What we’re about…

Posted on July 14, 2011 by admin

Welcome to the Friends of Bolin Creek website!  Upcoming meetings and events:

  • 7 pm, Thursday,May 31, Friends of Bolin Creek Board of Directors and Committee
  • 4 – 7 pm, Saturday, June 9, Picnic and music at Jean Earnhardt Farm

The presentations from our  February Healthy Waterways event, “Can We Heal Our Local Waterways?” at the UNC Botanical Garden can be seen here. We learned about the current water quality problems and actions needed to restore our urban streams. Over 175 people and 22 organizations participated in the “Healthy Watersheds Exchange”. We are drafting next steps to improve water quality and sending goals to Chapel Hill’s 2020.

It’s important to protect Bolin Creek because it feeds into Jordan Lake, which supplies water for half a million people, and it’s a habitat for dozens of different species, including the rare four-toed salamander. Unfortunately Bolin Creek is impaired. Learn how you can join us and make a difference to the creek!

Thanks, Friends of Bolin Creek
Artist’s map by Geneva Green, Geneva’s website: Greenstone Quarterly

Posted in Bolin Creek Watershed, Friends of Bolin Creek Community Exchange, Friends of Bolin Creek mission, Friends of Bolin Creek: Can We Heal Our Local Waterways? | Tagged | 1 Comment

Board of Aldermen approves Claremont South plan

Posted on April 21, 2012 by admin

The statement below was presented by Julie McClintock on behalf of Friends of Bolin Creek on April 17, 2012 at a Carrboro Town public hearing for a rezoning application for Claremont South near Bolin Creek. The application called for commercial space and small homes rather that the affordable townhouses originally planned and approved in a previous permit in 2009.  The two most recent changes to the plan required a rezoning and a new public hearing. 

Friends of Bolin Creek asked that the development meet the new Jordan Lake nutrient standards.  Several aldermen asked the developer to honor the standard that would be in place in June but he declined. The rezoning was granted unanimously. For more details read the Carrboro Citizen story.

Mary Sonis commented on this story. “I don’t think it is a wise idea to put 92 houses on a pasture that slopes directly downhill to Bolin Creek. When the developer respectfully declined to meet the new water standards, the board of aldermen had the power to respectfully decline to approve the rezoning. Adding commercial space may benefit the builder in a changing market, but the entire development will be a burden on the school system, and the taxpayers who already own homes in the neighborhood. So, the developer will make a profit…but the creek will be damaged. Our natural resources belong to everyone.”

   Friends of Bolin Creek Statement to Board of Aldermen

Friends of Bolin Creek’s mission is to protect the Bolin Creek Watershed which has been identified by the State DWQ and EPA as a 303 (d) impaired stream. Carrboro and Chapel Hill have received EPA grants to improve the health of the creek. Our community greatly values this natural treasure.

In February of 2012 we sponsored a water quality forum attended by two members of your Board. At the symposium, “Can We Heal Our Local Waterways?” we identified measures that can be taken by homeowners, governments and utilities to address our local water quality problems to improve and protect our creek water quality. This plan for Claremont South does not meet these measures; it directly poses a threat to Bolin Creek and the Town of Carrboro for the following reasons.

First, Carrboro is now required by state law to reduce nutrient loading into Jordan Lake by 35% total nitrogen and 5% total phosphorus from the 1997-2001 baseline level. Carrboro is in the Upper New Hope subwatershed of the Cape Fear basin. Of the three subwatersheds feeding Jordan Lake, this subwatershed has the largest nutrient reduction requirements. The plan for Claremont South will increase the amount of nutrients currently entering Bolin Creek and thus Jordan Lake. If you pass this development as it is proposed, Carrboro will have to eventually address this nutrient loading. It is far more effective and much cheaper to address reductions before development is put in place. If this plan is passed, taxpayers will have to foot the bill for “retrofits” to try and address this problem down the line.

Second, this development contains a very high percentage of impervious surface. While the proposed sediment ponds may address peak flows of stormwater, they do not address the total volume of stormwater entering Bolin Creek. This will result in erosive flows, reduction of groundwater, and decreased water quality. These are the same issues which have led to Bolin Creek’s impairment, which we are now struggling to mitigate.

Carrboro has taken many progressive actions to protect creeks and the environment, such as establishing stream buffers. Do not let a hasty move here undermine the long term economic and environmental health of Carrboro. It is a lot cheaper to bring about reductions up from with a new development rather then coming back and retrofitting existing development after the fact.

You have approved these rules in draft and when they are approved by the State in June they will be a Carrboro requirement.  Please be proactive and ask the developer as a condition of this development to meet the nutrient standard which will become a formal requirement in a few months.

 

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Early Morning Bird Walk in Bolin Forest

Posted on April 17, 2012 by admin

7 am, Saturday April 21 Bird Walk with Tom Driscoll.
Meet Wilson Park, Carrboro.
Tom Driscoll, of the New Hope Audubon Society, will be leading a bird walk along Bolin Creek on April 21 at 7am for two hours or so.  Meet at Williams Park in Carrboro.  We will be looking for the birds migrating through or newly arrived.  The trail is easy to moderately difficult.  Bring binoculars if you have them and sturdy shoes as the trail may be muddy and slippery.  Bring water and/or snacks if you want them.

Need any other info?

tom driscoll
chapel hill, nc usa
spttdrdshnk@yahoo.com

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Learn real life science in Bolin Creek

Posted on April 10, 2012 by admin

Join the fun and learn about our creeks!

Help Haw River Assembly and Friends of Bolin assess the health of our own Bolin Creek.

Sunday, April 15, 1:00PM,
The big bridge at Umstead Park, Umstead Drive, Chapel Hill
If you have questions, contact Betsy.

  • See how our creek is doing
  • Learn about creek critters
  • Kids welcome
  • Contribute to the Haw River Assembly Streamwatch Program

We will use simple water chemistry tests as well as macroinvertebrate bioindicators to assess our current creek health. Bring water shoes!

 

Posted in Bolin Creek, Bolin Creek Watershed | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Water: a major focus for UNC in 2012

Posted on March 29, 2012 by admin

As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was making a speech Thursday to announce a partnership involving the government, private businesses, advocacy groups and researchers, UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp was making some remarks about a campus initiative over the next two years to study issues regarding the world’s water supply.

They could have been in the same pulpit on World Water Day.

The American intelligence community got together on a report with alarming predictions, all of which are likely to be realized: floods and water shortages over the next 30 years that will press many countries to maintain fresh water supplies, which in turn will affect food markets, which will mean instability in governments, which may lead to wars over water.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/03/24/1954136/water-woes.html#storylink=cpy

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Join us to help clean up Jordan Lake and Bolin Creek

Posted on March 22, 2012 by admin

Join the 22nd Annual Haw River Assembly Clean Up Athon

  • Bolin Creek, Saturday March 24th at Chapel Hill Community Center, 1 – 3 pm
  • Jolly Branch, Monday, March 26th at Chapel Hill High School, 4 – 5:30 pm

Call Betsy Kempter at 919-942-2583 for further information

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March Bolin Forest Walk

Posted on February 24, 2012 by admin

Discover Northern Bolin Forest! Join us for a walk led by Salli Benedict on the Carolina North tract on Sunday, March 4th, 1 – 3 pm. Meet at the entrance to the forest found at the end of Tripp Farm Road reached from Hillsborough Road, Carrboro. Bring sturdy walking shoes. Expect gentle grades and wildlife sightings. See map link.

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Can We Heal Our Local Waterways?

Posted on January 7, 2012 by admin

A Symposium and Community Exchange

News flash about a watershed event! Participate in a Symposium and Community Exchange, “Can We Heal Our Local Waterways?” from 9 – 1:00 pm on February 11th, 2012 at the UNC Botanical Garden, our co-sponsor and host.  Join us to hear about the current water quality problems and actions needed to restore our urban streams. Attend or participate in the Community Exchange to connect with others interested in making a difference for water quality and the environment. Here are the facts and the agenda for the Symposium and the Community Exchange. Register here for the Children’s Program.

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Prospects Improve to Conserve Slopes of Little Creek

Posted on December 15, 2011 by admin

The University of North Carolina recently bought a special, five-acre tract of land in Chapel Hill, most of which is part of the Little Creek Bottomlands and Slopes Significant Natural Heritage Area.   Designated by the state’s Natural Heritage Program, Natural Heritage Areas are critically important for conservation of the state’s biodiversity, containing rare natural communities, rare species, and/or special animal habitats.  The UNC tract is immediately adjacent to federal wetlands managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as wildlife habitat and state game lands managed by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. See Aydan Court Project Sold in the News and Observer.

This is cause for celebration by everyone from wood ducks to local environmentalists who want to see our rapidly disappearing natural places conserved.  For the last few years, a local developer tried repeatedly to convince the Chapel Hill Town Council to change the low-density zoning of this tract to allow a high-density condo project.  In June of 2011, the Council denied the rezoning once and for all.

The proposed condo project would have covered over three-fourths of the tract, paving the steep, forested slopes adjacent to the federal wetlands and wildlife impoundment.   These public lands are permanent wildlife lands and serve as mitigation for adverse impacts to animal habitat from the construction of Jordan Lake.  The forested upland buffers, like the new UNC tract, protect habitat and water quality of Jordan Lake, a major regional water supply.

We encourage good stewardship of this special tract by the University of North Carolina.

 

 

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UNC asks for input on proposed Carolina North trail changes

Posted on November 28, 2011 by admin

After last week’s special meeting of the Carolina North trails and Advisory Committee held on November 21st, trail runners on UNC’s Carolina North have reason to be optimistic about the future of Pumpkin Loop. The University had previously announced its intention to close sections of this favorite woodland running trail. Many citizens had expressed the desire to maintain the non-paved path experience in a wooded, shaded and safe setting and lamented its closing.  Safety issues were highlighted as well, given the reality that bike commuters and recreational users will all be dumped onto a single path.  Stay tuned for the final decisions.

The two most interesting conclusions that emerged from this discussion:

  • After Chapel Hill and Carroboro citizens, some Trailhead members, and avid runners made a case for not closing key sections of the Pumpkin Loop, Chair Gordon Merklein described the following options: (1) keep the Pumpkin Loop open as is; (2) convert Pumpkin Loop to a narrower double-track trail, or (3) least preferred, provide a dual surface on the Duct Bank Greenway. The latter was the original UNC proposal of closing the trails and reforestation. UNC will look into whether putting a non-paved path beside the paved Duct Bank trail is possible.

  • UNC Director of Planning, Bruce Runberg announced that UNC will schedule two additional public meetings, one in January and one in June each year, three months respectively before each Carolina North report to the Chapel Hill Town Council. The public can make comments to UNC concerning any topic to do with Carolina North.  It is assumed that UNC Facilities will host these meetings.

It is refreshing and impressive that UNC will make this opportunity available to citizens. For the past two years, Neighbors for Responsible Growth and others have petitioned the Chapel Hill Town Council to follow through with a way for citizens to give input on detailed plans as they come along.  See June 2009 resolution that directed the development of a plan for the future implementation of the Carolina North Development Agreement. (2009-06-22/R-13)

The reason for the proposed UNC trail changes stem… Continue reading →

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Fall wildlife along Bolin Creek by Mary Sonis

Posted on November 20, 2011 by admin

This week I have been surprised with the animals that just allow you to walk right up to them.  The rut is about over,  but this young buck doesn’t seem to realize that he is supposed to be skittish.  Of course this is not “Big Daddy”..but I was still rather amused by his boldness.  It just makes my job easier.
And here we have the Virginia Opossum. People are never very excited about Opossum ..but they are fascinating creatures. This particular female has discovered our birdfeeder. She visits nightly to collect the spilled bird seed,  and is very relaxed about our presence on the scene. Quite the wide mouthed yawn. If you disturb or corner an Opossum,  they stand with their mouth agape and show you their fifty teeth. They never attack, unless you actually try to pick them up..and even then ,  they are likely to collapse and simply “play possum”  The playing possum might be involuntary…a neurological response to stress…but it serves the possum fairly well.   Often a dog will give up on prey that appears to be dead. The opossum adds to the act by releasing a slightly foul smelling musk from its anal glands. These peaceful creatures are North America’s only Marsupial.  The female opossum has a placenta that is not well developed. Her multiple young are born after about a fourteen day gestation. Each little opossum is about the size of a raisin,  and is still in an embryonic state. The mother licks her abdomen to slick the fur,  and each tiny Opossum must crawl to her pouch (marsupium) and latch on to one of her 13 teats. Some of them never complete the crawl.  For the next 2 months ,  the youngsters stay in the pouch.  Eventually they climb out and ride around on their mother’s back.
Opossums are not fast, their hearing isn’t acute, and their vision is ordinary. They are however,  superb climbers. The tail is not truly prehensile. It is not strong enough to hold up an adult animal, but it is used as an extra limb … or brace while climbing.
Like us, Opossums are true omnivores,  and will eat almost anything .  Much of their diet is scavenged. They will eat carrion , and anything else that they happen to find. Sadly, many die on roads eating roadkill.  The habit of standing still when confronted is  one of the main reasons that they perish on the road.
Did I mention that Opossums don’t have a lot of sense? They toddle through life taking little notice of the possible dangers around them.  Dogs kill Opossums easily. They also fall prey to Owls, Fox,  and Coyotes.  Fortunately… we are a friendly group around here!  Here’s something else that serves the Opossum well. The are naturally resistant to snake venom,  and rarely carry rabies. Their body temperature is too low for the rabies virus to thrive.
Finally, take a look at that hind foot. She has an opposable digit on her paw. Great for climbing trees. That thumb- like digit never has a toenail. The life expectancy of a wild Opossum is estimated to be two or three years. Poor little creature just gets tangled up with too many cars and predators.
When I first saw this on a tree trunk in the distance..I thought it was some kind of odd tree fungus…
But look at that..an Eastern Red Bat. The Red bat was doing exactly what they do during the day,  resting on a tree. This is our most common forest bat in North America. They usually rest hanging higher up in trees..and look like leaves dangling. This one chose to roost lower on the tree trunk.  She did not fly off when I approached, so I had plenty of time to observe her. After I left, she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.
So long from the Bolin Creek forest.

–Mary

Posted in Bolin Creek, Bolin Creek Wildlife | Tagged , | 3 Comments