Trails we’ve worked on in the past month:
- North Mills River Trail
- South Mills River Trail
- North Slope Trail
- Art Loeb Connector Trail
- Art Loeb Trail
- Mountains-to-Sea Access Trail (trail down to Second Falls in Graveyard Fields)
Trail Crew highlights
With their trail improvements on North Mills River Trail complete, our Trail Crew is now working on North Slope Trail. They are making the most of the Davidson River Campground closure by tackling significant erosion, reducing trail-widening, and addressing the aftermath of a landslide caused by Helene.
Our crew is split into two teams to complete this work. One team is using equipment for heavy dirt work and reverse-grade dip construction, and the other team is using hand tools to improve drainage and tread conditions on sections of the upper part of the loop, where a lighter touch is more appropriate.
They will likely spend the remainder of the month on North Slope Trail, where they’ll continue to methodically improve drainage and repair tread across the entirety of the trail. They will also be replacing two small trail bridges on the low side of the loop.
Our crew also responded to a report of a failing boardwalk structure in the Graveyard Fields area, quickly remedying a hazardous trail issue. With partners from Conservation Corps North Carolina, we removed a section of unsafe, rotted-through boardwalk on the trail down to Second Falls. A perennial maintenance problem, this section of trail is set to be reconstructed in the coming year through a contract managed by the Forest Service that will also include the damaged bridge over Yellowstone Prong.
Ecological Restoration Crew highlights
Over the past month, our Ecological Restoration Crew has revisited, inventoried, and treated invasive plant management sites across the Catheys Creek watershed. In their third consecutive year of managing these sites, our crew is encountering diminished invasive plant populations and healthy native revegetation.
With effective initial results evident in these areas, our crew’s continued monitoring and management will be vital to ensuring healthy understories and diverse native vegetation within the watershed.
With this season’s work in Catheys Creek largely complete, the crew has returned to the 276 corridor to provide second-year treatments on kudzu infestations. They will working on managing invasive plants across the corridor’s administrative sites, including Sycamore Flats, Coontree, Shut-In, the Ranger Station area, and more.
Pisgah River Rangers program highlights
With weekly guided hikes, pop-up education opportunities, snorkeling events, and nature journaling workshops, the Pisgah River Rangers are hard at work directly engaging with community members and Pisgah’s visitors daily this summer.
Whether through formal educational programming or more informal interactions and opportunities for education arising organically in the course of their stewardship work, the Pisgah River Rangers continue to share their knowledge of the forest and its aquatic ecosystems with all comers.
Our second annual Moth Night celebration was a highlight of the past month. It was a great success with well over 100 attendees eager to experience the forest in the evening, participate in fun educational activities, and see the nighttime emergence of some spectacular moth species. With just under a month of Pisgah River Rangers summer programming remaining this season, be sure to get out in the forest to join them for one of their scheduled programs soon.
Project update: Upper Falls Connector Trail
Up near John Rock Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway, our contracted team from Global Action Sports Solutions is continuing to make progress on construction of the Upper Falls Connector Trail.
With a significant length of the trail corridor cleared and benched, the crew has begun construction of the hardened aggregate trail surface, installing geotextile fabric and laying and compacting stone on the first few hundred feet of trail beyond the staging area.
This technique will provide a smooth, hardened, and durable tread surface that will make the trail ideal for both pedestrian use and equipment and material access necessary for future repairs to the trails of Graveyard Fields.
Once the hardened trail is constructed, the contractor will proceed to bridge installation, ford construction, and finish work in the coming weeks and months.
Volunteer opportunities with TPC
This past month saw TPC providing leadership on multiple collaborative volunteer trail workdays.
Our Trails and Recreation Technician, Simon Farr, teamed up with members of the Carolina Mountain Club (CMC) Pisgah Friday crew to lead a group of Outward Bound students in performing tread improvements on the Art Loeb Trail near the Butter Gap trail shelter.
He also joined Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards staff and CMC volunteers for an overnight trail work event, supporting our partners with equipment, materials, and leadership over the course of the weekend.
As a result of this collaborative effort, the Art Loeb Trail approaching and entering the Shining Rock Wilderness is better defined, more protected from erosion, and cleared of summer overgrowth for the season.
Don’t miss your chance to give back to Pisgah’s trails this summer – join us for an upcoming volunteer workday!
See our upcoming volunteer events here: https://pisgahconservancy.org/pisgahevents/category/volunteer-events/