Providing educational pathways for regional college & university students to pursue careers in ecology and field biology, with the goal of sharing the value of natural land restoration and conservation with landowners.
What We Do
Observe
Conduct research such as soil studies, species counts, water quality monitoring and wildlife observations.
Question
Ask “why?” about our observations. Prompt questions about traditionally accepted conservation methods.
Share
Share knowledge with the community and provide educational experiences to local university students.
Appreciate
We are amazed by nature! Look long enough and close enough to appreciate the beauty around us. Who knew?
Beyond conservation.
Nature’s laboratory.
Our Biological Field Station encompasses more than 1,400 acres, spanning the Carolinas approximately 40 miles southeast of Charlotte. Bordering on two of the region’s largest landforms, the Piedmont Plateau and the Coastal Plain, our living lab offers a diversity of study, from upland and bottomland hardwood forest, planted and native pines, reclaimed native grasslands and prairies, and an abundance of ponds, wetlands and streams.
Previously farmed for centuries, our unique conservation station unearths the timely ecological data needed to restore and reclaim vital natural habitats.
Come to learn the science.
Leave to tell the story.
The primary mission of the Carolina Wildlands Foundation is to provide educational pathway to a rewarding career in the fields sciences for our local university students. Though the focus is ecology and organismal biology, the wider lens is on communication and community. Simply put, our goal is to tell the story of the land, discovering truths that provide long-term environmental benefits to all Carolinians.
Encouraging Citizen Science
Carolina Wildlands Foundation encourages everyone to study nature in their own “backyard.” Citizen Science programs allow individuals and organizations to participate in meaningful scientific research. These programs promote stewardship, scientific literacy, and help collect vast amounts of data across large geographic areas. One of these might spark your interest!
Balancing Thompson Creek: What pH Tells Us About Water Health
The Thompson Creek watershed is an important part of the natural environment in Chesterfield County. Thompson Creek itself travels [...]
Controlling Invasive Plants
Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora) Our focus on eradicating non-native invasive plant species has been [...]
April 2025 – Game Camera Study
April marked the beginning of the second quarter of the year, and it was an active month across our [...]
Fireworks Prairie Through a Buckeye’s Perspective
To the world, I am a Common Buckeye Butterfly. But my friends call me Juno, short for Junonia [...]
Camping is the New Classroom
Dr. William Strosnider, an associate professor at the University of South Carolina and the Director of the Belle [...]
March 2025 – Game Camera Study
Spring has officially sprung and the wildlife at Carolina Wildlands Foundation seems to be loving it! This month [...]
