Natural Resource Quarterly Newsletter

Chickadees are some of the most common birds in the National Capital Region. Both Carolina chickadees and black-capped chickadees can be found in NCR parks. Learn more about these birds and how they're sometimes hard to tell apart.

Dryad's saddle is a large and unique fungi species that can be found across the National Capital Region. Learn more about where they can be found and how to recognize them.

Learn about Christmas berry (Photinia villosa), an invasive shrub considered an early detection rapid response species in the greater Washington, DC region in 2024.

Parks are a great place to appreciate turtles in their natural habitat. NPS is now studying at-risk land turtles in the Mid-Atlantic to better understand how to help them survive into the future.

Southern flying squirrels are common in eastern forests, but are rarely seen by humans because they are nocturnal. Learn more about these unique animals!

Also known as Orange Candleflower, Cuckoo’s Pint, and Italian Lords-and-Ladies, Italiam arum is a growing threat in the East.

Learn “stage zero” stream restoration basics and how they could be applied in Mid-Atlantic streams.

Learn more about biological control (biocontrol) as a pest management strategy that uses the natural enemy of a pest (biocontrol agent) to suppress and control a non-native pest.

Since invasive species don’t recognize park boundaries, we need to work together with our partners, neighbors, and other federal and state entities to manage across borders. We can’t do it alone!

A recent analysis of two focal grassland birds—the eastern meadowlark and the grasshopper sparrow—at four battlefield national parks, showed that how grasslands are managed affects the survival and reproduction of birds in those places. Researchers used eight years of NPS grassland bird monitoring data to learn how different practices, in particular farming practices, help conserve these vulnerable species.