Highlands Biological Station

Forest Ecosystems of the Southern Appalachians
2023-07-17 - 2023-07-28 | Highlands Biological Station, 265 North 6th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Instructors: Dr. Steph Jeffries (NC State Univesity), Dr. Alan Weakley (UNC-Chapel Hill), and Dr. Julie Tuttle (UNC-Chapel Hill)
Check back later for a description and pre-requisites.

For more information, visit https://highlandsbiological.org/summer-2023-academic-courses/.

Folklore & Explore
2023-07-18 21:00 - 22:00 (America/Halifax) | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd., Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
July 18th (Register HERE)
9 – 10 PM
FREE, all ages welcome
Registration required
Curious about old wives’ tales, superstitions, & Sasquatch? Explore the natural, night-time beauty of the Botanical Garden while unearthing fascinating tales of Appalachian lore. Please bring a flashlight for this adventure! This program is weather-dependent.

Folklore & Explore
2023-07-19 21:00 - 22:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd., Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
July 19th (Register HERE)
9 – 10 PM
FREE, all ages welcome
Registration required
Curious about old wives’ tales, superstitions, & Sasquatch? Explore the natural, night-time beauty of the Botanical Garden while unearthing fascinating tales of Appalachian lore. Please bring a flashlight for this adventure! This program is weather-dependent.

Zahner Lecture 6
2023-07-20 18:00 - 19:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd., Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Lecture 6 – Bird Talk: An Exploration of Avian Communication

Featured Speaker: Barbara Ballentine, Ph.D.; Associate Professor; Western Carolina University
Date: Thursday, July 20th
Time: 6pm – 7pm
Cost: FREE
Sponsored by Miriam & Vernon Skiles and Mary Todd & Jimmy Davis.
Birds use acoustic, visual, and even olfactory signals in social contexts that are important for successful reproduction and survival. Signaling works because it offers advantages to both the sender and receiver. Understanding how signals are used by birds to communicate provides insight into the amazing lives of birds.

Amazing Moths
2023-07-25 21:00 - 22:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd., Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
July 25th (Register HERE)
9-10 PM
FREE, all ages welcome
Registration required
Celebrate National Moth Week with us! Learn about the many kinds of moths that call our area home, then join naturalists to see which ones we can find in the Botanical Garden. Please bring a flashlight for this adventure! This program is weather-dependent.

Amazing Moths
2023-07-26 21:00 - 22:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd., Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
July 26th (Register HERE)
9-10 PM
FREE, all ages welcome
Registration required
Celebrate National Moth Week with us! Learn about the many kinds of moths that call our area home, then join naturalists to see which ones we can find in the Botanical Garden. Please bring a flashlight for this adventure! This program is weather-dependent.

Zahner Lecture 7
2023-07-27 18:00 - 19:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd., Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Lecture 7 – Sounds Wild and Broken

Featured Speaker: David George Haskell, Ph.D.; Author and William R. Kenan Jr. Professor; University of the South
Date: Thursday, July 27th
Time: 6pm – 7pm
Cost: FREE
Sponsored by Rosemary & Bill Stiefel.
Sonic communication was a late-comer to the evolution of life on Earth. But once song got started, the links that it forged became powerful generative forces. Today, the diverse sounds around us – from chirping crickets, to birdsong, to the human music in our earbuds – reveal the many layers of this evolutionary and cultural creativity. Yet sonic diversity is also threatened worldwide. Using examples from his own explorations of sound, Haskell will show how attention to the sensory richness of the world, especially its sonic dimensions, can root and guide exploration, ethics, and action.

Fleshy Fungi of the Southern Blue Ridge
2023-07-31 - 2023-08-11 | Highlands Biological Station, 265 North 6th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Instructor: Dr. Andy Methven (Eastern Illinois University, Emeritus)

Students will be introduced to the fleshy fungi (Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes) that occur on the Highlands Plateau. Emphasis will be placed on the analysis of macro- and micro-morphological features in the identification of genera and species as well as the ecological role of fungi in the ecosystem. Additional topics may be added depending on student interest. The daily routine will consist of a morning lecture followed by a field trip until early afternoon. Collections will be examined and identified after returning from the field and an opportunity provided to assemble a collection of dried fleshy fungi. Microscopes and chemical reagents necessary for accurate species determinations will be available for use. The laboratory will be open in the evenings for additional study of collections.
Pre-requisites: Introductory biology, ecology, or permission of instructor

For more information, visit https://highlandsbiological.org/summer-2023-academic-courses/.

Zahner Lecture 8
2023-08-03 18:00 - 19:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd., Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Lecture 8 – Archaeoastronomy in Southwestern North Carolina

Featured Speakers: Jane M. Eastman, Ph.D.; Associate Professor; Anthropology and Sociology Department; Western Carolina University
& Brett Riggs, Ph.D.; Sequoyah Distinguished Professor of Cherokee Studies; Western Carolina University
Date: Thursday, August 3rd
Time: 6pm – 7pm
Cost: FREE
Sponsored by Suzanne & Don Duggan, Julie Farrow, Florence & Tom Holmes, Ruthie & Franko Oliver, Adele & Nick Scielzo, and Margaret Waters.
In ancient Cherokee perspective, the matters of this world, the Above World and the Beneath World intertwine, and Cherokee peoples constructed ritual landscapes to engage the beings and forces of these realms. Recent investigations in the Little Tennessee River Valley have revealed one such landscape that marks astronomical phenomena and bespeaks sophisticated systems for measuring calendrical time and the cycles central to Cherokee life. These patterns indicate complex observational sciences that guided functions of indigenous societies long before European contact.

Writing the Appalachians
2023-08-07 - 2023-08-11 | Highlands Biological Station, 265 North 6th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Instructor: Dr. Sylvia Torti, University of Utah
In this 5-day workshop we will explore the ways that notions of “nature” and “the self” intersect through writing, and we’ll do so embedded in the fabulous Appalachian Mountains.
Using the text Mountains Piled upon Mountains: Appalachian Nature Writing in the Anthropocene edited by Jessica Cory, we’ll learn the basic elements of good storytelling through reading and discussion. And then we’ll embark on our own generative storytelling from our personal lives, history and experiences at Highlands Biological Station.
Each day will consist of an invigorating combination of: walks, plant and animal identification, discussion of texts, workshopping of your work (previously submitted) and time to write. We’ll finish the week with a reading open to the HBS community.
No later than August 1: Email instructor with 10 pages of double-spaced writing (sylvia.torti@utah.edu). I cannot guarantee that I can review and comment on your work if I don’t receive it by August 1st.
You will be assigned one reading from the Cory book to read per instructions prior to August 7.
Cost: $500 course fee + $300 housing fee (strongly encouraged)
For more information, visit https://highlandsbiological.org/summer-workshops/.

Zahner Lecture 9
2023-08-10 18:00 - 19:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd., Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Lecture 9 – South Carolina’s Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area

Featured Speaker: Tim Lee; Interpretive Ranger/Naturalist; Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area
Date: Thursday, August 10th
Time: 6pm – 7pm
Cost: FREE
Sponsored by Martha & Michael Dupuis, Monte & Palmer Gaillard, and Melanie & Tom Mauldin.
Located in an area along the Blue Ridge Escarpment, the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area provides a habitat for a diversity of biological communities adapted for life along the Blue Ridge Escarpment. With high average rainfall, diverse topography, and miles of streams and rivers many species found there are rare within the state and some are found in few other places in the world.

Botany & Art Garden Tour
2025-07-30 12:00 - 13:00 | Highlands Biological Station Amphitheater, 930 Horse Cove Road, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States

MAPS Bird Banding
2025-08-05 05:00 - 13:00 | Highlands Biological Station, 265 North 6th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States

Behind the Scenes at HBS
2025-08-06 12:00 - 14:00 | Highlands Biological Station Amphitheater, 930 Horse Cove Road, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States

Garden Tour
2025-08-13 12:00 - 13:00, 2025-08-27 12:00 - 13:00 | Highlands Biological Station Amphitheater, 930 Horse Cove Road, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States

"Not From Around Here" Tour
2025-08-20 12:00 - 13:00 | Highlands Biological Station Amphitheater, 930 Horse Cove Road, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States

Fall Migration (All Day Drop-In)
2025-09-06 10:00 - 16:00, 2025-09-13 10:00 - 16:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd., Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Saturdays in September! Drop-in station at the Nature Center.
Fall is a time when hawks, birds & Monarchs migrate! Stop into the Nature Center to learn more about these travelers.
Program funded by:

2025 Carpenter Lecture with Zoë Schlanger
2025-09-10 11:00 - 12:00 | Highlands Performing Arts Center, 507 Chestnut St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Join the Highlands Biological Foundation for a thought-provoking journey into the hidden lives of plants at this year’s Carpenter Lecture, a biennial community event established in honor of former HBF director Sonya Carpenter. Presented in partnership with Highlands Performing Arts Center, HBF is proud to welcome acclaimed science writer Zoë Schlanger for an illuminating presentation that will change the way you see the natural world.
Learn more: https://highlandsbiological.org/foundation/events/carpenter-lecture-2025/
REGISTRATION REQUIRED: https://highlandsbiological.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/highlandsbiological/event.jsp?event=2444&

Bartram's "Rare and Elegant Flowering Shrub"
2025-09-10 13:00 - 17:00 | Highlands Biological Station, 265 North 6th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States

Fall Fungi Walk
2025-09-12 16:00 - 17:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd., Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Join us as we explore the Botanical Garden to see what mushrooms we can find during fall on the Plateau.
Weather dependent.
All ages welcome
FREE | No registration required
Meet at the Nature Center | 930 Horse Cove Rd.
Program funded by:

2025 Celebration of Place
2025-09-13 14:00 - 20:00 | Highlands Biological Station Amphitheater, 930 Horse Cove Road, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States

Morning Bird Walk
2025-09-20 08:00 - 09:00 | HBS North Campus, 111 Lower Lake Road, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Eyes to the skies! Birders of all skill levels are welcome to join us as we take an easy walk around the garden to find our feathered friends. Binoculars available to borrow.
Weather dependent
All ages welcome
FREE | No registration required
Meet at 111 Lower Lake Rd
Program funded by:

Fall Migration (All Day Drop-In)
2025-09-20 10:00 - 16:00, 2025-09-27 10:00 - 16:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd., Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Saturdays in September! Drop-in station at the Nature Center.
Fall is a time when hawks, birds & Monarchs migrate! Stop into the Nature Center to learn more about some of the species of birds and butterflies who migrate in the Fall. This Saturday we’ll focus on the Monarch life cycle, where they migrate, and visitors can make a paper Monarch to participate in the Symbolic Monarch Migration project.
Program funded by:

A Legacy of Conservation: Lydia Sargent Macauley Memorial
2025-09-20 16:00 - 17:00 | Highlands Biological Station, 265 North 6th St, Highlands, NC, 28741, United States

Nature Center Drawing Club
2025-09-24 15:00 - 16:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd., Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Do you enjoy drawing or find inspiration in nature? Join us for the Nature Center’s Drawing Club! Supplies will be provided, or bring your own. We’ll explore the garden trails, offer an optional drawing prompt, time to sketch, and an opportunity to share our work.
All ages welcome
FREE | No registration required
Meet at the Nature Center | 930 Horse Cove Rd.
Program funded by:

ecoEXPLORERS Club: Mycology Season
2025-09-27 11:00 - 12:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd., Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
The Nature Center is an ecoExplore Hot Spot! Join us for an ecoEXPLORE program, which we offer throughout the year for children in grades K-8 and their families! We’ll search for and photograph mushrooms on our trails and complete a Challenge towards earning the Mycology patch! ecoexplore.net
Ages 5-14 & accompanying adult(s)
FREE | No registration required
Meet at the Nature Center | 930 Horse Cove Rd.
Program funded by:

Leaf Walk
2025-10-03 15:00 - 16:00 | Highlands Nature Center, 930 Horse Cove Rd., Highlands, NC, 28741, United States
Celebrate Fall with a guided walk through the Botanical Garden to discover what leaves are changing & why.
All ages welcome
FREE | No registration required
Meet in the Nature Center
Weather dependent
Program funded by:
