Find out the secrets to survival! Discover through games and art how animals hide in plain sight, forage for food, and live in strange worlds in our marvelous mountains. Registration required.

Discover what crafty creatures are all around us! Catch insects, salamanders, and more to study how they survive and learn all about their life cycles. Registration required.

June 30th 9 pm-10 pm Nature Center Nights: Salamander Meander Kick off Highlands Nature Center’s summer season searching for salamanders in the Botanical Garden! Discover strange and fascinating facts about our slimy amphibian friends, then join naturalists on a walk through the gardens to find local species. Please bring a flashlight for this adventure! This program is weather-dependent.

Celebrate the coming holiday with an Independence Day themed nature scavenger hunt at the Highlands Botanical Garden!  Beginning Thursday, July 2nd you and your family will be able to use our self-guided scavenger hunt guides to find plant species that resemble various colors and shapes that are associated with the 4th of July such as fireworks and stars. Scavenger hunt print outs will be available at the entrance to the Botanical Garden. Remember to leave natural objects where you find them. To combat the spread of COVID-19, we ask that once you take one, you keep it and take it home with you as we want to minimize visitors touching the same surfaces and don't want to find discarded guides in the garden. Remember to maintain social distance and wear face masks as mandated by the NC Executive Order. For more information on this scavenger hunt, please contact HBF Nature Center Education Specialist Paige Engelbrektsson at (828) 526-2623.

Biology & Conservation of Lichens June 29 - July 3 Dr. Jessica Allen, Atlanta Botanical Garden & Dr. James Lendemer, New York Botanical Garden (download syllabus) Lichens grow all over the world, from the arctic to the tropics, where they are important in a multitude of ways including serving as shelter for small invertebrates, and food for animals from snails to caribou. In this course you will have a chance to learn about lichens in one of their centers of diversity, the southern Appalachians. We will take field trips to a variety of habitats to explore the species and ecological diversity of lichens. Lab work will cover lichen chemistry, morphology, and identification. At the end of the course you will have a new perspective on the diversity, evolution and ecology of lichens. * We will go on field trips to explore a variety of lichen communities characteristic of the southern Appalachians. Field trips will take place in natural areas up to 1.5 hours drive from HBS. Up to a total of 5 miles of hiking per day can be expected on days we go in the field. For all-day field trips you will need to pack a lunch. Prerequisites: General biology, ecology, basic understanding of evolution, and prior experience with basic skills of microscopy is strongly recommended.

Find out the secrets to survival! Discover through games and art how animals hide in plain sight, forage for food, and live in strange worlds in our marvelous mountains. Registration required.

Discover what crafty creatures are all around us! Catch insects, salamanders, and more to study how they survive and learn all about their life cycles. Registration required.

The Highlands Nature Center will be open Sunday, July 5, 12 pm - 4 pm for July 4th Weekend.  

Biology of Southern Appalachian Fishes: July 6 - July 17 Dr. Mollie Cashner, Austin Peay University The southern Appalachians supports one of the richest fresh water fish faunas in North America and is part of an extensive southern/southeastern area that has well over 600 species. This larger region has been compared to a tropical rain forest in terms of its diversity, which is not equaled by any other temperate area. The course will focus on the diversity, evolution, biogeography and behavior of fishes primarily in the Southern Appalachians. During the course students will engage in a number of fish collection techniques, including seining and in-stream snorkeling (these streams are cold, so wetsuits are a must). Students will learn to identify the major families and genera both in the field and in the lab, learn basic fish identification techniques with a subset of focal species, and conduct field and lab-based observational studies. Regular lectures and discussion of current peer-reviewed journal articles will enhance and compliment the field experiences. Prerequisites: Introductory biology, zoology, or permission of the instructor. Click here to apply.

There is always something changing in the Highlands Botanical Garden! Take a guided tour to see what's new in our demonstration gardens and among the hundreds of species that call our campus home. Tours are on the 1st Monday of every month from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm. Tours are weather dependent. This tour will be live streamed on the HBS Facebook page (@highlandsbiologicalstation). The Highlands Biological Station is a multi-campus center of Western Carolina University. For more information, call (828) 526-2623.