Burdens Creek Bluff and surrounding landscape, trashed





Looking down into the floodplain in late March. The buckeyes are leafing out and the trout lilies are about done blooming ©.

About a mile north of the pinxterflower azaleas threatened by Duke Energy there is another area with unusually diverse and abundant wildflowers for this part of the Triangle, but marred by rampant trash dumping and there are other problems nearby (for the pinxterflower article, posted September 8^th, see: durhamspark.blogspot.com/2018/09/pinxterflowers-duke-energy-and-federal.html ). From the pinxterflowers, we go north along the edge of RTP, crossing TW Alexander Drive at the light, quickly coming to the top of a hill, stopping before the bridge over Burdens Creek. On the east a relatively young forest, hiding some brickwork and a former farm pond (visited by the occasional great blue heron and bordered by buttonbushes, a very good flower for butterflies and other pollinators, if I remember correctly), was levelled and the pond filled in around 2009 to build what is now a Duke Health office building surrounded by a large treeless parking lot (where the pond was). I think the builder was required to build a mulched trail along the sewer easement paralleling Burdens Creek, but floods washed it away and it was never replaced. As I started writing this article the site was owned by Phoenix, Arizona-based Cole Real Estate Investments, but maybe two weeks later the name changed to Cole HC Durham NC LLC and the mail is directed to The RMR Group in Newton, Massachusetts (see Durham's interactive GIS maps at durhamnc.gov/1455/Interactive-Maps ). There are a lot of wildflowers in the surrounding woods, though English ivy, multiflora roses, and other non-native plants grow in the swampy woods north of the parking lot and the population of native Indian grass on a utility easement along Alston seems to have been destroyed by utility or road work. South of this site there is a brick building long housing an American Legion post, now apparently used as a church. Some native and introduced flowers grow along Alston, and old-fashioned pink and dark red roses bloom (or once bloomed) in May at a secluded spot closer to the Social Security Administration facility. To clarify some details in the earlier article, property records say that the SSA's building was built around 2008 on land last sold May 1, 2007 and is owned by Winston-Salem-based JDL-RTP LLC.



Swampy forest left between Burdens Creek and the Duke Health building, visible on the right. Amphibians breed in these seasonal pools and there are many wildflowers, but this young forest also has more non-native plants than the forest on the west side of Alston, for example the Japanese honeysuckle visible here ©.

On the west side of Alston there were a few small houses, but today only one is left, overlooking the bridge at Burdens Creek. At the crest of the hill a house surrounded by woods was used as a daycare for a long time, but was replaced by a complex with three brick buildings (5310 South Alston Avenue) in about 2002. It apparently won a 2003 Merit Award in the North Carolina Architectural Competition, sponsored by the Brick Association of NC (but I can only find one reference: www.loopnet.com/Listing/14218503/5310-South-Alston-Avenue-Building-100-Durham-NC/ ; other photos at: www.loopnet.com/Listing/19797681/5310-S-Alston-Avenue-Durham-NC/ ). I think I read once that the office complex was designed by Durham's Freelon Group, Inc., and it houses their office, merged with Perkins+Will in 2014. The complex had been listed as belonging to The Dilweg Companies, LLC ( www.dilweg.com/ ), with offices in North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida, and a focus on office buildings, but in recent years the owner has been listed as I-LOFT RTP LLC, based in Suite 210, the same address as Dilweg's Corporate Office. I was thrown out of this complex once, which I attribute to white collar bias. Parts of the complex are listed as belonging to the Life Community Church of RTP NC INC (with an RTP address; I haven't seen any activity at building 100, on the south end, but it is apparently Life International's Global Leaders Center). John S Carbone LLC (in nearby Morrisville) and CCR Durham Land Holdings (in Santa Monica, California) are also listed as owners, and other companies lease office space. There are few wildflowers in the remaining young, piney woods surrounding the complex, but the property lines extend down the slope behind the buildings and across the floodplain where there is older deciduous forest with more floral diversity.
 

There is a lot of privately-owned open space in Durham, even in the urban core, often owned by companies far from North Carolina. In urban areas there is the similar issue of public spaces that are increasingly privately-owned, so people can be deprived of rights more easily than in truly public city squares and parks. There is also the issue that volunteers can freely pick up trash in a park, but could be barred by private owners, even if the owners refuse to take responsibility themselves. There are a few more or less working farms in Durham (and more in nearby Orange County), but the non-built up parts of Durham are mostly long abandoned farmland now returned to forest, probably because farming so close to an urban center became cost prohibitive. Over the decades a lot of “development” in Durham has been on this former farmland at the periphery. Durham had two malls, to which was added Southpoint Mall at the south end of the County, so Durham briefly had three malls, and at least two more close by in neighboring counties, but then older South Square Mall closed and that site still hasn't been completely re-developed, so Durham is back to having only two malls. Supposedly sprawl wasn't going to spread from Southpoint, but that is what seems to be happening, even before the General Assembly forced Durham to accept 751 South few years ago. It has only been relatively recently, maybe in the last 10 to 20 years, that there has been much building downtown, in the abandoned ruins of the tobacco industry and open spaces.
        

The main concern is next to the offices, at the Falls Pointe at the Park Apartments (100 Cascade Falls Lane, www.fallspointeattheparkapartments.com/ , formerly fallspointeapartments.com/ ). I thought they were built after the office complex, but property records say Falls Pointe was built around 2001. For several years if not from the beginning Falls Pointe belonged to The NRP Group, LLC ( www.nrpgroup.com/ ), based in Cleveland, Ohio and having 16 offices, all in the East, including one office in NC (4515 Falls of Neuse Road Suite 100 Raleigh, NC 27609). According to property records, the complex was sold (by subsidiaries NRP Alston Village, LLC and NRP Alston Management, LLC) April 25, 2018 to Fairfield Residential ( http://www.fairfieldresidential.com/ ), based in San Diego, California (5510 Morehouse Drive Suite 200 San Diego, California 92121), although the actual owner is a subsidiary called Fairfield Falls Pointe LLC, with the same San Diego address. NRP still owns a large area of floodplain that surely cannot be built on, perhaps as mitigation for construction elsewhere (last sold December 27, 2000, presumably the date when they originally acquired the land). This article mainly covers the period under NRP management, and it is possible things will improve, but there was still plenty of trash in the woods in the fall. Before the apartments were built there were about two small houses near the road, with a large field of tawny broomsedge and lawn in between, and young lobolly pines, red cedars, and maybe a thicket of sumac or blackberries towards the back, but this mostly flat area drops off steeply to the edge of the swampy floodplain west and northwest, forming what can be called Burdens Creek Bluff. Older deciduous hardwoods grow on the slope and in the floodplain. A slough, probably a former course of Burdens Creek, runs along the base of the Bluff, which slopes more or less steeply down from the apartments, with some natural terraces.
 

Behind Falls Pointe the hillside has a lot of plant diversity, and is literally covered with flowers in early spring, probably because of atypical soil weathered from igneous rocks that intruded into the surrounding sedimentary rocks millions of years ago; the long time the forest was left mostly undisturbed; and the cool, moist microclimate formed by the steep, generally northwest-facing hillside. Some flowers can bloom as early as December, but definitely by March yellow trout lilies densely cover the slope, especially at the top, while lower down there are numerous grasslike spring beauties with white flowers that open when it is sunny. Relatively rare toothworts, another white to pinkish flower, are common on a moist terrace and there are rare pennyworts. Other spring flowers include rue anemone (also known as windflower, a forb with white flowers that nod in the wind), purple-colored violets, saxifrage, and possibly relatively rare white star chickweed, related to the rare firepinks once found down the road. The blue or lavender to white flowers of Hepatica, formed by sepals rather than petals, can appear as early as December or January. Hepatica and evergreen wild ginger have leathery leaves with interesting marbled patterns as if for camouflage. Trout lilies also have striking leaves, finely dappled like the sides of a native brook trout, only visible in spring. Trout lilies are also known as dogtooth violets, but are lilies. Many of these native wildflowers are relatively rare in the Triangle and are very abundant here. Being flowers of older woodlands and early blooming (several are spring ephemerals, perennials that only appear aboveground for a short time, before the trees leaf out), they are probably unknown to most people today.
 

Five hundred years ago these flowers and species now entirely absent might have grown all over what is now Durham, but agriculture and overharvesting are probably the reasons they are now restricted to older woodlands near waterways. Overgrazing by deer might be another factor, and the scarcity of predators (due to human persecution and habitat loss, but some remain) or areas where deer can be hunted allowed their population to boom. Catesby's trilliums, if not other species of trillium, are supposed to grow in the Triangle, but I have never seen any, except for a dark red species growing along woodland trails at the NC Botanical Garden, presumably planted. Further west, Randolph County must be full of them, if they can allow acres of trilliums to be drowned under recently impounded Lake Randelman, on the Deep River south of Greensboro and north of the town of Randleman ( ptrwa.org/index.htm ), from what I have heard.

 

Trout lilies and some spring beauty leaves in late February ©.

 

A few toothworts and spring beauties still blooming in late March and there are many trout lilies not blooming and a sprig of strawberry bush ©.



Spring beauties in bloom and trout lily foliage ©.



Toothwort, rue anemone, and spring beauty flowers ©.

The forest floor in April is carpeted with blooming spring beauties along with many other wildflowers, not blooming, such as pink wood sorrel ©.

Later in the spring pink wood sorrel, mayapples, alumroot, and Solomon's seal (or a relative) bloom, while at the foot of the hill there seem to be Atamasco or Easter lilies. I have heard that these large white lilies used to be abundant at what is now the Greenwood Commons shopping center nearby. There is a huge patch of dwarf crested irises, though they might be too shaded to flower. There could be some Carolina blue bluets around, a relatively common spring flower, though I haven't noticed many in recent years. Cranefly orchids have leaves that are dark green on top and bright purple below during the cool months, but are leafless by the time they flower in summer. Beechdrops also bloom in summer and are always leafless, being parasitic on beech tree roots. There are jack-in-the-pulpits in the bottomlands. Spring is the best time for flowers at the Bluff, but some composites bloom in the summer and fall when there is mostly heavy shade.

Dark evergreen Christmas ferns grow near the foot of the hill, and there are a few other ferns. Large igneous boulders at the top of the slope are covered with clinging resurrection ferns, so-called because their thick leaves can shrivel up, but resurrect green and flat again later. There are also a few spleenworts amid the rocks and even growing out of small cracks. There is little if any poison ivy on the hillside. In May bright red coral honeysuckle blooms along the forest edge behind the apartments, as do very large strawberry or hearts a'bustin (with love) bushes, named for their spiny, hot pink capsules that dangle red-orange seeds in the fall; their flowers are much less spectacular. The shrub layer also includes lots of painted buckeyes that have yellow flowers in March, visited by bumblebees; maple-leaf viburnums that have clusters of white flowers in May; and pawpaws, possibly the dwarf variety. Taller pawpaw groves are common along nearby creeks and have large, cloying, bananalike fruit in late summer. The hillside has a few scattered dogwoods, redbuds, and fringetrees that bloom in March and April when they get enough light down in the understory. Overhead there are various oaks, hickories, American beech, ash, sugar maples, and a large black walnut, surrounded by legumes during the summer.



Resurrection ferns, cranefly orchids, trout lilies, coral honeysuckle, and other plants at the top of the Bluff ©.

Frogs and probably also salamanders breed in the pools below the Bluff in early spring. Marbled salamanders and small snakes shelter under debris on the moist hillside. Eastern newts, seemingly rare in this part of Durham, have been found in the neighborhood, and much more common Eastern box turtles can also be found. By late summer large brown mosquitoes make going into the forest problematic, but there are also many fireflies and large black damselflies, the territorial males jet black with bodies that flash with blue and green iridescence in the forest shade. In the large area of bottomland forest barred owls, hawks, migratory yellow-bellied sapsuckers, herons, and other birds can be heard or seen at various times. There could be wood ducks, pileated woodpeckers, prothonotary warblers, woodcocks, and even turkeys. River otters are said to live in relatively small and clear (except when it turned opaque and yellow as 540 was being built upstream) Burdens Creek. There are many crayfish and fish in the Creek, and probably freshwater mussels, though the main species might be an Asian species. There are also beavers. Once in these woods I suddenly found myself walking along next to a possum during the day and there are raccoons and deer. With the people there are also feral or pet cats. Maybe there are nocturnal flying squirrels, and there must be flocks of moths and katydids on summer nights, Urbanization must be reducing their numbers, but I see a lot on Hopson Road on summer nights.
 

Fortunately the richest and oldest woods were mostly left alone when the apartments and offices were built, but the apartments come very close to the edge of the slope, which people seem to take as an invitation to dump their trash, and NRP never seemed much troubled by it. Landscaping contractors dumped fallen leaves, uprooted bushes, excess soil, etc., though one of NRP's local managers claimed they were against this (it seems like they should have been in control of their own contractors). The large debris piles take years to decompose, so plants underneath are killed, and this debris propagates non-native bushes into the woods. People go to these piles and dump trash, or throw it just inside the forest edge or over the slope. Maybe a year or two ago one brush pile had a lot of disposable diapers and the one next to it a lot of bagged pet waste, leading to the question of which is worse, the fecal coliform bacteria and pathogens or the plastic that won't decompose or fragment for a very long time. At various times there have been small piles of kitchen garbage, mattresses, furniture, a sofa, a broken wall mirror, rugs, tools, cellphones, a wrecked laptop, a computer monitor, batteries, plastic food packaging, plastic and glass bottles, cans, pots, shoes, etc. The complex has a central trash compactor and recycling center and they must have rules about trash disposal. NRP's local management claimed they cleaned up trash something like once or twice a year, probably meaning at most only a few feet into the trees, even though NRP owned and still owns a large area of the forest. The only reason there isn't more trash there now is because volunteers clean up some of it, mainly the plastic, one to three times a year. A few years ago Durham County passed a law forcing people to clean up excessive trash or aesthetic 'problems' on their land, and that helped here three years ago. The law is probably aimed more at penalizing homeowners, who may be poor, old, or prefer unconventional or naturalistic, wildlife-friendly landscaping, rather than companies that don't care about trash as long as it isn't in front of their offices. Besides the trash, herbicide is or was periodically sprayed along the forest edge and chemicals are probably spread on the lawns. Native solitary bees, providers of valuable and free pollination services, dug their burrows in one spot. Some stormwater is sent over the hillside, causing erosion, though I have seen worse though probably legal examples, such as behind the Phillips Research Park Apartments, located on a hill off Ellis Road at the north end of RTP, also surrounded by biologically rich older woodland, and at the Old Chatham Golf Club in Chatham County, though that might have been corrected by now.



Some of this is snow, but most of it is trash thrown behind Falls Pointe in winter 2010 ©.

  


A few volunteers picked up some trash that spring (photo) and in the fall ©.



Trash picked up in spring 2015 (there were other cleanups through 2018 not shown) ©.

Here is a pile of yard waste and trash that same spring ©.

Three mattresses thrown in a brush pile, a sofa, a burned bicycle, etc. dragged out of the woods in fall 2015 ©.



A pile of trash in summer 2017 ©.

Having corporate offices far away, selling frequently, and creating subsidiaries helps those in control avoid accountability while generating capital. The land, created by nature over an eternity, is seen as a commodity, something created only for exchange on a market, rather than for its use-value, as the common environment humanity and the rest of nature inhabits. I did a short search to see what Marx said regarding the natural environment, and, among other works, there is a chapter of The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 (International Publishers, 1964, reprinted 1984, page 101 – 102; another translation is posted online at: www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/rent.htm ), containing some of his early writing. This passage is mainly about land used for agriculture and the transition from feudal landed property to capitalist commodification of the land, as is common around the world today, and especially in the USA, created out of colonies with few or no leftover feudal relations, after the land had been basically seized from its native inhabitants, who also had few or no feudal relations. Marx writes without sentimentality about the transition from feudalism to capitalism, which can then be replaced by socialism: “It is necessary that this appearance be abolished [“the semblance of a more intimate connection between the proprietor and the land than that of mere material wealth” and the “political” and “human, intimate” connection between the proprietor and his serfs] … ”that all personal relationship between the proprietor and his property cease, property becoming merely objective, material wealth; that the marriage of convenience should take the place of the marriage of honor with the land; and that land should likewise sink to the status of a commercial value, like man. It is essential that that which is the root of landed property – filthy self-interest – make its appearance, too, in its cynical form. It is essential that the immovable monopoly turn into the mobile and restless monopoly, into competition; and that the idle enjoyment of other peoples' blood and toil turn into a bustling commerce in the same commodity ... The medieval proverb nulle terre sans seigneur [there is no land without its lord] is thereby replaced by that other proverb, l'argent n'a pas de maître [money knows no no master], wherein is expressed the complete domination of dead matter over mankind,” domination over both the landowner and the worker. Later he writes that “Association,” replacing capitalist relations, has both economy of scale and equality, and “reestablishes, now on a rational basis, no longer mediated by serfdom, overlordship and the silly mysticism of property, the intimate ties of man with the earth, since the earth ceases to be an object of huckstering...” There is extensive discussion of the false view of land and other economic factors as commodities in The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time by economic historian Karl Polanyi, published in 1944 (quotes are from the Second Beacon Paperback, published in 2001). He writes that “A market economy must comprise all elements of industry, including labor, land, and money … But labor and land are no other than the human beings themselves of which every society consists and the natural surroundings in which it exists. To include them in the market mechanism means to subordinate the substance of society itself to the laws of the market” (page 74 – 75). But even in the early 40's it could be seen that in treating land as a commodity “Nature would be reduced to its elements, neighborhoods and landscapes defiled, rivers polluted, military safety jeopardized, the power to produce food and raw materials destroyed … no society could stand the effects of such a system of crude fictions [labor, land, and money treated as commodities] even for the shortest stretch of time unless its human and natural substance as well as its business organization was protected against the ravages of this satanic mill” (page 76 – 77).  

There would have to be much more trash to kill the wildflowers, but this special area that should be appreciated and protected is instead marred with trash, and the trash is harmful to the plants and possibly wildlife. Whatever waste isn't decomposed or buried washes into Burdens Creek and on towards Jordan Lake, where a large amount of trash is cleaned up by volunteers and government employees every year. No doubt tons of debris and trash have to be cleaned up at Jordan Lake State Recreation Area's swimming areas after the prolonged flooding in the fall. There are worse threats to local biodiversity, but the attitude that it is okay to dump trash in a woods, where few will see it, is like the attitude that it is fine to let exotic chemical GenX or pharmaceuticals get into the Cape Fear River, leave coal ash where it could contaminate groundwater and waterways, bury toxic waste near Crabtree Creek, or send excessive carbon dioxide and poisons from fossil fuels into the atmosphere. It might be out of sight and out of mind, but it adds up to become a problem for the community. Things like light pointlessly radiated into the night sky, the winter roar of traffic on I-40, and native trees engineered to suit the timber industry are also a kind of dumping and lack of consideration that could harm other people and our common environment. I hope to write about some of these problems in the New Year.

There must be other trash-filled natural areas in Durham, but I am glad to rarely come across them. At one time, possibly when suburbs first came to these parts, trash was dumped at certain bridges and the ends of roads, and volunteers cleaning up trash for Earth Day (April 22^nd) and Big Sweep (early October in Durham) still find appliances, mowers, shopping carts, even cars, but much of the trash has been removed and nature is overwhelming and burying the junk. The early suburbs also dumped partially treated sewage into creeks and while the water released by treatment plants into many creeks today is far cleaner, it is still a source of pollution. Sometimes people still dump trash and yard waste on roadsides or in secluded areas, but they can get into trouble if there is a witness or something that bears their address is included. In one of the more unusual cases, pounds of seemingly edible bread were scattered along So-Hi Drive. Rural trash middens, half-buried deposits of antique glass jars, etc., sometimes even divided by brand, are hidden in woods all over Durham County. This trash is half-buried, becoming more of a 20^th century archaeological curosity than an eyesore or hazard, though animals such as mice and emerging cicadas could get trapped and snakes have been known to swallow bottles and golf balls, another frequent find in wooded areas. Fresh litter is abundant in many places, escaping from dumpsters behind businesses, discarded along high-traffic roads, or washed in during floods. Every week Durham's semi-automated trash trucks release litter as they make the rounds in my neighborhood.

 

Lots of trash, probably from Durham, dumped at the Northeast Creek Waterfowl Impoundment in Chatham County (owned by the Army Corps of Engineers and operated by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission) and probably cleaned up by government workers ©.

  

Litter and bags of trash and tires dumped where Ellis Road crosses Northeast Creek in Durham ©.

Keep Durham Beautiful probably lacks the power to prevent a lot of these problems, but also doesn't help concerned citizens enough, and local and state governments also seem to care little, though they have some power to stop the dumping and get it cleaned up. It is very hard to get the NC DOT to fulfill its responsibility and pick up large junk dumped on rural roadsides, which they claim they can't find when informed, though they were very diligent in spraying herbicide along Scott King Road and Highway 54 over the summer (see the earlier post). Volunteers can adopt roads and clean up litter there two or three times a year, but not all roads can be adopted, including even some roads that have signs saying that they are available.  
 

Across the railroad tracks behind Falls Pointe there have been plans to build on hills at the northeast corner of TW Alexander and Highway 55, across from the Triangle Wastewater Treatment Plant (and a sludge drying facility will be built on the southeast corner) for several years, but clearing started a few weeks ago, before the snow, and a Charlotte-based subsidiary of the PulteGroup, Inc. ( www.pultegroupinc.com/home/default.aspx ), one of the largest residential builders in the US, bought the corner October 9, 2018. The site was last cleared several years ago, but a thick young forest resprouted. I don't think there are a lot of wildflowers there, but there might be some jack-in-the-pulpits. I thought Pulte might leave some woods between the houses and the treatment plant (though it has been upgraded several times over the years and doesn't produce as much of a smell now), but everything is being cut, except along a stream coming from the SSA site and a wetland that might have been flooded by beavers. The hill has a good view, but it would not be surprising if Pulte mass grades it down to a more mediocre level, allowing a lot of silt to erode into the stream, which goes into Burdens Creek, with few around to see it.

 

Looking south from the Pulte site, across TW Alexander Drive to the large field where a high hill once stood; the SSA facility is in the distance on the left ©.

 

Another view of the Pulte site; the saplings have mostly been cleared, but it is doubtful if any of the larger trees still standing, or even the contours of the land will still be here when they are done ©.

 

A barred owl perched in this relatively large oak, but it is just barely on the wrong side of the "Tree Protection Area" fence, and will probably be cut (or will it be saved by the blue band painted on it?), as well as the beech next to it and the loblolly pine saplings in the background ©.

Over the last three or four years many townhouses have been built several miles away around the intersection of Highway 54 and Barbee Road, on a ridge which forms the watershed between Northeast Creek and smaller Crooked Creek (Barbee Road basically marks the top of the ridge between the two basins). The construction on 54 hasn't done much for the roadside scenery and the design didn't take into consideration the good views of the sky and landscape there, or the former farm ponds, now filled in. Public engineering companies in Durham claim they can't add features highlighting a site's natural advantages because of local regulations that make features like trails too expensive. The height of buildings must be regulated, but if companies and local governments are going to build dense housing and increase mass transit services, allowing higher buildings in the suburbs could save land. Pulte built the townhouse project on the northeast corner at 54 and Barbee and previously, in 2009, Pulte merged with the Centex Corporation, the company behind many of the residential projects near Barbee Road (typically large “McMansions” with little space in between and few trees left standing, which might be the current 'style' or the result of a push for density by the Durham Planning Department). Despite erosion controls, the small streams around 54 and Barbee turned opaque yellow, and after rain Northeast Creek was unusually yellow, though there is additional construction going on upstream as well, such as along Ellis Road at 147 and on NC 55. Southern Durham's clayey Triassic Basin soil, weathered from sedimentary rocks created in rift valleys that opened up when dinosaurs were around, erodes when exposed and then doesn't settle easily.

Several years ago the Triangle Brick Company clearcut its extensive holdings where Durham, Wake, and Chatham counties meet, across Highway 55 from the pinxterflowers, and sometime in 2018 more land was cut along Grandale Road around the border between Durham and Chatham counties. I thought Durham had or has a policy of not building densely south of Scott King Road, but a residential project along 751 was approved and Cary is advancing from the other side, so I wonder if this is just timber harvesting or something more. Durham has a rule regarding building after clearcutting, but someone has to be watching. In the current brushy state these areas will benefit the deer population, as well as rodents and red-tailed hawks, but not species that need large unbroken woodlands. The combination of protected gamelands and mostly forested private land there forms a valuable corridor for wildlife, something the NC Natural Heritage Program pointed out to local governments.

 

Burdens Creek Bluff - today the land rests under a blanket of snow ©. 

 

Part of the Burdens Creek floodplain, probably flooded by beavers ©.





A wading bird track beside the slough and a Chinese privet ©.

Pinxterflowers, Duke Energy, and Federal security contractors (and the NC DOT)

The first and largest South Alston pinxterflower azalea starting to bloom in late April a few years ago ©.

Pinxterflowers (Rhododendron periclymenoides), also called pink azaleas, are deciduous azaleas that have pale reddish purple or pink flowers with some fragrance in late April and are found in the East from New York and Vermont to Illinois and Alabama. Several deciduous azaleas and larger evergreen rhododendrons are native to North Carolina, but grow mostly west and east of the Triangle, while the ornamental evergreen azaleas common in landscaping come from East Asia (pinxterflowers and other natives are sometimes planted, for example there are some native flame azaleas at UNC, but Asian azaleas are far more common). Long ago I noticed a large pinxterflower growing near South Alston Road in southern Durham County, between TW Alexander Drive and Highway 55, just outside of Research Triangle Park. It grew beside a tiny brook that trickles over outcroppings of igneous rock in a wooded area that must have been a farm not many decades ago. Despite the tiny size of the brook, it has basically permanent pools and supports a breeding population of surprisingly large sunfish, as well as numerous crayfish (perhaps attracting queen snakes, which specialize in eating these crustaceans), black damselflies, and other invertebrates. Years ago, if not now, salamander species bred there, but conditions might have changed too much for them now. On the other side of the road an old tobacco barn stood next to a railroad paralleling Alston. There were other flowers in the woodland glade, such as very rare crimson red firepinks (I only know of two areas were they grow naturally, both in Durham), flowering spurge, yellow trout lilies, arrowwood, and painted buckeyes.
 

That was a few decades ago, and there have been many changes since then, endangering the pinxterflowers and other rare plants, now more widely known among locals. One of the highest hills around, with a commanding view up and down Highway 55, where the farm house was, was blasted away day and night around 10 years ago in early summer (leading to noise complaints to the police from several miles away, on Scott King Road). A County official said that the rock and soil was sold as fill to build the first toll road in North Carolina a few miles east down Hopson Road, and the rest was dumped in the nearby Triangle Brick Company claypit. There were plans for something like apartments or a strip mall on the plain left after the hill was demolished, across from the Triangle Wastewater Treatment Plant, but those fell through. Around two years ago Durham County bought the site for a sludge drying facility, but there are still plans for a residential project on the other (northeast) corner of 55 and TW Alexander Drive, just north. Around the time when the hill was destroyed, South Alston was split and renamed at a railroad crossing (also a copperhead crossing in late September and another place where firepinks grew in the vicinity), creating Solutions Drive to the north and Experiment Drive to the south. Part of nearby Hopson Road became part of new north-south running Louis Stephens Drive, connecting it to TW Alexander and another ridge, from which UNC Hospital can be seen several miles west, though it is more an issue of lack of trees than elevation, was cut through to connect Hopson Road directly to Highway 55. Hopson and Alston have been moved around a few times in this area.



Looking northwest toward the intersection of NC 55 and TW Alexander Drive, a gravel driveway once led up to the top of a ridge about 340 feet above sea level here, now a flat expanse about 40 feet lower; trash was dumped soon after the hill was destroyed ©.

Looking north on Experiment Drive, formerly part of South Alston Road, from a gate under the high-tension powerline; the SSA's property can't be seen from here and I think does not even touch this road, but their security harasses people who come here.  The area in the background on the right was clearcut and other trees were cut for the powerline on the left, leading to the new substation.  The land was cleared and graded for additional powerlines and the new Hopson Road looking south, removing more forest ©.



This is a view east along the powerline, looking into Research Triangle Park.  The dead trees were sprayed by Duke Energy in the summer of 2017, when this photo was taken.  There are more powerlines than there used to be, but there has long been an east - west powerline corridor here, and the railroad tracks can be seen.  There used to be a large tobacco barn to the left, probably connecting to the railroad.  The 4 - lane extension of Hopson Road on the right is new, and cuts through a high ridge, from which the UNC Bell Tower, etc, can be seen ©.

In the beginning a high-tension powerline crossed Alston east to west (and paralleled Hopson), but Duke Energy built a new substation where there had been a planted pinewoods at the old farm, and the line connecting it to the main powerline crosses right over the pinxterflower. This might have happened not many years before 2010. The large pinxterflower probably benefitted from the increased sunlight, and younger ones sprouted, but they are now threatened with annihilation by Duke Energy's right of way maintenance procedures. At first Duke Energy or its contractors would spray herbicides, but not next to the brook, saying they could only cut vegetation within feet of waterways, so the azaleas survived. A representative of Duke's right of way maintenance office, based in Greensboro, offered to avoid the large azalea if it was marked and brush cleared around it, which was done, but they cut it to the ground anyway. The large pinxterflower was cut and regrew this way about three or four times (sometime before 2011, in 2011, and in 2013), but last year Duke Energy's policy changed, and they now claim they can use herbicides throughout the site. A Duke Energy official said they use herbicides with trade names Rodeo, Polaris, and Method (one is not used around water, I think Method, but many of their powerlines cross bodies of water of some kind, so it would seem to be rarely used), diluted with 95% water, and sprayed every 3 – 4 years. Some pinxterflowers survived, but the first and largest one might have been killed this time. It still had a few leaves after being sprayed last summer, but this spring it seemed dead, though maybe it was just late to leaf out. The herbicide kills a small tree after being absorbed through the leaves, so woody plants such as buckeyes, which typically lose their leaves early, survived, as well as herbaceous species. Further west down the main powerline only individual saplings were sprayed, and in many cases showy small trees (including a non-native mimosa or silktree) were left alone. I only know of a handful of pinxterflowers growing in five places in the Triangle, and a 6^th grew in the woodlot around Meeting of the Waters Creek along South Road, west of UNC's Bell Tower, but it was killed by construction. Surely there are more azaleas around, but they can't be very common or I would come across them more frequently. Pinxterflowers might have been more common at one time, since they are so widely scattered now, usually isolated along headwater streams, despite seemingly only being able to seed over small distances. Many wildflowers have been seen at the now sunny site, including hot pink wood sorrel, evergreen wild ginger, green and gold, false Solomon's seal, pale blue toadflax, yellow rattlesnake weed, white penstemons, and on the hillsides there are young black locust trees filled with white flowers in April, flowering dogwoods (North Carolina's state flower), arrowwood, buckeyes, and there were blue passionflowers. Duke Energy argues that its herbicide use reduces woody growth, allowing herbaceous wildflowers to flourish. It is possible the herbicides only kill trees, but if the azaleas are exterminated, they probably won't come back for a very long time, and wildflowers would grow there even if the trees were only cut. The soil conditions and rural location are important factors in the diversity of wildflowers. The brushy habitat near water supports animals such as indigo buntings (named for the brilliant deep blue males), summer migrants that usually favor beaver ponds.
              

The main threat is Duke Energy, but the situation is complicated by Federal security contractors working for the Social Security Administration who have appropriated public roads near the pinxterflowers and far from the Federal facility. The SSA's unmarked Second Security Facility, which apparently prints social security cards, is the large building behind a black fence near the corner of Solutions Drive and Louis Stephens Drive (address 3604 Louis Stephens Drive; a search for this address plus social security administration reveals a lot of information), next to the older JMCUSA factory further south. The SSA's security contractors patrol Solutions Drive and Experiment Drive, telling people that they can't use these public roads, and they also drive on nearby roads, though it is an open question whether they would harass someone stopped there ( see www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/PublicPages/PublicSearch/Public_OpportunityDescription.aspx?id=34504 and govtribe.com/opportunity/federal-contract-opportunity/armed-guard-services-at-the-second-support-center-in-durham-nc-ssarfp141008 ). Looking more carefully at the sign for Experiment Drive, it doesn't say this is a state-maintained road, but it isn't marked private either (and someone mows the shoulders) and it began as one of the oldest public roads in the area. The azaleas are around a fourth of a mile from the SSA's property and it cannot be seen from that end of the road. The contractors regularly patrol in SUVs, and they might have surveillance equipment on land they don't own (but they seem to surveill the former railroad crossing with their parking lot security cameras, though they can't see the rest of the tracks). The situation seems to have gotten worse over the years and while the contractors, who it is said are heavily armed, shouldn't have police power outside of the SSA's facility and as far as I know they don't get out of their vehicle and follow people away from the road, they are intimidating and they could involve the Durham police or Sheriff's deputies, and I expect that the police would side with the SSA and corporations in a dispute. There are similar situations elsewhere in and around RTP where corporations claim more than they have title to. People used to fish at a pond north of the substation, but were presumably driven off, and it seems that immigrants were living in the tobacco barn before it burned down. I don't know the circumstances, except that they seemed to have beat a hasty retreat. The Social Security Administration might have lobbied for the changes in this part of the old South Alston corridor, and the City of Durham has paid a few thousand dollars for construction and renovations at the SSA's facility over the years (see homeflock.com/contractor/10812784 ). Complaints have been made, though the City and County don't have answers and Congressman David Price's office says go to the General Assembly, which seems to be their default way of answering without answering. One solution is to talk about the situation and for people to go there and make the SSA expend time and money for what it wants to seize from the public. Duke Energy is being lobbied, and a long-term solution is to change herbicide regulations at the State or Federal level.

 

The airlock-like double gate leading to the SSA facility's back parking lot, off of Solutions Drive; the field in the foregroumd is where the road used to continue south across the railroad tracks nearby.  Many years ago there were a lot of firepinks on the edge of the woods on the left ©.
 

    

An SSA security contractor Jeep on Experiment Drive; this photo is from a few years ago, so the vehicles look different now ©.



As I worked on this article, a related problem arose. There is a group of pinxterflowers near Crooked Creek on Scott King Road, a few miles west of the above site, on land protected as part of the gamelands around Jordan Lake (owned by the US Army Corps of Engineers and leased to the NC Wildlife Commission). In July someone sprayed an herbicide on both sides of the road (including up into surrounding canopy trees) and under a nearby distribution powerline for roughly one and a half miles along Scott King Road, injuring the pinxterflowers, but they seem to have survived. At first it seemed like saplings along the road were drought-stressed and changing color and dropping their leaves early, but it became clear that they had been sprayed with something. This general spraying did not seem like Duke Energy's work, though they are spraying under the long-distance transmission line nearby, the same line that crosses Experiment Drive and their contractor Asplundh is cutting trees along powerlines in nearby residential areas. About a year ago Duke Energy's distribution line maintenance department cut a pretty old red oak, probably a Spanish/southern red oak, growing under a small powerline nearby, at the corner of Fayetteville Road and NC 751, in front of an abandoned house, since no one was living there to stop them. Sometimes an objection is all it takes to save part of the landscape. That tree used to be a landmark on the way south to Jordan Lake. There are PSNC Energy natural gas pipelines along Scott King Road, but a representative says they only mow their right of ways. There is a fiber optic cable, with MCI signs, but probably owned by a different company now (such as Frontier Communications), and I thought they were the culprit, but the NC DOT admitted to doing the spraying. They also sprayed in several places, mostly at creek crossings, along Highway 54 to the outskirts of Chapel Hill, using Garlon 3A (Triclopyr) and RRSI NIS surfactant, which apparently kills only branches it directly hits. The DOT says the spraying was done over “sight distance issues” and that vegetation problems can return in less than a year after mowing, while using both mechanical cutting and herbicide can control vegetation for three years. They spent almost $30 million dollars statewide from July into August on mechanical cutting, and $2.75 million on herbicide. Many of the places sprayed, including along Scott King Road, are straight and vegetation is not interfering with traffic, while the narrow, uneven shoulders and lack of guardrails at drop offs are much more dangerous. The only potential benefit is that the non-native kudzu surging over the guardrails at Little Creek near Chapel Hill was sprayed, but I'm sure it will be back again next summer. The pinxterflowers are within the 30-foot easement DOT claims on each side of Scott King, so their spraying is probably legal, but the pinxterflowers are at the edge of the protected forest, not within reach of the roadside shoulder, so there was no benefit to the DOT in spraying them. Simply spraying herbicide on everything to maintain a right of way is a wretchedly cheap and indiscriminate, as well as ugly way to maintain an easement (on roadsides often already well littered, revealed even more after the vegetation is dead). Everything was sprayed, from large sweetgum and loblolly pine saplings and the lower limbs of tall trees, to a small winged elm sapling along a fence under a powerline by the American Tobacco Trail, down to sensitive ferns and a clump of goldenrods about to bloom between two yards, as if in spite, and other wildflowers. Of course, not every plant was doused enough to be killed, and it seems like the groundsel bushes have such thick, waxy leaves that they can resist herbicide, but they are relatively common. Possibly the sourwoods also have some degree of resistance. I am thinking about what can be done, but changing national or state herbicide regulations could also prevent the DOT's wanton spraying.

[As of fall 2019 the pinxterflowers along Scott King Road survived the DOT's spraying, but were damaged and probably did not flower that year.  Whether any still grow at the site near RTP is unknown.]



A pinxterflower on Scott King Road blooming last April; the peak blooming has passed and the bush is leafing out ©.


 



Oak cut by Duke Energy at the corner of NC 751 (shown) and Fayetteville Road; its limbs and trunk are on the right ©.

 

The dazzling new Genlee powerline tap near the South Alston pinxterflowers, providing electricity for industry and homes (probably mostly in Cary), but built on rich land, now mostly deforested, and threatening Durham's biodiversity.  A sourwood is in the foreground and probably some winged elm saplings closer to the tap.  This brushy habitat supports animals such as indigo buntings ©.