If you're looking for something fun to do this weekend, the Alabama Nature Center invites you to savor the solitude of the winter season. From wild whitetail deer to whistling wood ducks, countless seasonal secrets await the observant hiker along the ANC trails.

The Alabama Nature Center will be open to the public tomorrow, January 21, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, January 22, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The Alabama Nature Center, located at Lanark in Millbrook, Alabama, is a Planned-Use Outdoor Education Facility offering hands-on, outdoor-based educational programs and activities for students, educators, church and civic groups, and the general public

General Public Weekends are held every third weekend of the month.

For more information call 1-800-822-9453 or email awf@alabamawildlife.org

The Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division (WFF) of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) is currently accepting applications through its Landowner Incentive Program (LIP) to continue longleaf pine restoration efforts in Alabama. The grant was awarded through a partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and will be made available to qualifying landowners for longleaf pine restoration on private lands.
 
Landowners are encouraged to submit applications to receive assistance with the site preparation, seedlings, planting, native grass restoration and/or exotic control costs. For landowners to be considered eligible to receive funding, the property must be within the historic range of longleaf pine in Alabama, or contain suitable soils to support longleaf pine.

Alabama artists are invited to enter the 2012 Alabama Waterfowl Stamp art contest, which opens today, January 1st. The winning artwork will be used as the design of the 2013-2014 Alabama Waterfowl Stamp, which is required to be purchased when hunting migratory waterfowl. Entries will be accepted until Feb. 15, 2012. The competition is open to resident Alabama artists only.
 
All eligible entries will be on display February 24, 2012, at the Richard Beard Building, 1445 Federal Dr., Montgomery, Ala., 36107. Following the showing, three judges from the fields of art, ornithology and wildlife conservation will select the winning waterfowl art.
 
“Like the federal waterfowl stamp, revenues from the sale of Alabama stamps are used to procure, establish or improve migratory waterfowl habitat,” said N. Gunter Guy, Jr., Conservation Commissioner.