​VENUS FLYTRAP RESCUE

Yesterday (8/31/23) we finished up phase 1 of our Venus Flytrap Rescue from the ditches of Boiling Spring Lakes threatened by the impending utility construction in the wake of yet another housing development. According to Tyler Gramley (Vice President of the North American Sarracenia Society), a handful of dedicated volunteers including Julie Moore of Venus Flytrap Champions, representatives from The Nature Conservancy, the NC Native Plant Society and Wild Meadow Farm NC, a few locals like me and with support from the city, we saved 1000 plants from destruction!! We actually welcomed the cooling showers raining down upon our backs and shoulders diffusing the high heat and humidity that encompassed us. Plants were relocated to a protected area owned by the city where they can remain undisturbed by the future progress. As we toiled side by side in my beloved ditches, delicately teasing out our quarry from intertangled roots and water, we each shared in that magical camaraderie of knowing we were actually making a difference.

I’m sending out a heartfelt thanks to Julie Moore for reminding me quite a while back how interconnected we all are as human beings, Venus Flytraps and alligators alike in that we all share this wondrous world of ours. Unfortunately we are the only ones who can fight to save this unique habitat and its denizens from extinction. Extinction is forever you all and I vow to protect what I love for the lofty long leaf pines to the terrestrial botanical oddities that line my ditches down to (and especially) the alligators submerged in their aquatic environments, lying in wait and watching, as they have for millions of years. Unlike my gators, we cannot just watch and wait. We have to move, now, in order to preserve and protect this remarkable planet for ourselves and for the future generations to come. Join me in this fight before we all are looking back saying we wish we had done something. This is my call to arms. Our only weapons - our love for what we each consider sacred and our perseverance in the cause. Join us or in whatever endeavor speaks to your heart. Make a difference!

​To quote my mid-octogenarian husband Steve “It’ll do you good and help you too”!!

I don't post a lot of pics of myself but my dear friend Stephanie Bodmer got these and I have to say I am quite proud of them! The work is intense and a true labor of love ❤️ Thanks also Stephie for all
your work networking and organizing behind the scenes which helped immensely to make this all possible!!