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News
Dear Friends of Bolin Creek
EPA Grants Benefit Bolin Creek
Preservation efforts
CN Forestry Management Program
Adams Preserve
Protecting Water Quality
EPA Grants benefit Bolin Creek. Bolin Creek was declared an impaired stream by the state in 1998. The towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro received a grant this year from EPA to begin repairing the damage resulting from intense urban development in the Bolin Creek corridor. The Towns are inviting citizens to get involved in stream mitigation planning. Julie McClintock is heading up a team to work with and advise the Towns. If you want to participate in the Stream Mitigation Project, please contact Julie at 919-967-3661 or mcclintock.julie@mindspring.com.
Preservation efforts. An exciting and significant development this summer was the announcement by P. H. Craig that he wants to partner with the Town of Carrboro and the Friends of Bolin Creek in preserving part of his Bolin Creek property. Mr. Craig owns considerable land along the creek between Ironwoods and Carolina North across from the Adams Preserve. A tributary, flows across the property, forming a deep and scenic ravine before it joins Bolin Creek near the foot of Pathway Drive. Groves of old beech trees grace the top of hills on either side of the ravine and granite cliffs rise on the west side. Spring wildflowers flank the tributary and brighten the walls of the ravine.
Although this property does not yet appear on any maps, local hikers, bikers, joggers and nature lovers have known about this recreational resource for generations. Mr. Craig loves this land and has generously allowed the public to use it for recreational purposes in past years. He has zealously turned away offers to purchase the property over the years. We look forward to working with Carrboro and the County in helping Mr. Craig realize his dream of preserving this land for future generations to enjoy.
Carolina North Forestry Management Program. In 2007 UNC hired Greg Kopsch and Jerry McGovern to manage the undeveloped portions of Carolina North. The mission of the forest managers is to protect the woodlands, improve trails and encourage recreational use. Greg and Jerry undertook their work with enormous energy, enthusiasm and have established a very cordial and productive relationship with the user community. Initial efforts included GIS mapping of trails, installation of signs and information kiosks, and marking property lines.
A Carolina North Trails and Forestry Advisory Committee, chaired by Tony Waldrop, was also created with representatives of UNC and the community. Dave Otto represents FoBC on this committee. Activities of forest managers are reviewed at these meetings and suggestions are solicited from members.
In order to assess and improve trails for the use of hikers, runners and bikers, a Memorandum of Understanding between UNC and Stewart Bryant, president of the Triangle Off-Road Cyclists, was signed. Bryant is a trained, accredited and experienced trail builder. A series of workdays have been held with extensive participation of volunteers--runners and mountain bikers who are the primary users of the trails.
The TrailHeads, a group of dedicated runners and mountain bikers who use CN trails extensively. organized an extremely successful Philosopher’s Way Trail Run on May 31. More than 300 runners participated in this event. A series of charettes were held during the summer to solicit input from runners and bikers concerning the design and improvement of trails. The TrailHeads have also been holding orientation runs to acquaint newcomers to the network of CN trails.
News and a schedule of CN activities are posted on the website: www.fac.unc.edu/Campus/CarolinaNorth/CarolinaNorthNews.
Trail workdays and runs organized by the Trail-Heads are scheduled periodically. FoBC and volunteers from the Human Studis Division of EPA partner with UNC for Earth Day Invasives Removal Workdays. Friends of Bolin Creek are invited to participate in workdays and events at CN and to visit the website for information about future activities.
Adams Preserve. The Town of Carrboro partnered with the County to purchase a 27-acre tract from the Adams Family in 2004. The Friends of Bolin Creek enthusiastically supported this acquisition as the first significant piece in the Bolin Creek Park and Preserve that we envision. This property, which we refer to as the Adams Preserve, links Wilson Park and Bolin Creek and thus serves as an important gateway to the proposed greenway and park. The large parking lot at Wilson Park also serves as an excellent staging area for hikes.
Although the Adams Preserve is part of the Carrboro park system, the Recreation and Parks Department does not have sufficient resources to maintain the property. This function was delegated to the Carrboro Public Works Department (CPWD). One of the first tasks assigned to CPWD was to close the steep and badly eroded trail from the top of the bluff to the creek and to build a new trail to the creek. CPWD installed sturdy wooden fences to close off the original trail and then cut new trail across the top of the bluff with a section running straight down to the creek at the western edge of the preserve.
It was clear from this effort that CPWD lacked the knowledge and experience to build sustainable trails. The new descent to the creek was poorly designed and as prone to erosion as the original. Stewart Bryant pointed out this error and volunteered to correct the problem. We similarly reported the erosion problem. Water bars were subsequently installed which do little to stop erosion. We will continue to encourage the Carrboro Town Board and staff to correct this problem..
On the positive side, CPWD has partnered with us and USEPA in an Earth Day Invasives Removal Workday along the old coach road leading from Estes Drive to the historic Weaver House. Thanks to the efforts of Randy Dodd, we were also responsible for creating the historical signage at the entrance from Wilson Park and tree names throughout the preserve. One of our goals during the coming year is to forge a stronger partnership with the Carrboro Recreation and Parks and Public Works Departments to facilitate usage by the community.
Protecting water quality in our streams. Several efforts are underway to improve the health of local streams including Bolin Creek. We will work with the Town and interested citizens to improve land use planning, including low impact design and less harmful sewer installation by OWASA to sewer new development. We will continue to monitor storm water practices of developers as we have in the past for Winmore and Claremont and to review development plans presented to the Town. If you are interested in watching town meeting or attending them to help us track new development requests, please let us know by replying to this email at mcclintock.julie@mindspring.com.
Share your thoughts with us!! The past year has been very busy and the next year promises to be one of the most exciting in the history of the Friends of Bolin Creek!! As we move forward, we are interested in your thoughts on how best to realize our goal of preserving Bolin Creek and adjacent woodlands.
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