Message from the President...

I don't know about you, but I find it hard to reconcile that we're already halfway through 2026, and the summer solstice was just over a week ago!
Having said that, much has happened since our Annual General Meeting in January, when we weren't sure if we could make it to the meeting because of snow! For those of you that were there, you'll remember our State Coordinator and guest speaker, Mallory Maher, couldn't make it for just that reason!
Now here we are looking at 'feels like' temperatures over 100F this past weekend.

So what's happened so far....

I'll start with the semi annual membership meeting and evening social/graduation celebration that we held at Holy City Brewing. What a turnout! It was quite the celebration for welcoming new graduates from the Spring class and there were prizes, giveaways, cupcakes (thank you Caroline!), and two massive downpours and a couple of thunder rumbles but we all managed to dry out and have a great time with our tribe!

Although we're halfway through our year, July 1st sees our Statewide coordinator, Mallory, report our volunteer hours to Clemson and the state bodies that are interested. 
Thanks to Debbie Seabrook, we are able to see what our members recorded for their volunteering efforts, and while these numbers are from a week or two ago, it shows how well we do as a volunteer organization!
2026 Jan-June 17th Totals:
66 members reported hours;
3,614.6 hours reported;
12,835 people impacted
Those are phenomenal hours, so thank you and keep up the great work!

The next thing that we should be proud of is our Association's commitment to educating up and coming young naturalists.
This year's donation campaign to fund the Judith Kramer Education Fund raised $2515!
Thank you to those of you that gave so generously! That money will definitely be put to good use by the ACD Committee.

Finally, a request: We are always looking for new board and committee members and we are now looking for someone to fulfil the role of Secretary. 
Time that you spend volunteering on the board or as a committee member counts as volunteer hours, and of course, serves a very important role in the ongoing functioning of our Association, so please let me know if you're interested and we can chat about the details.

'Til the next time...I'll see you on the trails!

P.S. the photo is of the newly fledged Bald Eagle from this year's successful nesting at Caw Caw.