Gig: Redlair

The Project
Assist Steward Haywood Rankin in monitoring health of federally-endangered Schweinitz sunflowers; monitoring health of bigleaf-magnolia and other native plants threatened by suburbia; fighting invasive plants; and maintaining trails and paths; and in the process, learning the flora of the southern piedmont as represented at Redlair.

Learning Experience
Depending on how exposed to nature the student has been, and even if he has had deep exposure, he will learn much more intimately what the biosphere of the piedmont at Charlotte used to be before most of it was destroyed. He will be physically challenged and come away with improved physical shape. He will learn what protecting the natural environment entails in the way of encyclopedic knowledge and hard work.

Outcomes
The student will emerge knowledgeable about the natural biosphere in the southern piedmont. He will know if this is work he is cut out for: hard work under demanding conditions. He will understand the range of invasive plants which afflict our region and how to cope with them. He will understand the range of magnificent trees which the region has otherwise lost, as well as the tiniest plants which are part of the full panoply. He will be shocked by the cruelty of recent storms which have felled so many of our great trees. He will develop a better understanding of topography and how to find one's way via watersheds, without recourse to maps or GPS. He will understand how to design and maintain a path network which affords the best access to and viewability of every corner of a very large forest in a state of extraordinary preservation. He will lose any fear of being lost. He will become a person who deeply understands nature not how it is imagined but how it really is. UNC Charlotte Gig Training Program