Title: Saving Sledge Forest

For our first seminar of 2025, Community Activist Kayne Darell and Director of the Coastal Plains Conservation Group Andy Wood will be joining us to present on Sledge Forest!

Description: Sledge Forest is a local natural treasure spread across over 4000 acres in Castle Hayne. Recognized as harboring some of the last, best examples of this ecoregion’s globally significant habitats and biodiversity, Sledge Forest is now threatened to be destroyed forever with the plan to build 4000+ homes for developer profit at public risk. Our goal is to save Sledge Forest from destruction and protect and preserve it in conservation. We believe the best and most beneficial use of this land is for it to be left as a natural area that supports wildlife, rich plant communities, corridor connectivity, reduces floodwaters, and maintains all of the ecosystem services of these wetland communities for the benefit of our community now and in perpetuity.

Kayne Darrell bio: Kayne moved to Castle Hayne, NC from Long Island, NY with my husband and two young boys in 1995. She has been an advocate, community activist, and grassroots organizer for several local environmental and social justice projects, while working to help promote more responsible, sustainable growth in New Hanover and surrounding counties. Kayne retired in 2018 from NHRMC after 21 years working in the emergency dept. as a radiographer. She is the co-founder of Save Sledge Forest, of S Solutions, Inc., StreetSafe Lifesaving Driving Program and founder of Citizens Against Titan.

Andy Wood bio: Andy is an author and award-winning conservation educator. He is a fourth-generation biologist and graduate of Texas A&M University where he studied wildlife management, natural resource conservation, and museum science. A lifelong educator, Andy joined the modern environmental movement with Earth Day 1970, helping organize and conduct stream cleanups, paper drives, and river monitoring. These formative experiences channeled his conservation career, which includes 12 years as Curator of Education for the North Carolina Aquariums, 11 years as a State Education Director for the National Audubon Society, and 28 years as a volunteer nature commentator for public radio station WHQR. A collection of his commentaries was published in his first book, Backyard Carolina (2006). Today, Andy volunteers as director for Coastal Plain Conservation Group (CPCG)—a non-profit environmental organization, based in Pender County, NC, working to protect biodiversity and prevent extinction of rare and imperiled plants and wildlife, with attention to the southeast NC ecoregion. In this role Andy has all but single-handedly prevented extinction of two species of freshwater snails, Magnificent Ramshorn (Planorbella magnifica) and Greenfield Ramshorn (Helisoma eucosmium).

You can find more info on Sledge Forest here.