Engage with Nature and Community in Duke Forest’s 7,100 Acres

So the Duke Forest is Duke's oldest
and biggest teaching and research laboratory.

It currently covers 7,100 acres
across three counties,

heading west out from Duke's West Campus.

Across the forest,

there are over 40 public access gates
and at any of those public access gates,

folks can come and walk, jog,
walk their dog on a leash,

even ride their horses along
the gravel roads throughout the forest.

So there's really a lot of opportunity
to walk, hike, bird watch, sit and just be in nature.

We have utilized Duke Forest
in so many ways over the years.

It first started when my kids were little,
it was just an easy place to come

and let the adventures just unfold
and be in nature.

And then, you know, as I mentioned, I'm
a runner

and I appreciate the soft surfaces
that Duke Forest provides.

And now that my husband
and I have recently become empty nesters,

we're utilizing the forest
in a way that we've never been able to.

And that's by taking guided tours
that the forest offers.

For the Duke community
to plug into Duke Forest,

I think the first thing to know
is to sign up for our e-log.

That's a monthly newsletter
that comes out and lets you know

all the things that we're up to in the forest,

but also the events that you might be able
to come participate in.

So today was an event, collaborated
between Nasher Museum and the Duke Forest,

kind of looking at basically human impact
on the environment.

And so we took a look of exhibits for photos,

and talked about what they were representing

and how that represents the way that we see
or impact the environment around us.

And then we shuttled out to Duke Forest,

and they showed us
four different areas in Duke Forest

and talked about how that paralleled
some of the things from the photos.

So bringing it all together.

I think I'd say, you know, it's not just
about going out and experiencing nature.

There's a lot that I learned.

It was definitely
an educational experience.

It wasn't just going out for a hike
or anything of that nature.

And seeing things like this with the collaboration,

was I feel like a unique experience that
I don't think I could get anywhere else.

There's a couple of long running volunteer
programs that folks can engage in.

There is a a period
where you apply to those.

It's usually in the early spring,

but you can come out
and be a community scientist with us,

or you can come out
and be a forest steward with us.

Today we were surveying one of several transects

we use for research in Duke Forest.

We have individual, survey sites

where we want to look at
the number of individual reptiles and amphibians,

including salamanders, toads, frogs, snakes, etc.

and that research gets aggregated
and sent to the primary investigator

to look at possible relationships
between climate and herpetofauna.

No one else I work with on my team
works for Duke,

but we all volunteer for Duke Forest,
so it's a really cool way to meet people

and work toward a common goal
in improving the health of,

you know, the natural world around us.

I think what I always say
about the Duke Forest

is that it's one of Duke
University's most enduring legacies,

not just for teaching and research,
but again,

because it's protecting over 7,100 acres
in a really rapidly growing area.

And the fact that Duke University
is almost 100 years

in its commitment to this place
as a teaching and research forest

that also supports that connection with nature
and recreational access, is just really huge.