Please note:

The Friends of the WNC Nature Center office is closed through Monday, June 17th. We will reopen on Tuesday, June 18th.

All membership payments received between June 10th and Thursday June 13th will receive a pdf of a temporary membership card via email within one week of receipt of payment. To receive the temporary card, orders must provide a valid credit card number or other form of payment, a valid and legible email address, and must have listed no more than the allowed number of adults and children for that membership type.

All orders that are received on Friday, June 14th or later will either receive a temporary card within a week or be processed as usual and permanent cards mailed within 7-10 days of receiving the order.

The Friends of the Western North Carolina Nature Center's mission is to create awareness and provide financial resources, through fundraising and events, in support of the Nature Center - Asheville's Wildlife Park.

Live Ottercam

Click here for Center hours, ticket prices and directions

Find out what you can do to help the WNC Nature Center!

Barred Owl

The Nature Center is home to a number of awesome raptors, including Buzz the turkey vulture, Xena the red-tailed hawk, and a lovely fellow called Artemis the barred owl—you may know him as Art.

Barred owls are often called hoot owls. Have you ever heard a voice calling in the woods at night, “Who cooks for you? Who—who cooks for you all?” That’s the hooting of a barred owl. And this fellow would definitely be a member of the “Clean Plate Club” if he ever had to sit down to dinner with his mother and promise to eat all the different menu items on his plate. Barred owls will prey on a wide variety of small mammals, from the tiny field mouse to the much larger and meatier opossum. They’ll also eat birds, like woodpeckers, snakes, lizards, bugs…some barred owls have even been seen wading into the water for a fish or frog or turtle.

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Dr. Joshua Camblos

Stuart Camblos, the daughter of the late Dr. Joshua Camblos, knows her childhood growing up in Asheville in the 1950s and ‘60s was special.

“We always had some place to go on the weekends,” Stuart said. “When everyone else was at swimming pool and their fathers were playing golf, we were off at a cabin in the woods, being taught how to walk quietly, identify deer or bear tracks, and listen to the birds.”

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