Come early and enjoy a meal or snack and beverage ahead of time. Bring the whole family – all ages welcome! South Wake Conservationists will meet on the patio of the Transfer Co Food Hall in Raleigh, a recently-noted local roosting site, to witness the spectacle of migratory Chimney Swifts turning in for the night. … More Chimney Swift Watch Oct. 1
Despite threat of rain, 10 volunteers of The Audubon Society and South Wake Conservationists, along with 4 employees for the town of Fuquay-Varina, participated in an invasive removal at Carol H. Johnson Environmental Education Park in Fuquay-Varina. Fortunately, the 60-degree temperature was perfect to remove it. Our main mission was to remove Japanese Stilt Grass … More An Invasive Removal Is A Great Way To Spend the Fall Solstice this 9/23/26!
Despite the intense humidity and drought-hardened soil, volunteers tackled three major projects at Inwood Wildlife Gardens: building a hibernaculum, planting native species around “Brass Frog Pond,” and mulching the pollinator garden path. The ground was so tough that even the tractor’s bucket needed help from volunteers wielding pickaxes! By day’s end, we had installed 125 native … More What a day at Inwood Wildlife Garden!
After a few months and cleanouts, we have learned much about the trap and where it is located. It’s on a highly used trail that connects to the Raleigh Greenway. So, if it’s full, the park will hear about it. The problem is, it can go weeks empty, particularly during the drought, and then a … More Anatomy of a Trash Trap Clean out.
The Big Sweep event was on 9/5/26. As usual Big Sweep does a great job getting volunteers and organizing teams, with plenty of bags, vests and pickers. During Walnut Creek Center’s Mud Day festival volunteers from Carolina Wetlands removed over 222 pounds so all effforts were to areas around the Raleigh Greenway. The weather was … More Double Header at Walnut Creek Wetland Center! With two events within seven days SWC helped remove close to 800 pounds of trash with The Big Sweep on 9/5/26 and pulled approximately 2500 square feet of Japanese Hops on 9/13/26. Well done team!
SWC is partners with Wake Audubon’s ongoing project to conserve and support the natural heritage of a unique nature park in Fuquay Varina, the Carroll Howard Johnson Environmental Education Park. The NC Natural Heritage Progam lists portions of this site as 7 out of 10 for natural diversity, which is exceptional for a suburban/urban location! … More Please Join South Wake Conservationists and The Audubon Society for another season of invasive removal at Carol H. Johnson Environmental Education Park located at 301 Wagstaff Road, Fuquay-Varina, NC, September 23, 9:00 to 11:00am.
Our volunteers make this wonderful event possible, and it takes over fifty volunteers, in addition to our twenty-two exhibitors, to make it all run smoothly. If you can help or have friends or colleagues that might want to help, please sign up! There are eighteen slots still available, and we would really appreciate your help. … More ITS NOT TOO LATE TO SIGN UP! Volunteers Still Needed for Kids in Nature Day Oct. 10th!
Even with 97 degree heat, we were at maximum capacity on the rooftop of Southeast Elementary when 20 eager 4th grade gardeners, and 22 excited and veteran 5th grade gardeners, arrived to be guided by our five intrepid South Wake Conservationists leaders in two separate gardening sessions. The students were attentive, well behaved and worked … More The day was hot, but the energy was high, literally! September 11, 2026.
As a low-lying wetland, this site absorbs all the invasive seeds flowing from the Walnut Creek water shed, a significant area of Raleigh and Wake County. Normally, we would be restoring a high ground section with native cane, but at this time construction of an improvement to the park is preventing this work. This will … More Second weekend at Walnut Creek Wetlands Center! On September 13, 2026, we will be removing invasives from 9:00am to 11:00am
After heavy rainstorms the trap was filled with trash, tree, leaf litter and hay from seeding an adjacent DOT highway project. So the response team suited up and removed trash and organic debris from the trap. We seperated it by category and inventoried it priorto puting into bags to weigh. In oder to secure pins … More Clean out of Lake Johnson Trash Trap 8/29/26