports (Thank you, Stewards!).
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- Maintain shelters between rentals.
- Remove Forest Closure signage.
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Become a Friend of the Duke Forest with a $50+ gift in support of our mission! Read More
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The Duke Climate Commitment is a university-wide, impact-oriented initiative to address the climate crisis by creating sustainable and equitable solutions that place society on the path toward a resilient, flourishing, carbon-neutral world. Through education, research, external engagement and campus operations, the Duke Climate Commitment seeks to imagine, design, and implement a sustainable future for all.
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Duke University Box 90332 | Durham, NC 27708 US
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