Press Releases

Luna, Shelldon and the romp of otters are among the many exciting animals that are drawing visitors to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher (NCAFF) in record numbers—500,000 in a year to be exact. For the Aquarium team, more is more. More students, children and families who come for the animals and leave with inspiration. Reaching a broader audience is at the core of the Aquarium mission to inspire appreciation and conservation of our aquatic environments.

The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) announced that its N.C. Trails Committee had awarded 17 grants totaling $1.6 million to local governments and nonprofit organizations for trail projects across the state.

Calling all North Carolina 8th-grade science teachers. Would you like your students to do real science with real fossils of animals that lived alongside the dinosaurs? Sign up for Cretaceous Creatures, a new public science project run by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences that offers middle school students across the state a chance to make their own fossil discoveries as they contribute to the field of paleontology.

Tracy Minton, the longtime superintendent at Elk Knob State Park, has been named superintendent of New River State Park in neighboring Alleghany and Ashe counties, according to the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation.Minton succeeds Joe Shimel, who was promoted to east district superintendent last year. Ranger Scott Robinson served as acting superintendent during the interim.

The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) announced today that it is partnering with the Town of Canton on Chestnut Mountain Nature Park. The park, which is on nearly 450 acres one mile east of Canton, features both hiking and biking trails at the former logging site. The $145,000 investment from DNCR will help complete the park’s final three trails and children’s bicycle playground.

Carolista Fletcher Baum, a fearless advocate for environmental preservation, will be recognized with a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker for her pivotal role in safeguarding the iconic Jockey's Ridge on the Outer Banks. The dedication ceremony for the marker will take place Friday, July 7, at 10 a.m., at 300 Carolista Drive, Nags Head, N.C.

Prepare to have a patriotic Fourth of July celebration through an encounter with history or an adventure with nature at N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (NCDNCR) attractions this year.

This 4th of July, a Raleigh tradition continues! The Capitol will host a ceremony that includes an outdoor naturalization for new citizens. The ceremony will also include a reading from the Declaration of Independence and a wreath laying at the George Washington monument by the Sons of the American Revolution. The Raleigh Concert Band will be performing from 11:30 a.m.-noon, and the ceremony will begin on the south grounds at noon. The Capitol is currently closed to the public.

The North Carolina American Indian Heritage Commission is pleased to announce that the North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program recently approved highway historical markers for nine American Indian sites in North Carolina. Seven state-recognized tribes of North Carolina, an American Indian school in Sampson County, and an Indian burial mound in Robeson County are all the subjects of new historical markers.

The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources has selected Chrystal Regan as the new executive director of Tryon Palace in New Bern.Regan is currently the Education Section Chief at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh, where she led efforts to expand two of the museum’s most prominent annual festivals, the American Indian Heritage Celebration, and the African American Cultural Celebration, to include additional virtual educational programming for people across the state.