Arboretum`s Willow Pond educates visitors on wetland ecosystems
(WorldNews Environment)

One February day in 2009, N.C. Arboretum youth educator Jonathan Marchal was strolling the gardens when he heard what sounded like a hundred ducks in a woody spot down the hill. Unaware of an aquatic place in that vicinity that could house so many birds, he began bushwhacking toward the noise — and discovered not ducks, but a pond full of wood frogs, which start breeding that time of year. “That was a pretty big surprise, but I was just delighted because I had no idea we had a pond that we could start bringing programming within,” says Marchal, now the arboretum`s director of education. Marchal and his colleagues have since used the pond, originally built for sediment capture during...