UNC Institute for the Environment students to present Buxton Woods study findings on Dec. 5

Students at the University of North Carolina Institute for the Environment’s Outer Banks Field Site, who have recently been studying changes in vegetation in the Buxton Woods Reserve that have occurred over the last 34 years, are set to present their research methods and findings during an event at the Dare County Fessenden Center Annex.

The presentation begins at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5, at the Fessenden Center, 47013 Buxton Back Road, Buxton. The students are expected to discuss the type, extent, rates and reasons for change in the Buxton Woods plant community since 1988. A Q&A session is to follow the presentation, and light refreshments will be provided.

The Outer Banks Field Site is a semester-long, interdisciplinary residential learning experience for UNC Chapel Hill undergraduate students hosted by the Coastal Studies Institute at the East Carolina University Outer Banks Campus. Each fall, students from the UNC Institute for the Environment spend a semester at the field site, where they take classes, engage in internships and complete a capstone research project.

The 2022 capstone research follows the 2021 project on the 1,007-acre N.C. Coastal Reserve site and dedicated nature preserve that examined residents’ values and perspectives of Buxton Woods.

Much of the site is bordered by the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and it is part of the largest remaining contiguous tract of maritime evergreen forest on the Atlantic coast.

The program will also be livestreamed, with a recording of the presentation to be posted on the Coastal Studies Institute YouTube channel.