| <div class="ck-content"><h3>2024 - a big year for native ecosystems in the Triangle</h3><p>It's very easy to find cause for discouragement looking back at 2024. I choose, instead, to share thoughts about the truly amazing year we had restoring native ecosystems in the Triangle area in that time. Over the next several weeks, I'll share details on the planet healing work that I was directly involved in or am aware of. There's simply too much to include in a single newsletter (especially when I, Mr. Verbose, am the one doing the writing).</p><p>So let's start in this newsletter with some highlights:</p><ul><li>Over 350 tree rescues (my name for invasive removal events) across more than 30 natural spaces in the Triangle - and, again, these are just the ones I helped organize or was informed of. There were easily 50 more!</li><li>In Triangle Land Conservancy's Brumley Preserve - South alone, <strong>we held 100 events,</strong> almost completely ending Chinese privet seed production and making an enormous dent in the acres of thorny and autumn olive shrubbery. Even better, we've started a number of restoration projects, thanks in large part to Brian Mayell. You'll hear <i>lots </i>more about this in the months to come.</li><li>After 45 visits to Mason Farm Biological Reserve, we've removed hundreds of massive buckthorn trees that were dumping hundreds of thousands of berries into Morgan Creek. </li><li>Thirty tree rescues at Leigh Farm Park in Durham, home of the wonderful Piedmont Wildlife Center, have drastically reduced the widespread Chinese privet and largely ended the threat of ailanthus, bittersweet and Bradford pear.</li><li>Complete removal of mature invasives (large privet, thick wisteria vines, etc.) from a five acre area between Bolin Creek and Bolin Creek Trail near Franklin Street, followed by planting of hundreds of native trees and shrubs, led by a new <a href="ncwf.org">NCWF</a> chapter.</li><li>Fresh starts at native ecosystem restoration in White Oak Park (Durham), Coker Pinetum (Chapel Hill/UNC), Bailey and Sarah Williamson Preserve (Raleigh), and <span style="color:rgb(13,18,20);">Occoneechee</span> Speedway (Hillsborough). Perhaps most exciting of all, <a href="https://www.keepdurhambeautiful.org/">Keep Durham Beautiful</a> has started up a monthly invasives removal program that will rotate through Town of Durham parks. This is BIG.</li><li>Shifted to maintenance mode (swing back every couple of years to remove the new growth): a big section of Bolin Creek Trail (Chapel Hill), Community Center Park (Chapel Hill), and Battle Branch Trailhead (Chapel Hill),</li></ul><p>Here's a report of number of events by location that I tracked in 2024:</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><div class="dl-Report"><table role="presentation" class="dl-Report-table">
<tbody><tr><th class="dl-Report-header u-tS" id="C1"><span class="dl-Report-headerLabel">Location</span></th><th class="dl-Report-header u-tE" id="C2"><span class="dl-Report-headerLabel">Count</span></th></tr></tbody><tbody id="APEX$DATA">
<tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Brumley Preserve - South</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">100</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Mason Farm Biological Reserve</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">45</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Around the Triangle</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">45</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Leigh Farm Park</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">32</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Bolin Creek Trail</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">26</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Battle Branch Trail</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">20</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Booker Creek - Crow Branch</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">12</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Homestead Park</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">12</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Community Center Park</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">10</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Pritchard Park</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">8</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">White Oak Park</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">5</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Lively Nature Preserve</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">5</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Woodcroft Elderberry Woods</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">5</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Williamson Preserve</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">4</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Coker Pinetum</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">4</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Black Creek Greenway</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">3</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Shallow Ford Park</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">2</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Rocky Creek Park</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">2</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Piney Wood Park</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">2</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Cedar Falls Park</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">2</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Beaver Marsh Preserve</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">2</td></tr><tr><td class="u-tS" headers="C1">Occoneechee Speedway</td><td class="u-tE" headers="C2">2</td></tr></tbody></table></div>
</div><p>I worked with so many of you in 2024 at these places, and hope to do the same in 2025. Thanks for all you do!</p><h3>Brumley Preserve South 2024 - In Detail</h3><p>With the enthusiastic support of TLC staff back in 2022, I started the TriWild invasives removal program, with a monthly Saturday tree rescue. A year later, we had upped our game to twice a month and then took the plunge in 2024 to hold tree rescues <i>every Saturday</i>. In addition, I took advantage of semi-retirement to also hold a regular Monday morning event. The result? In 2024, we held over 100 events, most of them focused on invasive removal but also several focused on restoration.</p><p>Pushing back against invasives can seem like a hopeless task. There's so much of it and it grows so rapidly. What we are proving at Brumley is that persistence and dedication can change that to a hopeful, inspiring task. We cleared acres of Chinese privet, autumn olive, and thorny olive over the past few years.</p><p>The result? We have reduced new privet seed production to almost zero. That's big. Once you stop new seeds, you really start to change the ecosystem. As the threat of Chinese privet was being reduced on the west side of the preserve, we also began to focus on the acres and acres of autumn and thorny olive that had spread in the center and eastern parts of Brumley South.</p><p>It was so thick in many places that it was completely impossible for an animal larger than a coyote to move through the understory. When I first hiked through that area with my dogs early in 2024, it did in fact feel quite overwhelming. But I've learned over the years to not get all worked up about how much had to be done to reach the end goal. Instead, I just focus on the next step necessary to get to that end goal. </p><blockquote><p>[Another way to put this is that when we are faced by big, complex problems we tend to think about big, complicated solutions. Those are very difficult to come up with and even harder to implement. Action paralysis can set in. Instead, it's far better to ask oneself: “What's the first step I need to take to get closer to the solution?” Do that, then do the next, racking up small, sustainable victories. This is clearly a very successful strategy for using volunteers to tackle big invasive challenges, but it's also a great way to handle problems in one's own life. If this sounds interesting, check out a book called <a href="https://heathbrothers.com/books/switch/">Switch</a>.]</p></blockquote><p>Now, when I hike along Buckeye Loop in the southeast corner of Brumley, I am blown away at how different the forest is, how clear it is of olive, how many habitat piles are scattered across the understory. </p><p>There's still a lot to do, but I have every expectation that by the end of 2025, we will have done the same for olive as we've done for privet: almost zero new fruit/seed (olives!). Here are two of literally hundreds of before-after shots that give you a sense of the change that has come to Brumley South in 2024.</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=13WWlTBjshsZWZEUT88hNCHwnLrDkcU1a&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE"></div><p>Once the mature olive has been vanquished, we will likely do three things when it comes to Brumley Preserve:</p><ol><li>Shift Brumley South to "maintenance mode": we will hold fewer events and rotate through previously cleared areas, removing new growth. That will be fast and easy, compared to getting rid of the decades-long spread.</li><li>Do more native ecosystem restoration at Brumley South: we fenced off three areas near the School of Wonder cul-de-sac. We are testing strategies for encouraging native tree growth, especially white oaks, and for suppressing the awful Japanese stilt grass. In addition, a new volunteer in 2024, Brian Mayell (a retired, deeply experienced conservation manager) will take the lead on several "test" projects.</li><li>Focus on invasive removal in Brumley North: TLC staff has been active in this smaller chunk of Brumley, both on their own and with volunteers. Now TriWild programs can help accelerate the cleanup on that side of Old NC 10.</li></ol><p>I'll provide detailed writeups of some of the other locations in future newsletters, but I can reassure you on this score: even detailed, they won't be as long as this one. </p><h3>Overwhelming, relentless evidence</h3><p>Came across this <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/26/us-farmers-embracing-wildflowers-prairie-strips-erosion-pollinators">article</a> in The Guardian that is an excellent reminder of how even relatively simple, small steps towards a natural ecosystem can quickly make a difference.</p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">Research shows that converting as little as 10% of a corn or soya bean field into a prairie strip </span><a href="https://www.nrem.iastate.edu/research/STRIPS/content/research-overview">can reduce soil erosion by 95%</a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">. Prairie strips also help reduce nutrient pollution, store excess carbon underground and provide critical habitat for pollinators and grassland birds. Thanks to federal funding through the USDA’s conservation reserve programme,they’ve taken off in recent years.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">The evidence is clear: the more we allow the natural world to assert itself, the more life for everyone and everything on Planet Earth improves. Even life for those silly, powerful yet unwise billionaires, if they could only tear themselves away from their addictions to acquisition.</span></p><h3><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">Outside > Inside</span></h3><p>Outside is better than inside.</p><p>This is one of my favorite mantras. As in, <i>so favorite </i>I <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1heUXniNOnztl1w8k0k8IhWX_6VkI73RWCyj433FfdCw/edit?tab=t.0">rewrote the lyrics</a> of Raffi's Ain't It Great to Be Crazy (interestingly, there's no recording of this song available; I expect that Raffi became uncomfortable with his lyrics - I am sure you will like mine better).</p><p>When you are about to pick up a device with a screen, go outside. When you are about to watch TV, go outside. When in doubt, go outside. </p><p>Your mind will clear, your mood will lighten. And if when outside, you <i>move</i>, then your body will strengthen.</p><p>In case this is not already obvious to you, Canadian researchers will perhaps help get the message across with this “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/dec/25/canadian-researchers-trial-nature-trick-to-boost-mood-in-winter">trick</a>.” </p><blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;">Between January and March, the plan is for at least 100 volunteers in Edmonton – a city where winter days can mean seven hours of daylight and temperatures as low as -35C – to spend two weeks going about their normal routines, but with one small change.</p><p style="margin-left:0px;">The participants will be instructed, while they are out and about, to pay attention to the natural amid the human-made – the frosty tree beside the tower block, the animal footprints on the snowy pavement, the icicles dangling from the warehouse roof – and make notes on how it makes them feel.</p></blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;">I'm sorry if I sound like I am mocking their work. Not really. I hope that the lesson is demonstrated clearly, and millions of Canadians “see the light” and go outside. </p><p style="margin-left:0px;">I guess I just have my doubts about the good it will do. The forces at work in our digitally-driven culture are very strong. </p><p style="margin-left:0px;">What we need is a Sam-I-Am that promotes green life as relentlessly as he pushed green eggs and ham. OK, now you know: I spent much of the last week with a three year old who fell in love with this book and demanded it be read, over and over, when he wasn't working on mastering a dinosaur puzzle by putting it together over and over.</p></div><div class="ck-content"><h3>Receive all my reports on tree rescues</h3><p>If you'd like to get some good news about restoring native habitats delivered straight to your brain upwards of a few times a week, sign in to <a href="https://rewildearth.net">Rewild Earth</a>, click on your name in top right, then My profile. Under Communication Preferences, switch “Send reports of all events” to ON. </p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1BeynVqu8taOGrsvi56u0mmDKuNJko22h&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE" width="358" height="138"></div><h3>Resources you might find useful</h3><ul><li><a href="https://shop.naisma.org/collections/buckthorn-blaster">Buckthorn Blasters</a>: safe, easy herbicide delivery system from the North American Invasive Species Management Association. Don't start cutting without them! Note: I now recommend that you buy one of these, but otherwise invest in more generic (and much much less expensive) <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dab-Ink-Pack-Bingo-Daubers/dp/B00FNXGX46">bingo daubers</a> that are exactly the same, except for being opaque).</li><li><a href="https://nc-ipc.weebly.com/nc-invasive-plants.html">NC Invasive Plants list</a>: recently updated by NC-IPC, the NC Invasives Plants Council.</li><li><a href="https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AG259">Overview of different herbicides</a>: glyposphate, triclopyr and others - which should you use?</li><li>Volunteer for <a href="https://triangleland.org">Triangle Land Conservancy</a>: the biggest land conservancy group in our area. </li><li>Volunteer for <a href="https://ellerbecreek.org">Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association</a> (Durham): a wonderful group working hard to maintain contiguous natural areas along Ellerbe Creek.</li></ul></div> |