The North Carolina Wildlife Federation has named Christopher Dimond of Oriental its Youth Conservationist of the Year.

Christopher Dimond

Christopher, who is 17, was chosen for a range of work. The award came in part for his efforts to help pitcher plants and other rare carnivorous plants thrive in the Croatan National Forest.

Over the past five or six years, Christopher has led other Scouts to a spot in the Croatan where clear undergrowth to help the carnivorous plants grow.

Normally, Chris explains, these plants grow best in forests where taller the scrub is burned away by occasional fires. But he says, even a controlled burn is out of the question in the Croatan because of nearby homes. "So we clear it out by hand," leaving just the pitcher plants behind.

"We Do the Best We Can"

Carnivorous plants are oddities because they literally trap bugs and digest them. The plants are also rare. Some, such as the Venus flytrap grow naturally only in one small swath of land – roughly between Jacksonville and Wilmington. Poachers who illegally dig them up on state and federal lands are a constant threat.

While Christopher and the scouts try to make the environment better for the plants, they can’t stop the poaching. He’s seen evidence of it in the Croatan. One year, Christopher says, he’ll notice large carnivorous plants growing. "And a year later, we’ll go by the same place and find holes," where plants have been dug out.

"It’s really sad to travel through an area and see the plants there gradually disappear," he says. "We do the best that we can do."

Christopher, who has been home schooled, has written a curriculum about the pitcher plants, That was cited in his winning the Youth Conservationist of the Year Award, as was his work in getting a grant to set up a wildlife sanctuary boardwalk at a Girl Scout camp in Chocowinity.

An Eagle Scout, he’s also worked on getting grant money to buy kayaks for youth trips on the Outer Banks. The point of that upcoming trip, he says, it to teach, "Leave no Trace".

Christopher is now a high school junior and says he enjoys the teaching he’s done with Scouts and 4-H. In college he says he wants to "major in wilderness leadership and experiential education."

That would involve taking people on treks to educate them about
conservation. "Instead of telling someone about something," he says, "you take them out so they can get the experience themselves and learn from it."

Christopher Dimond will receive the NC Wildlife Federation’s Youth Conservationist of the Year award in Raleigh on February 15th.