The Frisco Native American Museum & Natural History Center is looking to add to our Natural History side with a new GoFundMe!
The Frisco Native American Museum & Natural History Center is looking to add to our Natural History side! Our goal is to create a brilliant outdoor space suited for all ages to come and learn more about the incredible natural world around them.
We ran a successful campaign last year and purchased a beautiful interpretive sign on our nature trail to share information about the native pollinators here on Hatteras Island. Visitors to the museum can see this any time they walk on our trail so it can be enjoyed by all.
Now, with the help of Backyard Butterflies , a non-profit in Hillsborough NC, we are making massive changes to our landscaping. We’ve removed all of the previous landscaping and are set to turn it into a pollinator garden with 100+ donated native plants. Though the front of our museum is filled mulch at the moment, in just a short time it’ll be full of potential for flowers to bloom through the seasons to attract bees, butterflies, wasps, moths, flies…all sorts of things! Can you picture it?
Backyard Butterflies has already helped us with a few plants near our entryway. We are pleased to say that we’ve already noticed an increase in native insect life!
From gorgeous metallic sweat bees to sassy leaf-cutters, and even assassin bugs and unique leaf hoppers! We’re beyond thrilled to be able to expand our publicly available pollinator habitat. Not only do we get to support our ecosystem, but it’ll serve as an incredible learning opportunity for all visitors to the museum! We will be able to expand our seminars on Pollinator Gardens and Supporting Pollinators Made Easy! We’ve also got a resident naturalist on staff to help identify and teach about what visitors might see.
Unfortunately, we still have a ways to go. We need to create some supports and protections for our new plants. We’d also like to add interpretive signs that match our pollinator sign! These will illustrate how our garden supports the wide variety of native pollinators throughout the year. Signs will contain examples of what to look for and a description of seasonal chores so visitors can learn about how to set up their own pollinator garden at home. They’re already designed by our in-house designer, Amber Roth, and will be printed locally by Hatteras Island Vinyl Graphics.
If you can help us with this project, we’ve also got another major goal were hoping to reach. We’re having our very first Moth Night in June with the help of Backyard Butterflies, but we’d love to start hosting our own! Bug nights are fun experiences where we invite the public to come to the trail in the evening while we set up a specialized light to attract our insect friends. We photograph, count, and identify species as we load the photos to iNaturalist and/or BugGuide. This helps scientists plus it’s a fun and easy way to get involved with learning about our ecosystem!
With your help, we can make this dream a reality!
If you would like to purchase materials directly, please message us through the website, the GoFundMe, or by stopping in the museum.