Trails Corner 1-18-2023
As always, the coming of the new year offers a great opportunity to celebrate the collaborations, accomplishments, and achievements of the passing year and look ahead toward what is to come. In that spirit, I will eschew my typical narrative update of TPC project activities to highlight the best of 2022 and projects to come in 2023.
2022 Project Highlights:
• Tucker Creek Clean-up: The beautiful Tucker Creek drainage off the Highway 215 corridor had been a notorious decades-old illegal dumpsite, its striking waterfall and cascading pools sullied by years of discarded appliances, tires, construction materials, household trash, and debris. Over three cold days, employees from TPC and the USFS, volunteers, and contractors put in more than 500 hours of labor pulling trash up steep slopes by hand and using block and tackle. At the end of the three days, an astonishing 45,400 pounds of garbage was removed from the area, restoring the one-time dumpsite to its fitter glory.
• Pisgah Project Day 2022: Engaging 330 volunteers in 23 projects across the Forest, Pisgah Project Day allowed the community to directly give back to the Pisgah with projects focused on trail maintenance, trail bridge construction, Non-Native Invasive Species treatment, bat box installation, split-rail fence construction, graffiti removal, and more. Pisgah Project Day 2022 was made possible and successful by dozens of valued partners and sponsors whose collective contributions allowed for a direct positive impact on the Forest.
• Courthouse Creek Wildlife Field: The completion of a new, permanent three-acre wildlife opening in the Courthouse Creek area marked TPC’s first major project focused on wildlife habitat improvement. Located at just above 3,800 feet in elevation, this new opening establishes important Early Successional Habitat for a variety of wildlife species. The site has already seen a wide variety of visitors including bears, bobcats, deer, coyotes, turkeys, red-tailed hawks, and a variety of other bird species.
• Pink Beds Loop: This collaborative performance of much-needed improvements on Pink Beds Loop was accomplished by the USFS, TPC, FIND Outdoors, and the Conservative Anabaptist Service program. Several hundred feet of the elevated turnpike and bog bridge were installed in flat, wet areas; bridges were raised and reset; and heavy machine work was contracted (special thanks to Allen Frost and his Little Digger!) to establish new grade dips and ensure positive drainage on this trail.
• Sidehill Trail: Trail Dynamics was contracted to perform heavy tread and drainage reconstruction on the Sidehill trail in Bent Creek. In addition, TPC trail workers joined USFS technicians and Pisgah Area SORBA volunteers in rock armoring, bridge re-leveling, and locust turnpike construction on nearby sections of the Lower Sidehill trail. These direct improvements to trail conditions and sustainability will provide for a great user experience while protecting the resource for years to come.
• Graveyard Fields: TPC contracted environmental consultants to complete the archaeological surveys required for the implementation of the complex-scale Graveyard Fields project. Once a decision memo from the USFS is finalized, we’ll be ready to start on the ground operations.
• Butter Gap Trail Project: TPC collaborated with Pisgah Area SORBA and the USFS in the planning and preparation for the large-scale Butter Gap Trail project by contracting both archaeological and botanical surveys that are required before any new trail construction occurs on the Forest.
• Trail Positions: Our TPC Trail Specialist and Trails and Recreation Technician positions completed a wide variety of trail projects over the year in concert with the USFS and other partners and volunteers. We did a bit of everything from basic tread maintenance, drainage improvements, corridor clearing, brushing, bridge construction and repair, turnpike construction, staircase construction, new trail design, and more.
• Leading volunteer groups: TPC employees led projects for a variety of visiting work crews. These included student groups from Brevard College, Coastal Carolina University, First Presbyterian Church of Beaufort, and a month-long crew from the Conservative Anabaptist Service Program. Projects included trail maintenance, tread improvements, bridge reconstruction, turnpike construction, and bog bridge construction and installation.
• River Rangers: The River Rangers team had a successful season providing community outreach and education, river restoration, and clean-up efforts on behalf of Pisgah’s waterways. They delivered nearly 50 formal and informal education programs in collaboration with community partners, engaged more than 1,000 visitors, and reached more than 4.7 million people on Facebook. Their on-the-ground work included dismantling 82 rock structures from rivers, remediating 65 illegal campsites located near vital waterways, and removing more than 300 pounds of trash from rivers, recreation sites, and hiking trails. Since the program’s inception in 2019, all three previous Lead River Rangers have continued working within the local federal workforce, a primary goal of USFS Public Lands Corps (PLC) programs.
Looking towards 2023:
• Black Mountain Trailhead Connector Trail: This month TPC awarded a contract to local professional trail builders at Trail Dynamics for the construction of the Black Mountain Trailhead Connector Trail, phase three of the Black Mountain Trailhead relocation project. This new .2-mile trail will connect the new parking lot by the Ranger Station with Thrift Cove Road and will include a 10-foot-long bottomless arch culvert with high-quality stonework sure to be an iconic trail feature hearkening back to the stone aesthetic of early Pisgah.
• Trail Shelters: With work already begun this past year, TPC will reconstruct the dilapidated trail shelters on the Art Loeb Trail at Butter Gap and Deep Gap. With funding from the Great American Outdoors Act, this work will provide safe and comfortable facilities for backpackers, summer campers, and all users of the Forest for years to come.
• Butter Gap - Searcy Creek Connector: Upon USFS completion of a decision memo, we look forward to moving forward on this project with TPC focusing specifically on the Searcy Creek Connector trail which will connect FS Road 5095 (Searcy Creek) with the top of the Butter Gap trail complex allowing for improved connectivity and loop opportunities and an overall better user experience for all Forest visitors.
• Graveyard Fields: Similar to the Butter Gap Project, once the USFS finalizes the decision memo, we will be able to get started with the multiple actions comprising this large-scale trail system improvement project.
• Pisgah Project Day 2023: Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 22nd for Pisgah Project Day 2023, which is sure to be another great day of people, projects, and service to provide direct improvements to the Pisgah Ranger District.
• Developing new projects: TPC will continue to explore and plan for potential future projects of all kinds including the construction of a new 3/8-mile trail connecting Cove Creek Group Campground with Daniel Ridge Road, the creation of an additional wildlife field in the Courthouse Creek area, and a kudzu removal and treatment project along the Davidson River corridor.
In addition to these major planned project highlights, we look forward to another busy year of ongoing trail work, another great season for the Pisgah River Rangers, and endless opportunities to connect with our community.
Here’s to another great year in 2023 on the Pisgah!
Great thanks to the USFS, our many partners, volunteers, and all those working together to improve and maintain the Pisgah. And thanks as always to all of you for your continued support of TPC and Pisgah National Forest.