Carvers Creek State Park Newsletter: August 2022

2022 Year of the Tree:
Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora)

At Carvers Creek State Park, visitors can find magnolia trees scattered throughout the park. Outside the Rockefeller House there’s a grove of magnolia trees established by the Rockefeller family. The trees are linked to Mrs. Nancy Rockefeller, the wife of James Stillman Rockefeller. The Rockefellers met when James was going to France for the 1924 Olympics and Nancy was a passenger on the same boat. They courted for a year before marrying. James and Nancy fell in love with the Carolina Sandhills, and built a vacation home here in 1938. As part of the landscaping, Nancy had magnolia trees planted outside their house, which the park continues to maintain today as a quiet area to reflect and learn about the history of the area.

The Southern Magnolia tree (Magnolia grandiflora) is a distinctive tree that is hard to forget once seen, especially when it is flowering. The leathery leaves are 5-12 inches long (as large as an adult hand or foot) and dark green on top. The undersides of the leaves have brownish colored hairs covering the entire surface. The leaves feel thick to the touch, and after a few years, the fallen leaves will coat the ground inches deep under a tree.

The magnolia flowers in the summer, with huge white flowers that have a pale yellow center. The magnolia grove outside the Rockefeller house has been flowering for a few weeks, and will continue to flower for another month or so. While many trees and flowering plants rely on flying insects such as bees for pollination, magnolia trees have developed a special relationship with Sap Beetles (Family Nitidulidae). When the flowers first open, sap beetles crawl inside and eat the sugary nectar, gathering pollen as they do. The beetles may even stay inside feeding when the flowers close up at night. The next day, after the flowers open again, the beetles emerge and travel to other flowers and trees and spread the pollen they collected.

In the middle picture below, you can see a magnolia tree with a younger offshoot. The older tree trunk, on the right in the picture, has gnarled bark turning to brown marked by insects and possible woodpecker damage. The younger tree, on the left, has smoother, greyer bark.

The fruit of the magnolia tree is hard to miss. Shaped like an oval, it has a stubby appearance and grows seeds on the outside that turn bright red as they ripen. The North Carolina State bird, the cardinal, eats magnolia seeds, as do other birds like woodpeckers, grosbeaks, tanagers and finches. Even wild turkeys, opossums, quail and squirrels eat the ripened seeds. The unripe magnolia fruit and healthy leaves are in the picture below on the left.

The magnolia is the state tree of Mississippi

Magnolias can grow to over 100 feet tall

Some types of magnolia’s are called "Cucumber Trees"

Sapsuckers (a type of woodpecker) will drill neat rows of holes in the bark of a magnolia tree, often several rows high

The US Geological Survey (USGS) lists 207 places in the United States with the word "Magnolia" in the name.

Until 2017, the oldest tree on the grounds of the White House was a southern magnolia planted by President Andrew Jackson in memory of his wife, Rachel, who died two weeks after Jackson won the election.

Visit us on Facebook at Friends of Carvers Creek: https://www.facebook.com/
FriendsofCarversCreekSP/

Visit us on Instagram at Friends of Carvers Creek or scan the QR code with your smartphone camera.

If you would like to attend one of our upcoming programs please call 910-436-4681 to reserve your spots.

Canoe Hike

We will be learning the basics of canoeing and then trying out our new skills by maneuvering through the Cypress swamp. This is a slow and calm canoeing experience and great for beginners or if you want to get a closer look at the Cypress trees. YOU MUST SIGN-UP. Limit is 10 visitors. Please allow approximately 15 minutes to walk from the parking lot to the Rain Shelter.

Saturday, Aug. 6th @ 6:00 pm

Sunday, Aug. 14th @ 6:00 pm

Sunday, Aug. 28th @ 6:00 pm

Volunteer Day

Carvers Creek State Park offers a wide variety of opportunities when you come to our Volunteer Days. Our prized volunteers help us with everything from our old farm fences, to culverts, to invasive species of plants, to leaf clean-up, trail creation, and many others. We will be meeting at the Long Valley Access located in Spring Lake, NC 28390.

Saturday, August 13th from 9:00 am– 11:00 am

Sandhills Nature Hike

Join a ranger for a hike at the Sandhills access to learn more about this valuable ecosystem. Walk 1.5 miles around the wiregrass loop and learn more about what keeps this landscape thriving and its importance. Please register in advance. Sandhills Address: 995 McCloskey Road, Fayetteville, NC 28390

Saturday, Aug. 20th @ 7:00 pm

Sunset Paddle

Take and canoe through the cypress trees and experience the Mill Pond in a whole new light, while enjoying the sunset. See parts of the park that most people don’t get to and hone your canoeing skills. Experienced and beginners are welcome to join on this evening of adventure. Call to register in advance. Space is limited.

Sunday, Aug. 21st @ 7:30 pm