This Land, Your Land

A prescribed burn at Hanging Rock State Park in the next couple of months will protect the endangered Schweinitz's sunflower, the Division of Parks and Recreation said this morning.

The burn in 2.5 acres containing the Schweinitz's sunflower is scheduled for this winter or early spring, as weather permits.

The Schweinitz's sunflower is endemic to the Piedmont of North and South Carolina, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. It is a perennial herb that grows from 1 to 2 meters tall from a cluster of tuberous roots (see below).

Regular fire cycles are necessary for the flower to survive, the state parks news release says, and the burn is to remove competing Virginia pines and other shrubby vegetation shading the sunflowers.

Schweinitz's sunflower (Helianthus schweinitzii)

Put a ranger in your pocket with the new free North Carolina State Parks app for iPods, iPhones and Android smartphones.

The downloadable Pocket Ranger Mobile Tour Guide was created by ParksByNature Network, a developer of mobile, interactive networks, for the state Division of Parks and Recreation and Friends of State Parks, a news release says.

It provides details about park locations, trails, facilities, reservations, events and special news alerts. A "pro" version for iPod and iPhone offers GPS-aided navigation of state parks, storage of detailed topographic maps and enhanced interactive features for $3.99 (an Android version is in the works).

Each version also has social networking tools.

Park and campground maps plus details on natural features, activities, fees and regulations are also part of the app, and are available regardless of cell phone capability once the app is downloaded.

The Pocket Ranger Mobile Tour Guide can be downloaded from the iTunes Store and Android’s Market – by searching "NC State Parks" or "NC Pocket Ranger" – or directly at http://stateparkapps.com/nc/apps.php.

ParksByNature has a tutorial at http://www.youtube.com/user/PocketRangerApp.

The state Division of Parks and Recreation confirms that Fort Macon State Park will fire its newly acquired cannon for the first time publicly this Saturday.

The exhibit dedication and firing ceremony will be at 11 a.m. at the state park in Carteret County, a news release says.

The gun replicates those sent to Fort Macon from the Norfolk Navy Yard during the Civil War to guard the entrance to Beaufort’s harbor. Cast with an interior liner, the replica is capable of firing blank gunpowder charges. It was mounted on the wall of the fort last month.

Students at Wayne Community College in Goldsboro built a sliding gun carriage of aluminum to hold the 4,200-pound, 20-foot cannon, which was manufactured in Maryland. Wooden carriages at the seaside fort deteriorate quickly in the salt air. The state parks saved about $20,000 through the students' work.

The State Parks system is reporting success in the first full season of its camping reservations system, with more than 250,000 campers using the system.

The reservation system, which is available for the state parks' 3,000 campsites, 106 picnic shelters and community buildings, vacation cabins and visitor center auditoriums, was instituted in July 2009.

The Division of Parks and Recreation news release doesn't give figures comparing 2010 to 2009, but says state park campgrounds reported a 20 percent jump in use during the first few months that the reservations system was in place.

In total, the parks' online and call center-based system placed 61,484 reservations for campsites, picnic shelters and other amenities this year. While 47.6 percent of people making reservation still made them in person at the park, 52.4 percent of all reservations - 35.9 percent made online and 16.5 percent through a call center - went through the new system, the release says.

For campers, Jordan Lake State Recreation Area, which logged 14,124 reservations during the year ending July 30, was the most popular destination. It was followed by Kerr Lake State Recreation Area (6,162) and Hanging Rock (5,256), Stone Mountain (5,062) and Carolina Beach (4,410) state parks.

Most state park campgrounds are used by people from nearby towns, although there were exceptions. For instance, Hammocks Beach and Pilot Mountain state parks most often had campers from the Triangle. Visitors from Charlotte most often filled Lake James, Morrow Mountain, New River and Stone Mountain state parks.

Reservations can be made up to 48 hours in advance, online through individual parks' pages on the main state parks site at www.ncparks.gov, or by calling toll-free 877-7 CAMP NC (722-6762).

The state Division of Parks and Recreation will dedicate the new visitor center at Raven Rock State Park in Lillington on Saturday, July 17.

Raven Rock State Park, named for the large rock face on the Cape Fear River (below), was established in 1969 and now encompasses 4,694 acres.

The project to build the 7,190-square-foot visitor center also included a picnic shelter, improvements to the picnic grounds, an accessible nature trail, a paved entrance road to the park and paved parking areas with space for 139 vehicles, a news release says. It all cost $4.3 million and came from the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, the principal funding source for state park capital projects and land acquisition.

The new visitor center will present exhibits that explore the natural history and the unique geologic events that resulted in the Raven Rock landscape, the history of Cape Fear River navigation and the river’s importance to local culture and commerce.

The center is also designed to be LEED certified, with a geothermal heat pump, solar hot water heating and low-flow water fixtures, low-energy light fixtures, solar lights in the parking area, recycled building materials and natural landscaping.