With our Invasive Plant Management Crew up and running, our Trail Crew continuing trail improvements across the District, our preparations for Pisgah Project Day, and our installation of new signage on the Cat Gap Loop-John Rock trail complex, it has been an exciting and busy month on the Pisgah as Spring returns to the mountains.
With only a week and a half left until the big day, we have been finalizing the project list, staging materials, and coordinating with partners in preparation to welcome you all for Pisgah Project Day 2024. This year’s event will field 25 projects featuring some familiar projects like non-native invasive species (NNIS) removal, trail maintenance, turnpike construction, roadside cleanup, and graffiti removal, but also some new additions.
This year, in collaboration with USFS scientists from Bent Creek Experimental Forest, we will participate in a citizen science project, with two volunteer groups performing botanical surveys in two designated plots near Mt Pisgah. This will be the first in a series of Citizen Science “Bioblitzes” throughout the year that will allow the public to participate in collecting botanical data across different seasons and give participants insight into the important scientific work being done on the Pisgah.
This year’s event will also host new projects focused on improving the Entry-Byway kiosk area off highway 276, reconstructing and restoring a Trout Unlimited rain garden at Sycamore Flats designed to keep sediment out of the Davidson River, and more. Thanks to all our partners working with us to make this day possible. It is sure to be a great day and we hope to see you all out there on the 20th.
March marked the official start of our Invasive Plant Management Crew, with crew co-leaders Sam Byars and William Coffee coming on board at the end of the month. They have hit the ground running, building out their shop, securing tools and materials, getting trained up with required certifications, and familiarizing themselves with the Catheys Creek watershed. In addition, they have been working directly with USFS botanists to develop the methodology for tackling this problem on the ground.
The biggest, densest, and most deleterious infestation is in the area of the Kuykendall Group Camp, where the crew has been establishing plots, planning tactics, and beginning treatments of non-natives, a mix of everything from privet to huge autumn olive trees, multiflora rose and japanese honeysuckle. Deeply knowledgeable, experienced, and passionate, I am excited to see the fruits of their work in the coming months as they remove non-natives and make strides to restore native plants in the area.
The TPC Trail Crew has been focused this month on the Exercise Trail, where they have been addressing areas of this riverside trail that have eroded into the river from the impacts of Tropical Storm Fred and subsequent rain events. They completed a 280-foot relocation of the trail with turnpiked, elevated tread, a necessity in this flat, floodplain trail without positive drainage, and a 12-foot-long trail bridge over a drainage swale.
They are currently at work on a 220-foot turnpike similarly circumventing an undermined section of trail and allowing for safe and comfortable travel on this trail used daily by runners, walkers, campers, families, and anglers alike. They also made a spring visit to Graveyard Fields where they replaced an 8-foot section of rotten deck boards and stringers on the staircase down to Lower Falls.
In other exciting news, be on the lookout next month for the installation of new signage and an updated trailhead kiosk on the Cat Gap Loop-John Rock trail. It will feature excellent in-depth information on the geologic and human histories of the area, a focused trail complex map, and improved wayfinding in this popular area of Pisgah. So take a hike on the Cat Gap Loop this May; you can see the new kiosk and signage and, as an added bonus, you can see the great trail work that will be completed by CMC and Pisgah Project Day volunteers this April 20th.
Many thanks to you all for your continued support of The Pisgah Conservancy and Pisgah National Forest. See you on the 20th!
