Beaver Marsh cleanup

Thanks to the volunteers from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association, and Hillside High School for their efforts in cleaning up ECWA's Beaver Marsh Preserve yesterday.

The new kiosk is cool, and features a "green roof" designed by Hillside High students. Eventually, the vines planted in the rooftop boxes will trail down and around the kiosk. it's a prototype for residential roof structures.



Lots more work to do at the marsh. You can see in the pictures that the water surface is covered with some invasive species whose name, no matter how many times i hear it, i can never remember.



The Beaver Queen Pageant is coming up next weekend on Saturday, June 5. It's a fundraiser for ECWA and will help clean up and preserve the marsh. If you've been to the pageant before, you know how much fun it is. If you haven't, you can watch video of previous pageants here, or read about it here.

This year, i'm going to be one of the celebrity judges and, in keeping with tradition, i'm taking bribes to vote for your favorite candidate. You can pass the bribe to me in person at the pageant (don't worry - it all goes to ECWA!) or you can make a contribution via PayPal here. Scroll down to "Buy a Judge" and click on "Speed Beaver" to help me reach my goal of raising $250 for ECWA.

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I have always depended on the kindness of strangers

To keep Durham's waterways (relatively) clean. Here's some of what got picked up from the Beaver Pond behind Compare Foods this weekend.


I think this is the fourth year that there's been a trash cleanup in the Beaver Pond, and it looks like this was the most stuff hauled out yet. Sadly, there's a lot of crap still lining the fence between the creek and the parking lot.

Maybe this will help.

Also noticed that one of the undeveloped parcels on Foushee St., between the old K-Mart and the new McDonald's parking lot, is for sale. The city's GIS doesn't differentiate this lot from the rest of the shopping center. Given how much abandoned retail space there is in the shopping center, and how much extraneous parking exists to serve that unused space, i'm curious how much new parking whoever buys and builds on that lot is going to be required to add.

Continue reading I have always depended on the kindness of strangers

Open invite

Dear Mayor Bell and Durham City Council Members,

We would like to invite you to participate in two Creek Week events.

The first is a clean up of the Ellerbe Creek Beaver Marsh from 9 to noon, this Saturday, March 20. This magical place is all too often the location of illegal dumping and has been the site of neighborhood clean ups since 2006. It is also one of the few sources of clean water flowing into Ellerbe Creek and thus into the Falls Lake.

The second event is a nature walk at this hidden gem at 6:00pm on Sunday, March 21. The Beaver Marsh is located behind Compare Foods and Big Lots. We will look for birds and beavers at this urban ecological treasure. I think you would be surprised by the beauty of this place.

Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association was highlighted as an Environmental Hero on WUNC-TV. Here is the seven minute video that appeared on North Carolina Now.

http://flash.unctv.org/ncnow/ncn_ellerbecreek_120909.html

It was produced by UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication's Medical and Science Journalism Program as well as WUNC-TV.

Hope to see you at the Beaver Marsh on Saturday and Sunday!

Sincerely,
Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association

Continue reading Open invite

Beaver Queen Pageant - Meet the Contestants

Only 10 days to the 5th Annual Beaver Queen Pageant.

That means it's time to meet another contestant. Y'all show Bupkiss Beaver some hospitality, now:

It was a hot summer day in NYC. So hot, all I could do was go into my icebox and this hot furry beaver fell asleep. Ummm, it was so cool, as if I was swimming in a glacial stream. Aaahh. Alaska...This is the life! Look, I can see Russia from my dam! I better be careful; there’s that schlemazel governor who thinks she can be president. Oy Vey!

So this busy beaver started exploring.

I came upon a great erection, a totem to the mother beaver,

lovingly carved by many large front teeth.

A voice spoke to me. Feh, this was no dream, but a call from the great creator of wetlands herself!

Bupkiss, listen to me. Until now, your life has been bupkiss; now you have a mission. You are my chosen beaver. You must deliver my message, and liberate Ellerbe Creek’s beavers. That creek is a mess, a real shanda! No furry beaver could live with all that shmutz. The ECWA will clean up the creek, but they need the gelt. You must go to the pageant and throw a rent party for the Ellerbe Creek. Bring this package, this stimulus package, and stimulate the beavers! Bring my power to Durham. May wetlands spread over all beavers, for a wet beaver is a happy beaver.

Nu? So here I come, direct from New York, 1939, with the mother beaver’s schtick.

Looks like quite a schtick, too.

There are plenty of things to do between now and June 6th to get ready for the pageant. Beaver tail art is still on display at the Scrap Exchange, and this Saturday, the 30th, there will be an evening of comedy and cabaret, Sing One For The Beavers, at the Exchange, 548 Foster Street, at 7pm. It's a fundraiser for Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association, so bring ten bucks if you want to catch Beaver Streisand in her only Durham appearance.

Speaking of ECWA, they're partnering with Deep Durham Beautiful and the Scrap Exchange to do some cleanup around the beaver pond (ECWA's newest acquisition) behind Compare Foods on Saturday afternoon. You know you want to help. Please contact Ann Woodward at The Scrap Exchange, 682-2751, email ann@scrapexchange.org, or RSVP through Keep Durham Beautiful to let them know how many pairs of gloves they'll need.

Continue reading Beaver Queen Pageant - Meet the Contestants

Beaver Pond preserved!

I've written about the Beaver Pond off Avondale Drive, behind Compare Foods and just north of I-85 numerous times.

Here's some great news to report.

Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association has, finally, taken title to the 32 acre parcel. The spring newsletter, in print but not yet online, has all the details. Turns out the previous owner was persuaded to sell below market value, and both the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and the Upper Neuse Clean Water Initiative kicked in funds. Look for the Beaver Pond to join the list of ECWA managed nature destinations in Durham in the near future.

More information, i'm certain, will be available at the 5th Annual Beaver Queen Pageant, coming up on June 6 at the Duke Park Meadow. Check out the newly revamped Beaver Lodge website for all the details. I'm honored once again to be the official blogger for the pageant. I'll be posting both here and at BeaverLodgeLocal1504.org over the next month or so till the pageant.

See you there.

Continue reading Beaver Pond preserved!

Garlic mustard

Sounds good, no? And it's not unattractive as weeds go, although not quite the looker that purple loosestrife is.

And like loosestrife, it's an invasive that's capable of damaging local ecosystems. That's why the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association is looking for some help this Saturday in eradicating garlic mustard from the Ellerbe Creek watershed:

If you like exploring creeklands, comfortable in woodland environs (uneven terrain, poison ivy, ticks) and want to HELP we definitely could use you. We will meet this Sat.morning @ 10AM on Club Blvd by Club Blvd School playground (near Washington & Hwy 85 overpass. I'd suggest you wear long pants, bring water and a lite snack (fanny or small backpack good as you will need both hands for pulling and carrying out Garlic mustard). Note: location could change, will send email by Fri. night if it does.

If you want to help but can't make this Sat. please contact me: cynthie@ellerbecreek.org. If there are interested people we could also meet the folowing weekend as a group.

Give 'em a hand if you've got some free time on Saturday.

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