Those on tours may see bloodroot (above) along with other wildflowers

UNC Asheville’s Biology Department will celebrate nearby nature with its 35th annual Spring Wildflower and Bird Pilgrimage May 4-6. Fourteen special events will focus on local flora and fauna. All are open to the public.

The popular annual celebration begins with registration at 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 4, in the lobby of UNC Asheville's Rhodes-Robinson Hall. The registration fee is $5 for adults and $1 for students and covers all events.

Local naturalist Dan Lazar will give a talk on "Western North Carolina from the Ice Age to Today" at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 4, in UNC Asheville's Rhodes-Robinson Hall, room 125. Lazar will discuss the migration of plants over the last 18,000 years, human influences on forest development, the extinction of ice age mammals and remnants of ice age vegetation in Western North Carolina.

Events on Saturday, May 5, include seven guided tours and activities. The outings feature both morning and afternoon half-day adventures such as a birding outing, a beginner's wildflower identification trip, and a plant natural history tour.

The day will conclude with a slide program by botanist David Clarke, UNC Asheville associate professor of biology and Smithsonian Institution research associate. "Transformations in Appalachia: A Botanist's Perspective," will begin at 7:30 p.m. in UNC Asheville's Rhodes-Robinson Hall, room 125. The program will explore the role of plants in the lives of the people that have inhabited Appalachia, from Native Americans and Scots-Irish settlers to the current wave of immigrants.

Events on Sunday, May 6, include a birding trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway starting at 7:30 a.m., a trip to the Craggy Mountains to visit old growth sites at 9 a.m., and a wildflower walk in the Shinn gardens starting at 2 p.m.

Coinciding with the Spring Wildflower and Bird Pilgrimage is the “A Day in the Gardens” festival. The two-day celebration will feature plant and craft vendors, food and entertainment from 1-6 p.m. Friday, May 4, and 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, May 5, in the Asheville Botanical Gardens.

For more information about UNC Asheville's Spring Wildflower and Bird Pilgrimage, call David Clarke, UNC Asheville associate professor of biology, at 828/232-5151 or click online at http://www.unca.edu/biology/wildflower.html.