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Immersion in the nature of our communities

2009 July 9

Frances Shetley, holding a purple coneflower, cherishes the sea of Queen Anne’s lace surrounding her. Photo by Dave Otto.

By Ken Moore

Carrboro’s own Frances Shetley is always smiling about special features of our community. Recently, she was immersed in the Queen Anne’s lace flowering at the entrance to the bikeway, named in her honor, through the woods behind Carrboro Elementary School. A decade ago, Frances envisioned a corridor of wildflowers and native grasses for birds and butterflies along that woodland corridor between Shelton Street and North Greensboro Street/Estes Drive intersection. Members of the Carrboro Community Garden Club, of which Frances is a founding member, took up that call and have been quietly managing that corridor, with support from Carrboro Public Works, ever since.

Wild columbine flowering in the spring, common milkweed in summer and goldenrods and asters in the fall, along with other species native to Orange County, were planted as seedlings by club members 10 years ago. Some of those original plants are still there as specimen perennials, like wild-blue indigo; others, including columbine, spiderworts and Black-eyed Susans, have moved around on their own; and still others, like American poke, evening primrose and common blackberry, have volunteered onto the site, welcome additions from nature.

The volunteers who help maintain the site are not your typical garden club members managing a clearly defined flower garden. These folks are faced with extracting the numerous woody exotic invasives, like privet, mulberry and multi-flora rose, constantly seeding in. Even some of the native blackberry must be pulled when it gets too exuberant. And the native poison ivy, a fine source of food for birds, remains a constant challenge to keep away from unsuspecting walkers.

When they are working there, volunteers always enjoy the expressions of appreciation from dog-walkers, bikers and strollers who comment that there is always something of interest to see along the pathway. If interested in joining this group, contact Marcia Mills at marmills@intrex.net.

But this is just one bikeway/greenway; there are countless others in our community. Opportunities to explore mature pine forests and hardwoods, open fields, rhododendron and mountain laurel bluffs and miles of rocky creek corridors abound.

There are so many trails, in fact, that were one to explore a different trail at least once each week, it would take months before the same trail would be repeated.

Without hours of travel and gallons of gas consumption, total immersion in the natural world is here at our doorsteps.

Humans are not the only visitors along Bolin Creek’s many greenways. Photo by Dave Otto.

Whether biking, hiking, running, dog-walking, exploring with the children or taking a “closer look” walk in the woods, you will want to know where all these trails are located. Descriptive trail guides of extensive Duke Forest are available at the Duke Gardens gift shop or dukeforest.duke.edu.

Guides for other natural areas, including the Carolina North forest trails, are available at Townsend Bertram & Company, Carr Mill Mall, or check out sustainfoundation.org.

There’s a great opportunity to learn more about our community’s many trails at Carrboro’s monthly Artwalk this coming Friday evening. Dave Otto will present a descriptive tour of his photo exhibit “Community Greenways: Today and Tomorrow” at 6:30 p.m. in Carrboro Town Hall. That exhibit, which extends through Aug. 28, is a fine visual story of the diverse people, places, flora and fauna to be discovered in the vast nature of our community.

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