Tag Archives: Little Creek

Planning Commission hearing on the Courtyards at George King Road near Little Creek tonight

The Durham Planning Commission will hold hearings on four projects and two amendments to the UDO tonight, Tuesday, December 13th at 5:30pm. See the link for details and how to attend the meeting virtually, through Zoom. There will be a hearing on the proposed 45.945 acre Courtyards at George King residential project on George King Road, just east of Little Creek, part of the New Hope Creek basin, like Northeast Creek, and bordering the Chapel Hill town limits, between Highway 54 and Ephesus Church Road, near Creekside Elementary School. The McAdams Company is proposing up to 99 single-family homes and townhouses. Below are some comments. After the advisory Planning Commission hearing the next step would be a City Council hearing.

Also, remember to “Leave the Leaves” for wildlife and fallen leaves are also good for composting and mulch. Consider the interesting colors and shapes of the leaves (the shape varying by the amount of sunlight a leaf received, up in the sunlit and windy treetops or lower down in more shady, sheltered, and humid conditions, etc.), and some leaves hold moth cocoons or galls. I think I once read that the each leaf on a tree varies genetically, but I still need to verify that. This year might have been good for fall color, or was for some trees here, with unusually red foliage on a some branches or throughout the tree.


Courtyards at George King comments

Again the Planning Department’s staff labelled an area that is obviously part of the Cape Fear River basin as part of the Neuse River basin. Water in one basin goes to the coast at Wilmington and the other goes to New Bern, a great distance away. That error might have been fixed by now. Silt and other pollution would quickly reach nearby Little Creek and Jordan Lake. Well-known Bolin and Booker creeks join just east of University Mall in eastern Chapel Hill to form Little Creek, which flows through Durham County a relatively short distance to the Lake, which now probably covers its confluence with New Hope Creek, in the area that was part of the 751 South controversy over where the Lake is.

This area seems to be adjacent to gameland and further construction could impinge on hunting, contributing to deer overpopulation and overgrazing in the larger area. In places at Fews Ford at Eno River State Park there is very little undergrowth within a few feet of the ground, probably due to excessive browsing by deer, so it is possible to see far into the woods. There are probably large herds of deer along the Durham-Orange county line because private hunting is not allowed in the State Park and at nearby Duke Forest, though there is a hunting program at Duke Forest to cull deer. In my neighborhood it seems like the abundance of otherwise common downy arrowwood bushes has really fallen, possibly because of the deer population. I like being able to see the neighborhood deer herd, but there can be too many for the good of other species. South of Pittsboro deer are harming the reproduction of the rare white pines, a relict of the ice ages, at the Triangle Land Conservancy’s White Pines Nature Preserve. Construction on George King Road would also impact species living in the protected area that need large areas of forest, lack of human disturbance, lack of domestic cats, etc., potentially driving some away permanently. This project would increase lighting and noise in the area, again impacting and possibly driving off wildlife, perhaps species that might sometimes prey on deer. I don’t know if there are any bobcats there, but how much disturbance will they tolerate before leaving? There are supposed to be bobcats and coyotes in the Hopson-55 area, and maybe it will be possible to see how they tolerate the huge disturbance next to the gameland. Would any streetlights around George King use the new blue LEDs that have been appearing in Durham and Chapel Hill, possibly a worse source of light pollution than other colors? More than just 46 acres would be disturbed by this project, including public land. Some of these concerns were also brought up in comments on the Durham Social PinPoint. I think I’ve seen ospreys and hooded mergansers at the gameland, probably nesting, as well as beavers, and various aquatic turtles, with white buttonbush, beds of knotweed like a beaver pond, scenic red maples, mistletoe, pawpaws, various oaks and ash, baldcypress that must have been planted, maybe common and other milkweeds, definitely dogbane, a vining pea, something like a carrion flower, etc. There are at least nest boxes for wood ducks. During the first year of the pandemic, in November 2020, a large white atamasco or Easter lily bloomed after woody brush was cleared on the waterfowl impoundment dam, though they usually bloom in late spring.

Farrington Road often backs up a lot at rush hour and when there are major events at UNC and people might be tempted to cut through if George King is paved with increasing construction. The traffic sometimes backs up for miles on the main roads. It seemed like floral diversity declined and might not have returned after Grandale Road was paved in about the 90’s, and now there is a plan to increase traffic and extend the road southeast, further into Chatham County. I’m not sure that the orange butterflyweed, a milkweed eaten by monarch butterfly caterpillars, or the edible wild strawberries ever returned. I occasionally take the increasingly less scenic way along George King Road instead of Farrington. Do bicyclists use this road to avoid the high-speed traffic on Farrington? Cyclists have been killed on 54 in nearby.

The applicant or Planning staff claim that this area is not part of a wildlife corridor, despite the protected forested corridor along Little Creek and the currently somewhat rural surroundings. How many animals cross George King Road and would likely be killed if traffic increases? Grandale cuts across a known wildlife corridor, and already seems hazardous for pedestrians/cyclists/children going to the new elementary school nearby, but planners want to increase through traffic, possibly benefitting Cary more than residents of Durham.

There are long trails around the nearby waterfowl impoundment area and extending to Barbee Chapel West and north (the “Little Creek Trail System”) – could this project or sidewalks connect to those? The trails have official-looking metal signs with maps and so seem authorized.

I notice that The McAdams Company basically ignored the Community Goals questionnaire, which could be seen as ignoring the Durham community’s stated concerns. There are trails in the area, geographically relevant or historic names could be used for new roads, this is obviously part of an important natural area and waterway between Durham and Chapel Hill, with known historic buildings and Civil War sites close by, etc. The Durham government didn’t show much concern for the Highway 55-Grandale area, but maybe the community will see more of a need for resistance next time and the current construction is being monitored.

What about flooding, increasing due to impervious surfaces being added upstream and climate change-driven long or heavy rains? Climate change could also be an issue with any old farmponds on the site, though I hope, probably in vain, that they would be preserved or drained with a minimum of wildlife being killed. There would probably be mass grading at this currently wooded site, at whatever time of year is good financially or logistically for The McAdams Company, with little preservation of existing vegetation, presumably killing a lot of wildlife.

As was mentioned on Social PinPoint, rural residents could be driven out, and they could be considered a marginalized multi-ethnic group vanishing from much of the Triangle, depending on income. What do voluntary agricultural districts do to protect farming in Durham?

Are there any historic sites around the site, given the historic buildings and Civil War Trail sites on Farrington and Leigh Farm roads nearby, apparently related to the skirmish near New Hope Creek around April 1865?

Does the no longer applicable commuter rail corridor have any effect on this proposal?

Given that this site borders Chapel Hill, does the Town government have any comments on this proposal?

Some rezoning hearings coming up this August

Below are some comments for the Durham City Council meeting tonight, August 1st, and there will be several other rezoning/annexation hearings this month, including for 4150 Old Chapel Hill Road [, at the corner with Garrett Road, among other sites,] August 9th [this is actually a Planning Commission hearing], and the Courtyards at Farrington Civil War Trails site, by the old [Patterson’s Mill] country store, August 15; see: www.durhamnc.gov/AgendaCenter/City-Council-4 [www.durhamnc.gov/AgendaCenter/Planning-Commission-15 ] There is also a Durham Rail Trail comment period and information about ShotSpotter implementation in the news.


Durham County Utility Building at the corner of Highway 55 and TW Alexander Drive

I mentioned this project in a previous post: www.northeastcreek.org/wordpress/where-the-red-fire-pink-blows-and-other-campions-in-the-triangle/ Neither community consultation meeting provided much information, though I felt somewhat better about participating in the second meeting. I thought the County was buying the site to expand the Triangle Wastewater Treatment Plant, and that is what Planning Commission members seemed to think, yet now it is supposed to be a County administrative building. I think WWTP expansion was denied at the meetings, but I could be mistaken. Given that the site was a large hill, there is probably very hard, possibly igneous, bedrock just under the surface and it would be difficult to build on. The treatment plant was rattled back then, according to the staff, and there might be the possibility of damage from renewed blasting. The area is “culturally significant” for me, and presumably for the people who once lived there, and it wasn’t merely clearcut – a large, wooded hill was blasted away night and day more than 10 years ago to build something like 540, with the remainder reportedly being dumped in the abandoned claypit across 55, now acres of mass grading at “55-Hopson” and most likely the reason Northeast Creek is quite opaque yellow at the Grandale Road bridge.

It would be good to preserve the old farmpond on the County site, where I have seen people fishing, which relates to the Community Goals and Objectives about food, accessibility, etc., though those people were probably displaced by the Council’s friends at the nearby Social Security Administration printing facility, as they have tried to do to me. These are apparently still publically-owned roads and the SSA doesn’t own any land south of the railroad tracks, on “Experiment Drive.”

I don’t know that there are any rare species on the County land now, but rare plants grow very close by and red fire pinks, seemingly very rare in Durham, grew just beyond the property lines and probably still grow somewhere in the vicinity. They might like the new openness of the site. Buttercups have been common in the still mostly treeless field where the wooded hill once was. Given that the field doesn’t seem to be mowed, is it treeless after about a decade because there is very little soil? It seems like potential open habitat for meadowlarks, a bird in decline in North Carolina.

The landscaping of an administrative building and the naming could relate to the ‘flavor’ of the local area and/or areas not built on could be managed in a way beneficial for plants such as fire pinks, but that is not addressed at community consultation meetings and probably not at Council hearings. If the site is rocky and denuded of topsoil, it might also be difficult to landscape conventionally and might require more water than usual to sustain lawn grasses and ornamentals. The Main Library had an example of probably xeric herb gardening at the entrance. A large area of mown lawn, with the lake across 55 at the WWTP, would probably attract Canada geese, possibly onto the roads.

This is also a gateway to Durham, formerly with trees and April-blooming blackberries. Other woods were cut on the north side of TW Alexander for a residential area recently and there was a residential rezoning of the old house east of the County site, another area with some wildflowers, mainly early spring woodland species, as well as some ornamental roses, though there is also invasive Vinca minor. Water from the County site drains both north and south, possiby mainly north, so where would the stormwater pond be located? The State Employees’ Credit Union branch a short distance north at the corner of 54 and Alston seems like a good example of stormwater retention pond landscaping, also attracting flocks of geese.

The farmpond drains into a clear, rocky small stream. Despite the small size of the waterway it apparently doesn’t dry up completely during the summer and so supports sunfish of some kind, possibly somewhat rare salamanders, and an abundance of crayfish, as well as having waterfalls over the igneous rock and many wildflowers.

Light pollution from the County site and 55-Hopson would impact the large area of gameland along Northeast Creek on the other side of 55. Would there be large parking lots for County vehicles, lit all night? Again I can’t remember what was said at the meetings about the storage of County equipment; maybe there won’t be storage there. Lit-up parking lots could be a hazard for migrating birds. There seem to be a lot of moths in the area, which would be adversely impacted by adding more lights. Annual National Moth Week was just a last week.

What about chemical spills near Northeast Creek, including road salt and oil or gasoline from County equipment? There might be few beaver ponds in the area to intercept a spill before it reaches the main Creek.

What does 55-Hopson plan to build across 55 near the County site? They voluntarily renounced some uses at 55-Hopson – except along 55, so what are they planning? The government allowed a text-only development plan, so there is no way of knowing now without a whistleblower, and there was just a whistleblower appreciation week. I am observing and will report any possible violations. After recent rains Northeast Creek is very opaque and yellow at Grandale Road from some source, and the hundreds or thousands of people using the Tobacco Trail every week must see it as well. Unlike in other nearby towns the land in southern Durham County seems to bleed readily when mass graded, and everyone can see.

In addition, local government wants to increase traffic on Grandale, and the DOT sprayed herbicide all over, but there is still a danger that someone will be hit by a vehicle at the narrow bridge. Given the the area is already dangerous and a known corridor for wildlife, why do the DCHCMPO’s planners think increasing traffic is a good idea?

It might be good to have an access to the County site on Experiment Drive, unless the County brings in security contractors/domestic mercenaries who behave like the SSA’s, I’m not going to be “displaced.” I think that is where the driveway to the farmhouse on the hill once was. Maybe 55-Hopson will bring over-zealous faceless corporate entity security contractors even closer, in addition to the vigilantes and the policing establishment.


East Cornwallis

Regarding East Cornwallis, from the aerial photo it does seem to be a residential area, or residential adjacent to industrial, though I didn’t know there were Cannabis growing operations in Durham. A car dealership would probably be very bright at night and there would be few trees buffering it, judging by the larger dealerships near Southpoint. On the other hand the site might already be very lit up if there are greenhouses nearby. What about the risk of oil and other toxic spills in the headwaters of Northeast Creek? A car dealership would probably heat up the surrounding area. Climate change is contributing to unusual heat waves, fires, floods, and crop losses filling the news around the world this year, but cutting trees and paving the land will increase local heating quickly and increase electricity demand. Someone commented at the community meeting about the need for sidewalks there, which is probably a good idea.

As with Hopson-55 the Morningstar Law Group is saying that they renounce some uses, leaving unclear what the intention is, though in this case it is a much smaller area and not on the edge of Durham, next to parkland. Too late to comment on Hopson-55 I heard that bobcats and coyotes have been seen adjacent, but it isn’t clear if they will still be there in a few years. I also began to worry about how much earthmoving is envisioned along 55, where there no commitments were made. Has the small area north of the powerline been cleared? They even offered not to build there at the Planning Commission meetiing if not at the City Council hearing, but it was not made a committed element, so did they clear it anyway, and for what purpose? Was all that land clearcut to create biomass fuel for European powerplants? This fuel source has been condemned by some groups. There is what looks like a very large chipper installed across from the construction entrance.


Garrett Road/751

On Garrett Road the application is for only a few townhomes, but paying a fee-in-lieu of open space requirements doesn’t sound good. While there is a vast area of what I assume is protected New Hope Creek floodplain “encumbrance” around the site, if animals need upland areas as well, those have probably largely been built on, as shown in the aerial photo. My impression is that most City or County parks are for things like athletic use, rather than to protect land that would otherwise be built on. There are parks in the Triangle that are supposed to have Catesby’s trilliums in the spring, but I have long wondered why there aren’t any in my area. If they prefer the dry uplands maybe they were plowed under by agriculture and building long ago, though for some reason not in northern Durham and Orange counties.

I expect there is a long history of people living along Garret Road, similar to how people long lived along Fayetteville Road, but they left in recent decades and the old houses have since been razed or covered up. There are also obviously thousands of years of human habitation buried in the ground, and maybe it is a matter of who knows what is buried where and a bulldozer operator probably won’t notice what gets scooped up.


The Courtyards at Farrington

Regarding the Courtyards at Farrington, coming up at the August 15th Council meeting, how can Durham allow the destruction of what is apparently the only Civil War battleground in Durham, with historic buildings, part of the national Civil War Trail and probably with designated historic buildings? What is the exact nature of the Civil War Trail designations on Farrington and at Leigh Farm, cut through by I-40? It reminds me of the NC NHP reports in relation to 55-Hopson. I saw a meadowlark near Farrington Road once, so they could be present on this grassy old farm. Unlike 100′ of woods on Farrington Road, the large hill on the County site probably did block a lot of traffic noise.

NC55-Hopson Approved and Comments on proposed road extensions

Today, February 22nd is the deadline to comment on the proposed extension of Hopson Road in Durham and other parts of Amendment #4 to the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Comprehensive Transportation Plan: www.dchcmpo.org/what-we-do/programs-plans/comprehensive-transportation-plan The NC55-Hopson annexation and rezoning was approved, though two members of the City Council did vote against at key points (one of whom is resigning in early March); see the February 7th agenda at: durhamnc.gov/AgendaCenter/City-Council-4/ and there are videos of the meetings.

Some comments to the DCHCMPO:

I have some comments on Amendment #4 to the Comprehensive Transportation Plan, especially regarding the proposed extension of Hopson Road, and I want to clarify a few possibly related points in my February 1st comments on the 2050 CTP. I have several points regarding the Hopson and Grandale extensions, and the NC Natural Heritage Program and the NC Wildlife Resources Commission have made similar statements regarding this area, though they might not comment on this specific amendment.

I did not follow the light rail project closely and it was on the other side of Durham from where I live or might need to commute, but at the same time, I question whether it was necessary to give Duke University a veto over the project. Could a light rail route have been planned without involving the Duke Hospital area? On the other hand environmental concerns were raised along Little Creek, and I visit the waterfowl impoundment there and other areas. I suppose there will still be high density construction, even without the light rail that was supposed to justify that density. I value the public and private green spaces or vacant lots downtown, but at the same time, there is plenty of room for density in downtown Durham, where density is normal, rather than out on the fringes of the City like Farrington Road. Also, there has long been a lot of congestion around rush hour along Highway 54 where it meets Farrington Road and nearby I-40, as well as at Barbee Road, etc.

Politicians campaign on addressing climate change and other environmental issues, but then preside over the building of unnecessary and environmentally destructive roads. I have heard claims that building new roads encourages more car use, so new roads only temporarily relieve congestion, and presumably increase carbon dioxide emissions and other air pollution in the long run. Why was a Glover-Ellis connector cutting through scenic headwaters of Northeast Creek considered necessary, and if it was necessary, why was construction then allowed to block it? I thought a new residential road had been built connecting the roads. I understand that people will build what they want, consistent with laws, and that elected leaders approve rezonings, etc., but it seems like the Durham Planning Department can’t be portrayed as a passive bystander in “The alignment of the Ellis-Glover connector” becoming “compromised.”

The possibility of building the planned Northeast Creek trail is probably also becoming compromised.

In Wake County I question why town public facilities, etc. were allowed to block the preferred route of the 540 extension, so it was then built in a way that threatened the endangered dwarf wedgemussel and other species. What is the situation in southern Wake County following freeway construction? It is unclear which organizations (CAMPO? The NC DOT?) are reponsible for what decisions regarding new roads and maintenance. In Durham, who decided to cut the large, mossy red maples that lined Alston by Lowes Grove Elementary School?

I object to extending Hopson Road west to Grandale and extending Grandale south. The attached maps show the connector barely avoiding the Jordan/New Hope gameland and seemingly still cutting through a large area of wetland. If the idea is to avoid crossing the county line, Wake Road is a short distance beyond the line, so why build a new connector? Grandale cuts across Northeast Creek and is surrounded by public gameland, resulting in a lot of roadkill as is, and traffic has increased, I imagine because of Cary rather than Durham, but Durham’s landscape is to be sacrificed. I can’t remember the title now, but I saw a government document demonstrating public knowledge that Grandale crosses wildlife migration routes along the Northeast Creek corridor.

The bottomlands along Northeast Creek at the south end of Durham County are listed as a significant natural area by the NC Natural Heritage Program. The inventory reports noted nesting black-and-white warblers and probably nesting sharp-shinned hawks and the presence of ribbon snakes as rare animal species in the areas studied, as well as Douglass’ bittercress and other state or regionally rare or unusual plants, and there were river otters and mink along the Creek. The area has not been re-surveyed since 1999. Otters have been reported more recently on a tributary of Northeast Creek nearby in RTP and I saw what might have been evidence of otters a short distance upstream from Jordan Lake. I know mink live east of Jordan Lake near the Tobacco Trail in Chatham County, and along the Eno, and there have been reports of bobcats near Indian Creek at Jordan Lake, a short distance south of Northeast Creek. Apparently bobcats are easily driven out by human activity, so I wonder how close they come to my area, and without bobcats, coyotes, or hunting by humans there are few checks left on the deer population, leading to problems. Increased construction adjacent to the gameland might end hunting. Turkeys, woodcocks, wood ducks, indigo buntings, prothonotary warblers, pileated and red-headed woodpeckers live in that area of gameland and several species of amphibians breed in the wetlands and waterways. The most recent Durham inventory recommended that “Preservation of upland buffers along the edges of the bottomlands should be given a high priority. These slopes provide denning areas for terrestrial species, as well as refuges during periods of high water” while the 1999 Jordan Lake Inventory recommended that “No more utility corridors should be allowed in the area” along the Creek between 55 and 751. Did the authors not imagine that new roads, which seem worse than utility easements, would be proposed? Building a new road parallel to Northeast Creek or along other waterways would harm species that regularly migrate between the bottomlands and higher ground, such as toad and salamander species, or animals that have to move upland to escape flooding. Roadbuilding along the Eno River was stopped, but unfortuntely for Northeast Creek and fortunately for the Planning Department there are few to oppose it here in this round, though it is an election year for some local, State, and Federal officials. Would extending Hopson towards 751 or O’Kelly Church Road be in a future CTP if this goes through?

I think the complete paving of Grandale in recent decades reduced floral diversity and no doubt increased traffic, speed, and probably the amount of roadkill. Was it the DOT that cut a large oak, maybe a post oak or possibly a white oak, near the northeast corner of Grandale and Sedwick many years ago? It could be called a historic oak, from before Parkwood existed, and was left in large pieces hidden off the road. Maybe it lived when the road network was much different and what is now called Sedwick Road was forked. Now I can’t remember if the tree was cut when Grandale was paved or later. More recently Duke Energy on its own decided to cut a landmark relatively old oak, maybe a Spanish/Southern red oak, on a berm beside 751 in front of an abandoned house.

If Grandale is widened, black walunts at the south end might be cut. They are small trees, but at least one produces many nuts and black walnuts are rare trees in this part of the Triangle. In theory they could also be a food source for people, so roadwork would reduce the local food supply and the diversity of foods.

Speaking of history, there has long been a lack of clarity in what Grandale is called, and roads could reflect the landscape and history, such as in the appropriate name of the Northeast Creek Parkway.

The curve on Grandale at the bridge is already unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists and nearby Scott King Road, soon to be the site of a Durham elementary school, seems even more unsafe, and extending Hopson Road would presumably increase traffic on Scott King. Speeding far above the 25 mph limit is a problem on Sedwick Road in Parkwood, but Sedwick, Green Level Church, and Wake roads already connect 55 and Grandale. Hopson was extended through RTP to 55 in a way that made it harder to use the old Green Level and Wake Road connection. Members of my family used to be able to unicycle or bicycle along a circuit of a few miles, but South Alston was cut and is now treated as the property of the Social Security Administration printing facility on “Louis Stephens Drive” and the intersection was changed, which also destroyed a young woods with many fox (?) grapes running from the very tops of the relatively young pines down to the roadside, unusual in that the large cluster[s] of sweet black grapes were so easy to reach on those September weekends. On the other hand the large copperheads that would enter the road in late September benefitted by the road being effectively removed, if they survived a large hill being levelled, clearcutting, and a new electrical substation being built.

I don’t like the way scenic hills and ridges have been destroyed along Highway 55 there, to extend Hopson to 55 and earlier at the corner of TW Alexander Drive and 55 for fill for a freeway, possibly tolled, which I also generally oppose. That hill with an old farm house on top was blasted away day and night, leading to noise complaints from Scott King Road, and I heard that the excess was dumped in the old Triangle Brick Company claypit the Hopson extension would skirt. The spoil seems to be visible in aerial photos. Given the presence of rare plants and animals along 55, probably because of the presence of igneous rocks, what was lost on those hills over the last 10 years, and might still live on the hills west of 55?

After it was too late for the public hearings I realized that maybe Scannell’s intends to level the hills on the west side of 55 for their “business park,” to build who knows what under an Industrial Light zoning, and also making road building easier. The likely presence of dikes of very hard igneous rock would make it harder to tear down these hills. How much carbon dioxide and siltation of waterways results from levelling hills? It would be better regarding greenhouse gas emissions if businesses along 55 relied on the freight railroad on the east side, rather than locating on the west side and relying on trucks.

Would Grandale be expanded and streetlights added, possibly blue-rich, degrading the surrounding gameland for nocturnal wildlife and possibly driving species out? Blue-rich white light is especially polluting to human eyes; for example see: www.darksky.org/our-work/lighting/lighting-for-citizens/led-guide/ Except for passing aircraft little or no artificial light is visible in a large area along Northeast Creek between 55 and Grandale, shielded by the width of the gameland and the high surrounding hills. Noise pollution would also degrade the gameland, even if a road is outside of it. Grandale is audible south of Sedwick Road and what must be noise mainly from I-40 as well as highways is often very loud in other parts of Parkwood. 751 is audible from the vast expanse of gameland along lower Northeast Creek south of O’Kelly Chapel Road.

This winter the gameland along Northeast Creek between Grandale and the powerline corridor seems much smaller, because of the clearcutting around it a few years ago, and Hopson Road would skirt the south side, where there is an unusually winding and low-lying small tributary with flood-tolerant forest.

I saw a breeding whip-poor-will or chuck-will’s-widow at the school site nearby a few years ago, and I thought they had been driven out of the Triangle. What about the beaver ponds adjacent to Grandale? At times there has been a great blue heron rookery nearby and hundreds of turkey vultures and a few black vultures roosted in the summer. Construction also encourages non-native plants, and a few non-native trees have sprouted in utility corridors and clearcuts near this planned road.

Grandale also sometimes floods by the bridge during hurricanes, though raising the road would dam up the floodwaters.

The NC Wildlife Resources Commission and US Army Corps of Engineers might not comment, though Grandale cuts through the public land they are charged with protecting and Grandale, might be expanded, impacting their area. Since neighbors aren’t notified about proposed roads, people probably are not aware of what is being planned.

There is also an obscene amount of roadkill on Highway 98, especially east of Sherron Road, and along Highway 50 to the north in Wake County. Admittedly it is mostly small animals that are killed on Grandale and 54, but entire lanes are dyed red on 98 when deer are killed and two cats or foxes were left on the centerline in front of a professed church for something like half a year. Around early to mid-summer there are often brief showers or downpours just before 5pm followed by clearing, and aquatic turtles leave the ponds a short distance east of Sherron and are killed. Sometimes they manage to get to the center but then stop and are killed. I commented (assuming they received it) to some agency regarding work on 98 a few years ago. There is also a problem on Old Creedmoor Road north of 98 extending northeast to Highway 50 and on 50. I tried to be careful there and elsewhere, but I hit animals. Some how a flock of cedar waxwings that had come down to a puddle at the Highway 98 end was hit during a snowstorm, when traffic should have been moving slowly. Pets have also been hit on rural 98.

In places there have been efforts to reduce roadkill, but except for lobbying about raising the new 15-501 bridge over New Hope Creek, a few old deer and livestock warning signs, and the fencing full of holes along freeways, I am not aware of any effort at all in the Triangle or elsewhere in the State. Deeper roadside ditches and fencing might deter some animals and signs could at least be put up to warn drivers. Would intentionally hitting an animal and leaving it in the road count as littering? The speed limit is also a factor. On the other hand, there could be conservation problems if roads become impassable barriers for plant and animal species.

Roadkill and human fatalities are problems along 54 from Durham to Chapel Hill. More sidewalks and wider shoulders would be good, though I like the roadside trees, ever decreasing with dense residdential building along 54. I suppose that the shady overhanging trees along 54 where it crosses the gameland protecting New Hope Creek will be cut and will not return, if 54 is expanded in Durham. There was a shady dark green tunnel along 751 where it crosses Crooked Creek, but the trees were cut for a utility line or some other reason. Weedy verges along 54 beneficial to pollinators are also being replaced with close-cropped grassy lawn, though Durham supposedly cares about pollinators.

I also object to the way the DOT indiscriminately sprays vegetation along roads, including on parkland, even spraying trees far from the road, high branches, and herbaceous plants such as goldenrods. Issues with the shoulders and the lack of guard rails seem like bigger safety problems along straight Scott King Road then vegetation several feet from the road, beyond a deep stream or ditch. I thought a population of rare pinxterflower azaleas was safely on public land, but then the DOT sprayed them in the summer of 2017 or 2018, though fortunately not enough to kill them off.

If new roads have to be built, I would like the environment to be given more consideration. Installing streetlights next to gameland would be a problem and light pollution harms my view of the night sky as is. I have monitored the exceptionally abundant and diverse firefly population in a dark area east of Grandale since about 2008 as a volunteer with the Massachusetts-based Firefly Watch program. Would the bridge at Grandale be raised, so that animals might be more likely to go under it, as well as reducing erosion caused by the constriction of floods? Note that aquatic turtles such as yellow-bellied sliders sometimes seem to intentionally climb on to the bridge and are killed. What else could be done to reduce roadkill? Animals will be killed on roads, including pets and livestock, but I have seen little evidence that governments want to reduce the carnage, though people do sometimes attempt to assist animals or shed tears. Would there be more traffic lights to slow traffic on Grandale, Scott King, Sedwick, and Wake roads? At times many people park around the Grandale bridge to access the gameland for hunting, fishing, and hiking and it might be good if the shoulders were levelled and wider in places, though I would not want to see many trees cut. It was difficult to get the DOT to pick up wooden shipping pallets dumped just off the road next to the bridge, even though their mowing equipment was obviously running into them. Wooden pallets are a vector for non-native forest pests and diseases such as emerald ash borers, already killing trees in Durham and Chapel Hill, and redbay ambrosia beetles, which haven’t reached this far inland yet, but have sassafras as a food source as they leave the Wilmington area and the redbays and related trees near the coast. These pests can’t travel very far on their own, but have spread much faster with human help, after getting here from East Asia through shipping. One of the few benefits of the proposed extensions might be a reduced risk of roadside harassment of people legally using the gameland and road shoulders, though the traffic would be deterimental to enjoyment of the gameland to begin with.

Thank you for your consideration.

I’m not sure if it was published anywhere, but in late January I sent out a letter to the editor on the extensions, and the NC55-Hopson rezoning (approved by the Durham City Council February 7th):


Protect the gamelands along the Durham-Chatham-Wake county line

February 7th the City Council will hold a second hearing on the rezoning of an area extending from east of 55 to within sight of Grandale Road for a research/manufacturing-type “business park,” with Hopson Road extended west. Hopson and Grandale extensions are included in Amendment #4 to the DCHCMPO’s Comprehensive Transportation Plan, accepting comments through February 22nd (links at northeastcreek.org).

This rural section includes a large area of protected public land. The Northeast Creek bottomlands’ significance was recognized by the NC Natural Heritage Program, which recommended the “Preservation of upland buffers” and a moratorium on new utility corridors there.

Despite the parkland, species could still be lost. The rezoning application considers the State gameland only a “buffer.” There is no public site plan and industrial light zoning allows many uses. If large greenhouses are built, reflected light would be obvious for miles, likewise with blasting and traffic noise. What of spills? Hundreds of fireflies of several species glimmer, gathered amphibians roar, and herons, nightjars, and likely turkeys have nested nearby. If hunting ends, will deer overpopulate? I would like consideration for the welfare of this valuable, public land. Additionally, the claypit has paleontological significance. I suspect that rezoning would trigger more land sales, like the boom (of moonscaping) along Ellis.

Durham claims to care about emissions, but plans to level ridges for a redundant road. Nearby roads already seem unsafe and Grandale threatens wildlife, which the government knows. Does the Council need to see the roadkill from a short stretch [I could fill a several gallon bucket or buckets with bloody bodies on a summer night and go to a government office in the daytime or send photos.]?

Seasonal Nature Notes for winter

This is a revised version of an article I wrote for Cathy Starkweather’s South Durham Green Neighbors Newsletter, posted each month on the sdgreenneighbors Googlegroup (there is also a Facebook group), outlining some of the natural sights and wonders people can look out for this winter.

Seasonal Nature Notes

Despite the cold winter weather, some plants regularly or potentially bloom in December. East Asian camellias bloom in yards from fall into spring, depending on the variety. They don’t seem very attractive to insects, but yellowjackets check them out in the fall. Red maples can start blooming well before spring and when they do small insects can be seen flying around the canopy on relatively warm days.  Many years ago pastel pale blue bluets bloomed in December outside Eno River State Park’s main office, though they normally bloom months later. Peaches on the south-facing side of Occoneechee Mountain in Hillsborough also bloomed in winter that year and still developed fruit. There were cold temperatures that winter, and there were frigid and icy mornings on the shaded north side of the small mountain. I was surprised to see a white atamasco or Easter lily, usually a flower of mid-spring, blooming near Little Creek in Orange County in early November 2020, after herbaceous brush had been cleared. Hepatica, a pale lavender to blue, and occasionally white or pink, early spring woodland wildflower often found on rocky hillsides, can bloom in January or February if not December. Witch-hazel, a diminutive relative of sweetgums, also might bloom on hillsides around now. This is also a good time of year to look for evergreen mistletoe, a semi-parasitic bush growing in the bare treetops. It is common on silver and red maples near the intersection of Sedwick and Revere roads and it often appears on oaks along city streets in downtown Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary, and Raleigh. It seems to be most common in built up areas but sometimes grows on red maples around beaver ponds and large waterways. It was unusual to see one high in a Northern red oak surrounded by other trees at Cary’s Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve, near but not immediately next to Swift Creek. There are a few deciduous tree species that mistletoe seems to prefer, but it can grow on a range of native and non-native trees. Recently I have been admiring the shape of the fallen leaves, especially those of Spanish or Southern red oaks. There are many species of oak, each with a different leaf shape, and the form of each leaf is individual, depending on how shaded it was, its history during the growing season, etc. Oaks are among the last trees to lose their leaves, probably finishing in early December, and some oaks and other trees regularly retain their earth-colored dead leaves until spring, at least when young. The whitish paperlike leaves of related American beech, increasingly common in Parkwood, are picturesque in brilliantly lit deciduous woods in winter. Lingering winged seeds can be seen in the skyscraping crowns of bare tuliptrees along Northeast Creek and the sweetgum gumballs won’t fall off for a few more months and attract seedeating birds during the winter. Fruit might linger on plants such as greenbriars, hollies, hawthorns, and Japanese privet while December is likely too late for the last American and Asian persimmons. Apparently cedar waxwings can be poisoned during the winter by the red fruit of Nandina, an East Asian shrub with compound leaves.

It seems like live oaks drop their acorns in winter and other oaks might still be scattering the last of their acorns in early December. The official Landscape Manual for Durham recommends against planting Virginia live oaks, native along the coast into Virginia, but those growing around the old Parkwood Shopping Center, at the intersection of Revere and Seaton roads, don’t appear to have any problems with damage from cold temperatures or ice and their acorns, very abundant under the trees around now, sprout if scattered in yards while still viable. The only drawback might be that they grow slowly, at least when somewhat shaded. Live oaks are evergreen, hence their common name, but might have fewer leaves during the winter. Young oaks of many species are often semi-evergreen or retain dead leaves in winter, and water oaks, which are native to Durham and have reached a pretty large size in some yards and on the UNC campus, are a little closer to being evergreen. This is another native oak Durham seems to unfairly malign, claiming that it is prone to “untreatable decay,” and they have problems with the supposedly “exotic” pin oak, which seems to be native in central NC if not Durham. They did not seek public input before updating the manual in 2020. Oaks often turn red in the fall, some species strikingly so, but when fallen leaves are picked up they are usually more brown than red.

This is a good time to look for migratory waterfowl, including American coots, pied-billed grebes, ring-billed gulls, non-resident Canada geese, and ducks such as black scoters, long-tailed ducks, and mergansers. Some species, such as hooded mergansers, can stay well into the spring and might breed here but it seems like the majority of the migrants fly north by or in February. I like to look for them at Crabtree Lake in Cary but they also visit Parkwood Lake, large stormwater ponds, the waterfowl impoundments, and sometimes even small beaver ponds (see my February 2014 article at www.northeastcreek.org/wordpress/784/ ). I sometimes spot unusual shorebirds, terns, etc. at various times at the large reservoirs, but only one or a few at a time and it is easier to search smaller lakes. Migrating shorebirds can also turn up on dry shorelines around small beaver ponds. Small flocks of colorful wood ducks can be seen in Northeast Creek now, but they are very wary and I usually only catch a glimpse as they shriek and fly off. Woodcocks or just their tracks and probings can be found along waterways in winter, though I might see them more often in late winter than now. Seeing a well-camouflaged woodcock usually means not seeing it until one gets close and it flies away, though maybe not with quite the speed of a wood duck. Flocks of turkeys and their tracks can also be found in bottomlands in winter; despite their reputed wariness about 20 landed above me in a swampy area after sunset on a Thanksgiving Day, and I think they didn’t fly off as I left. Maybe they were experienced enough to know I wasn’t hunting. According to John K Terres they roost over water for protection from great horned owls and presumably other predators. Woodcocks start displaying around January and the NC Botanical Garden usually has excursions to see their displays, rising 300 feet in the air above open areas at nearby Mason Farm Biological Reserve as night falls. Barred owls, bald eagles, and hooded mergansers are among the birds that can begin to breed in December or January. The plaintive calls of yellow-bellied sapsuckers are a common winter sound in Parkwood. These migratory woodpeckers spend winter here, chiseling rows of holes in many tree and shrub species for sap; they also eat insects. They breed further north and at high elevations in Western NC. Other birds and insects also visit sapsucker holes, potentially including overwintering butterflies. Wounded trees, as well as fruiting persimmons,are good places to look for butterflies in the fall. The ground can be heavily littered with fruit under untended pear trees, but in my experience they don’t seem very attractive to butterflies and other insects, or maybe it is late in the season.

Winter is also a good time to observe some insect life stages, such as the egg masses of mantises and Eastern tentworms and the large cocoons of some giant silk moth species. I frequently see large cocoons dangling from the twig tips of birch planted around buildings. Some species attach their cocoons to the twigs while others allow their cocoons to fall with the leaves, one reason it is important to leave fallen leaves. For example, both promethea or spicebush and tuliptree silk moth caterpillars can be found on tuliptrees, but promethea caterpillars usually spin their cocoons so they won’t fall while tuliptree moths let them fall. Related polyphemus moth caterpillars usually either travel to the ground to pupate or fall with the leaves. Sometimes they do attach their cocoons to twigs, and these might be the cocoons I see on birch. This group of very large moths can be found in Parkwood and there are plants for their caterpillars, but they seem more abundant in places like UNC and Falls Lake. Insects have many ways of surving winter and one frigid winter morning I jostled a holly and very small green inchworm caterpillars dangled on silk, though the ground below was hard with ice. At other times I have seen insects and spiders out as snow melts. Carolina wrens and other birds can be seen investigating lingering dead leaves. The various species forage in different ways, searching the tips of branches or along trunks and working in different directions, avoiding competition. Galls created by insects or other organisms can be seen on the stems of goldenrods and other plants. Under hickories carefully pruned twigs can be found, cut off by twig girdling beetles. The round exit holes of weevil grubs can be seen in this year’s acorns and other nuts. Don’t bring eggs masses, cocoons, etc. indoors for long or they might hatch early, with disastrous results. It is now safe to examine the nests of social paper wasps, often hidden in brush or under eaves and bald-faced hornet nests suspended from tree branches. I sometimes find the tiny mud vases of solitary potter wasps hidden in closed up wild carrot or Queen Anne’s lace seedheads. Even on what seem like freezing nights some moths can be on the wing, as well as bats. I found a large gray hoary bat roosting at ground level on the outside of UNC’s Greenlaw building one day in mid-January. During warm spells hibernating butterflies and moths can appear and in some cases last year’s caterpillars emerge as adults, possibly too early. Black swallowtail butterflies, especially males, frequently hatch when it seems too early, and it might have been on a night at the end of a warm spell in December, with the wind picking up as a cold front approached, that I saw a large pastel green luna moth unseasonably fly by a streetlight at Eno River State Park.

Depending on the weather early spring frogs can start singing in December. I sometimes hear individual frogs call quietly on mild, cloudy days in the fall and while species such as upland chorus frogs are so loud in late winter and early spring it might be easier to actually see them in the fall and summer. Marbled salamanders silently court and lay eggs in dry depressions in early fall, females guarding their eggs until these vernal pools fill up. The dark brown or black larvae with a collar of frilly gills can be seen, developing front legs first, unlike frog and toad tadpoles. What are probably marbled salamander larvae can be seen in the bottomlands around Northeast Creek and in puddles next to some nearby roads. Like frogs and toads they can breed in pools created by human activity, though they seem to prefer ‘wilder’ pools. Construction destroyed some nearby breeding pools and might have killed off the adults and they also get killed crossing roads to reach their customary breeding locations. Closely related spotted salamanders breed later, dancing underwater in the now brimming pools, and their larvae can be prey for the older marbled salamander larvae. At least in the case of spotted salamanders breeding adults prefer to return to their natal pool, and can follow the same route every year. I haven’t ever found an adult spotted salamander myself, so as far as I know they aren’t found in southern Durham County, but I occasionally find marbled salamanders hidden under debris on moist hillsides near creeks. Spotted salamanders famously breed in large vernal pools at the NC Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill and there are usually tours, which fill up quickly. One or more small salamander species can be found in Parkwood’s streams, possibly only breeding there, but they are well hidden or uncommon so I rarely see them. Salamander biodiversity is very high in North Carolina but they are usually not as conspicuous as frogs and toads.

I think of lizards as animals of summer but Carolina or green anoles are easy to see in the fall and winter. I first noticed them in Parkwood about 10 years ago and several moved into my yard in the summer of 2020. I wonder if this is a sign of climate change, but they were known in Chapel Hill by at least 1995 and according to roadsendnaturalist.com/2021/09/05/yard-mystery/ anoles have lived in that part of Chatham County for at least decades. I started seeing them in Orange County around the same time as in Parkwood and a few years ago they were common in places at Jordan Lake State Recreation Area. I haven’t seen them further north near the Eno, though Falls Lake is a rich in reptiles, including species that I had not realized live in the piedmont. Despite changing color to match their surroundings, anoles are conspicuous and I would have noticed if many had been living around here. Last fall and winter I would often see them on sunny south-facing walls and an air-conditioning unit, even in December, and I was afraid that they might not survive the winter, but they did and were out again this year. Fence lizards live or lived at Parkwood Elementary School, spiraling around trees to escape capture, but otherwise seem very rare in this part of the Triangle. They are common in places at Falls Lake State Recreation Area. I found one near the Eno on a cold, wet day, probably in late fall or early winter, but it seemed dangerously chilled. I can’t recall seeing any skinks out in fall or winter.

The Northern Hemisphere’s winter solstice is Tuesday, December 21st this year, when the night will be longest. Daylength changes little from day to day close to the solstice, but changes faster closer to spring. I thought the first frost was usually in mid-November, and that was the case this year, but some sources ( such as gardening.ces.ncsu.edu/average-first-and-last-frost-dates/ ) say it is earlier. We can get significant snow in December, but the coldest temperatures are usually in the New Year, in late January, when snowstorms are more likely and snow and ice can linger. The Earth’s orbit actually takes us closest to the Sun during the Northern Hemisphere’s winter, but the Earth’s tilt reduces the amount of heating produced by the Sun’s rays and it takes time for the land and oceans to warm or cool. For a few years it seemed like we often had balmy weather in late December. So far mild to warm weather is forecast for much of early December.

Winter is the best time to see atmospheric phenomena created when sun or moonlight interacts with ice crystals in motion, in clouds such as cirrus and cirrostratus, though optical phenomena can appear in any season. There are many kinds, including various haloes around the Sun or Moon, often indicating approaching stormy weather; sun and even moondogs, also called mock suns/moons and parhelia/paraselene, on one or both sides of the Sun or Moon; circumzenithal arcs, like rainbows in the center of the sky; and many other kinds, ranging from relatively common to very rare. Around midday on about November 15, 1996 the sky over southern Durham seemed to be full of lines and I wonder if anyone else noticed. That might have been when I first noticed sundogs. There are also the optical effects created by water droplets; rainbows are more common in the summer, but coronas often form around the Moon when it shines through a thin bank of the mid-level cloud altocumulus.

With the Sun setting early and the trees bare, this is also a good time to see both the colorful sunset in the west and the bands of color in the east as we enter the Earth’s shadow.

The night sky is also interesting and the sky is often limpid if burning cold in winter. Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mercury will be plainly visible in the evening and Uranus and Neptune will be visible through binoculars. Before dawn on the 31st the delicate, gleaming white waning crescent Moon, reddish Mars, and the reddish star Antares, in the heart of the constellation Scorpius, will appear close together low in the southeast. Scorpius appears shortly before the Sun rises now, but is up much of the night during the summer. Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) might become bright enough to be visible to the unaided eye, after having spent tens of thousands of years approaching the inner solar system. On the 17th Comet Leonard will appear near Venus. There are other comets in the sky as well, but they are not expected to become very bright. Ceres, the largest object in the Asteroid Belt, will be visible using binoculars in the constellation Taurus. It was the first asteroid discovered, January 1, 1801, and could harbor extraterrestrial life.

There are several annual meteor showers, mostly weak, with only a handful of meteors per hour on average, or even fewer. Some but not all of the showers potentially visible now are listed below, based on David H Levy’s The Sky: A User’s Guide, the American Meteor Society’s website (see below), and other guides. The Southern Taurids already peaked, but can be seen until December 2nd; they are relatively slow-moving and often form bright fireballs. The Northern Taurids are also supposed to end December 2nd. Meteor showers are named for the constellation they appear to radiate from, in this case Taurus, but they can be seen looking elsewhere in the sky. The Leonids are visible November 3rd to December 2nd, peaking November 18th, and these meteors have the greatest speed of any annual shower. Andromedids appear occasionally but not every December and the AMS says this shower ends December 2nd. The Monocerotids can be seen until December 26th, peaking on the 11th. The Geminids are supposed to be the strongest meteor shower of the year, visible December 4th – 17th peaking early on the 14th. The Geminid and Leonid showers are strongest, especially the Geminids, but the Moon and light pollution can lower the count even if it is a clear. Showers can vary in strength and some occasionally produce extraordinary storms of meteors. There is a Leonid storm every 33 years. The Ursids are visible December 17th – 26th and peak on the 22nd. The Coma Berenicids are visible until December 23rd and peak December 15th. The Quadrantids, named for Quadrans Muralis a superseded constellation bordering the Big Dipper or Ursa Major in the north, are visible December 28th – January 7th and peak briefly on January 3rd. Some years I’ve tried to see all of the main showers. 

Satellites and sometimes larger objects, such as the very bright International Space Station, can be seen passing slowly overhead (some of the websites below give the dates and times when the ISS and other objects transit over the area). It is easy to see satellites early in the night and in the pre-dawn hours, when they are bathed in sunlight while we are in shadow. Huge numbers of satellites, mainly “constellations” of communications satellites, are being sent into low Earth orbit now, a growing problem for astronomers and other satellites.

Some of Parkwood’s green areas are good places for stargazing, but are closed at night, though I suggested to  the Parkwood Association that it would be good to have places to look at the sky. There are also more streetlights, but it is possible to request that they be better shielded or removed altogether ( the contacts were listed in the Association’s newsletter a few years ago). Despite streetlights the areas around Revere and Seaton roads; places along Highway 54, such as the watershed between Northeast and Crooked creeks, topped by Barbee Road; large ponds and lakes; and possibly Southpoint Mall, despite all of its lights, have good views down towards the horizon. The Jordan Lake Wildlife Observation Site off Martha’s Chapel Road and the nearby gamelands don’t seem to have closing times and state parks are open all night for campers. CHAOS, the Chapel Hill Astronomical and Observational Society, organizes local events and trips to darker locations and Morehead Planetarium at UNC hosts events.


Stargazing:

Heavens-above.com
spaceweather.com
skyandtelescope.com
astronomy.com
amsmeteors.org
chaosastro.org
moreheadplanetarium.org
spacewatchtower.blogspot.com

Atmospheric optical phenomenon:

atoptics.co.uk
atoptics.wordpress.com

See also the Audubon and Peterson weather/atmosphere guides; the Peterson guide has diagrams showing many of the optical effects.