December: Wendell and Eleanor led the annual Christmas ferns and holly Walk and Talk.
November: The FOMR annual meeting was held at Historic Banning Mills on November 3. The featured speaker was Bruce Green, the Director of the Tourism Division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development., who discussed the potential tourism aspects of Carroll County.
Also: Sally Bethea, Executive Director of the Upper Chattahoochee River Keeper, returned to McIntosh to update us on the state of the river, especially south of Atlanta.
October: Lynn Lewis-Weiss and Al Keller with the National Wild Turkey Federation presented a program on the come-back of the wild turkey in the United States. From a low of about 30,000 in all of the country in the 1930’s, there are now about 300,000 in Georgia alone. After the talk, Lynn took the children on a short walk to find plants that provide food for turkeys and other animals and showed them how to identify turkey tracks and find the spots where turkeys have taken sand baths.
September: The Walk and Talk was a hike to check on the long leaf pine trees planted by FOMR last year. We also helped with the Rivers Alive event at the park and had a booth at the McIntosh Fall Festival.
August: Brent Hess, DNR Fisheries from LaGrange, demonstrated live fish gathered from West Point Lake.
July: Jim Rogers, from Nearly Native Nursery, again brought his Snakes Alive program to the Amphitheater in the park.
June: Georgina DeWeese, Professor of Geosciences, UWG, discussed climate change and its effects at the Reserve.
May: Dr. David Morgan led a hike on grasses, sedges and invasive plants.
April: Spring wildflower hike with Wendell Hoomes. and Bird Watching Walk and Talk with Dr. Barbara Ballentine at Moore’s Bridge Park.
Also: (Evening program) Dr. Thomas Foster spoke on how the Creek Indians and their ancestors shaped the plant and animal communities that we see today. Dr. Foster, a native of Georgia, is Professor of anthropology at the University of West Georgia, and Director of the Waring Lab. Using archaeology, history, geology, botany, and satellite imagery, he demonstrated the effects of the Native Americans on Georgia’s forests. The evening was co-sponsored by The Friends of McIntosh Reserve and the Carroll County Historical Society.
