News

On December 10, 2025, NCTC hosted a holiday singalong and Ugly Sweater exhibition! Sky, our favorite eagle mascot, won by a landslide! See the picture below! 

Free Tree Plantings!

Alyssa Murray, a former recipient of the NCTC internship program in 2019, is now working with the Safe Water Conservation Collaborative, an organization dedicated to protecting clean drinking water in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.

They are currently offering an exciting new program for landowners in Jefferson and Berkeley Counties, WV. This program provides a great opportunity for landowners to take advantage of streamside buffer plantings on their properties at no cost.

As you know, streamside buffers are essential for maintaining clean waterways, reducing erosion, and providing habitats for wildlife. By planting these buffers, they aim to enhance the quality of drinking water in the community and support the overall health of the local ecosystems. With the collective efforts of landowners and this program, we can make a significant impact on water conservation in the region.

If you know any landowners in Jefferson and Berkeley Counties who might be interested in this program, please encourage them to learn more about this free opportunity by visiting their website, www.SafeWaterCollaborative.org, under the Trees tab. If you have any questions, please email us at info@friendsofnctc.org.

The Eagle Mascot has a name! Sky the Eagle met Hannah J, one of the winners of the naming contest this afternoon. 

We had a great time helping out NCTC for their Open House. They estimated they had about 2000 visitors and we met a lot of great people!! See some pictures from the Open House below:

The Friends of NCTC, grand-kids, and NCTC staff created an "eagles nest" this past week.

It will be available at the NCTC Open House on May 11 for anyone who'd like a picture in it!

Thanks to Randy Robinson and Casey Johnson for heading up the project, creating the frame, and cutting tons of sticks.  And a big thanks to everyone who helped!

View Mock Eagle Nest Time Lapse video (taken by Casey Johnson) here.

FNCTC presented the award for the best student film at the American Conservation Film Festival on March 9th at Shepherd University.

The winning film, "Faces of the Cloud Forest" was made by Hugh Allen (who was unable to travel from the UK). Accepting the award for him was his colleague, Jaxon Derow.

The Friends of NCTC have sponsored this award since ACFF began in 2003.

We are getting back on track and have many volunteer opportunities coming up!

The Friends' staffed Concierge Desk at NCTC is up and running. The training for Docent Tours of the NCTC Museum was held, and those volunteers are ready to help out. If these are among your interests, please contact us at info@friendsofnctc.org.

For more details about the following opportunities, check our website or follow up through the contacts listed with the activity:

• Friday, April 12: Shepherd Elementary School. 
• • NCTC Staff and Friends members will present a program about Eagles to two 4th grade classes. If you would like to help us grow this program for elementary students in the surrounding area, please contact Joe Spurgas at jspurgas@gmail.com. 
• Saturday, April 27: Morgan Grove Park, Shepherdstown. 
• • The Friends will have a booth at the Shepherdstown Community Club’s Earth Day Celebration. Volunteer to help at the booth, or stop by. To get more information on how to volunteer, please contact Janet Olcott at jwo123rms@aol.com. 
• Friday, May 10: NCTC will host 100 second graders from Rosemont Elementary School. 
• • Volunteers are needed to help host all of the activities, and to receive in-event training so that the Friends can expend this program for students to visit NCTC. For more information, please contact Randy Robinson at 304-876-7450 or randy_robinson@fws.gov.
• Saturday, May 11: NCTC Open House (on Campus). 
• • The Friends will host 2 booths at the long awaited return of the Open House. Lots of family and kid friendly activities will be available. To volunteer for the booth or to help visitors plant a tree, please contact Ellen Murphy at ellen.l.murphy@comcast.net.

Are you looking for a volunteer project that doesn't involve heavy lifting, just listening and typing? NCTC has just the thing!

They are looking for someone(s) who would like to help transcribe some oral history recordings. Most are 1 hour (or slightly longer).You listen to the interview and type what you hear, at your own pace. Even doing one interview would be a great help!

The interviews are Fish and Wildlife retirees talking about what they did when working so they are interesting!

If you want to know more, contact Alex at the NCTC Archives alexandra_henry@fws.gov.

The Shepherdstown Christmas Parade was a huge success! The Friends of NCTC eagle made an appearance, along with Lew Gorman and Peggy Jesse, members of the FWS Retirees Group.

See the pictures below!

Last night was the first appearance of our NCTC Eagle. It was at a Halloween Party and Costume Contest Maureen "Mo" Dougherty, the NCTC Activity Liaison, arranged. 

Check out the most up to date NCTC Activities:

Photo credits to Mr. Murphy.