The starry sky stolen and estranged (and some notices)

A crescent Moon and a planet, probably Venus, seen from Lowes Grove after sunset in April 2018; a former Citgo gas station is on the left and a BP is on the right. ©

Despite light pollution being covered in Durham's UDO (Unified Development Ordinance dsc.durhamnc.gov/175/Development-regulations ) it remains abundant and must be increasing. In parts of Durham a clear winter night sky is black and sparkles with some of the brightest and most well-known constellations and on summer nights the Milky Way is just barely perceptible overhead, marked by the three avian constellations forming the Summer Triangle, high in the sky, but far fewer stars are visible than in rural parts of North Carolina, and few if any places in the state are truly dark. Unnecessary and wasted light can harm other species and human health and safety, besides ruining the night sky and wasting electricity, largely generated by polluting or otherwise damaging sources of energy.

When there are low clouds the problem in Durham becomes more visible. One night several years ago, around maybe 10 or 11pm, low clouds over southern Durham were intensely orange, as seen from the edge of Chapel Hill, and I heard that people called 911 thinking there was a fire. Circles of white light can sometimes be seen reflected above Research Triangle Park and commercial areas and when it is clear all of those photons still go up into the sky, where they bounce off air pollution, dust, and water vapor, making the sky brighter than it would be naturally, washing out the stars. From fall through spring low clouds turn bright orange for part of the night in one area. The source seems to be brightly lit greenhouses at the Park Research Center (104 TW Alexander Drive, apparently housing several companies, with the entire complex owned by an entity in New York City), across the road from RTP proper. The greenhouses are visible, an amber glow through the bare trees, across South Alston Road and the Burdens Creek valley from what is now called Falls Pointe at the Park (100 Cascade Falls Lane off of South Alston, www.fallspointeattheparkapartments.com see a previous post: www.durhamspark.blogspot.com/2018/12/burdens-creek-bluff-and-surrounding.html ). The light pollution is bright enough that branches are clear in photos taken with a plain digital camera miles away. At the Stonesthrow Apartments, right next to the greenhouses, the reflected light is so bright that it is possible to read a book by it. Surely this has biological effects and pollutes the common night sky for everyone over a large part of south Durham. Durham officials measured the light levels, but as I recall the light is considered indoors and therefore not covered by the UDO, despite the walls and ceilings being clear glass, so the situation has continued for probably more than 10 years. There are other large greenhouses in RTP, such as at agribusiness company Syngenta on Davis Drive just north of Highway 54 and I-40.

The orange glow seen from a few miles away February 11, 2013. ©

The Moon and an orange cloud (and a light) seen from a CVS on Highway 55, closer than the location above. ©

At UNC, the Biology Department had a small greenhouse behind Coker Hall, but it was replaced by a larger one on top of the newer Genomics building, like a lighthouse at night. The brilliant white floodlights over the sports fields along South Road are intense, and are often left on when the fields are not in use. Indoor lights are left on, despite older buildings having signs on the switches, perhaps a response to the oil crisis of the 70's (stemming from US and other “Western” imperialist backing of Israel around the 1973 Arab-Israeli War), saying to turn lights off when not in use. In at least some classrooms the lights automatically turn off towards midnight, many hours after classes usually end. In addition, large windows without screens are frequently left open, such as at Hamilton Hall, even during the winter so insects and other animals come in (and then traps are used, the subject of a future post) and the heated or cooled air goes out. Some windows and doors aren't well-sealed to begin with even in newer buildings. UNC is supposed to be reducing its carbon footprint, but I think it originally promised student groups that it would close its coal-burning co-generation plant by now.

There is the bright orange light over RTP and a less glaringly obvious bluish-white glow over Southpoint Mall and the surrounding strip malls, car dealerships, and offices. A recent study in Tucson, Arizona, which has centrally controlled LED streetlights with full cut-off shielding (preventing light from going upward), found that less than 20% of the light measured from orbit was from streetlights (see a brief article in the March 2021 issue of Sky and Telescope magazine). Sometimes sweeping beams of light can be seen when it is clear, but they might not be permanent features. The fact that cloudy skies are so bright (called sky glow) is probably another example of light pollution, in this case non-point pollution coming from thousands of small to large sources. Next time snow or ice causes widespread power outages, consider how bright it is at night. Why does the landscape look so well-lit, when no sources of light are visible? Our eyes do slowly adapt to the dark, but it still seems much brighter than it should be when lights are off over a large area and the Moon and stars are hidden. I notice this most when there is snow, but it might also apply after a hurricane. There is ground level light pollution include glare and visual clutter from sources such as area lights (UNC is full of examples, as are gas stations) and LED signs (such as at the corner of 54 and Blue Ridge Road at the State Fairgrounds and one near the corner of Highway 54 and Barbee Road in Durham, which replaced a plain sign removed during the construction of Pulte's neighboring 54 Station, but it might be less noticeable now with the new LED streetlights; see the linked post), and light trespass into yards and windows. Excessive outdoor lighting or light profligacy could make people more rather than less vulnerable to crime and wastes electricity.

Light pollution from human activity in space is a new problem. Currently there is a lot of concern about the launch of many new communications satellites, eventually to number in the tens of thousands, by US SpaceX, British OneWeb, and possibly by Amazon and others, to provide high-speed broadband Internet access in places not served by terrestrial infrastructure. These relatively small satellites, currently being launched, are going into low-Earth orbit and therefore more visible than much larger communication satellites in higher geosynchronous orbits, though possibly the new satellites are not very noticeable in urban and suburban skies. The number of satellites and their ability to autonomously maneuver makes it difficult for astronomers to avoid imaging them with telescopes. The satellites can be made darker and it is possible to reduce the impact on radio telescopes, but these measures are up to the companies and might not solve the problems. A US law banning “obtrusive space advertising” is the only regulation covering light pollution from space, according to an article in Sky and Telescope magazine (March 2020). There is a higher risk of collision and malfunctions with so many new satellites, leading to more space debris, which is an increasing problem, because even tiny objects traveling around the Earth at tremendous speeds can disable satellites and threaten astronauts. Recently the crew of the International Space Station had to prepare to flee as a piece of space debris approached and satellites have collided (Wikipedia says the first high-speed collision was February 10, 2009, destroying an active Iridium communications satellite, a leftover from a similar project to provide connectivity from low Earth orbit).

SpaceX has claimed that its space-based Internet service will pay for a corporate human mission to Mars. An article in the November 2020 issue of Air and Space/Smithsonian magazine ( www.airspacemag.com/ ) discusses speculation that rather than just connecting the billions of people worldwide who lack Internet access SpaceX will instead serve the US military and that this is an area of US soft power competition with China (specifically with the Huawei company). According to Wikipedia the SpaceX project is already receiving Federal subsidies to provide domestic civilian Internet access in rural areas and has been successfully tested with US weapon systems. The British government invested in OneWeb for its own soft power projection. On the other hand, previous attempts to provide Internet access from space have failed, so these new satellite megaconstellation projects might not be completed.

For more information, see an article in the March 2020 issue of Sky and Telescope magazine ( skyandtelescope.org/ ), covering the problems posed for optical and radio astronomy. There have also been shorter updates and a related article on observing geosynchronous satellites in the October 2020 issue. The article in Air and Space focuses on the business aspect, with little mention of pollution.

A few decades ago there were ambitious proposals to generate solar power in space and manufacture in orbit, potentially reducing pollution on the ground and solving some of the drawbacks of using solar energy on a large scale. On the other hand I think the 1972 book Limits to Growth by the Club of Rome projected that collapse would come even with access to extra resources from space. Perhaps this could be called offshoring industry to space, instead of where it actually went. In the 90's Russia experimented with reflecting sunlight from space to light up cropland at night. Several years ago orbiting solar powerstations was discussed in the Raleigh News and Observer and one letter to the editor talked about probably nonsensical 'death rays' from space. In the original proposal energy would have been beamed to collector stations on Earth as apparently weak and mostly harmless microwaves, similar to radio waves.

Light pollution can have an impact on the plants. Day length controls the seasonal life cycles of many plants, and influences leaf form and root growth. Plants judge day length by sensing red wavelengths, at intensities much less than that required for photosynthesis, or for reading a book, and a short period with light is enough to confuse them. Various plants respond to day length differently, for example many houseplants ignore daylength, because daylength does not vary much over the year in their native tropical habitat, but confusion caused by indoor lighting makes it difficult to grow some vegetables and flowers that come from higher lattitudes indoors. Plants outdoors exposed to artificial light could grow in the fall instead of preparing to go dormant, especially vigorously growing plants or branches, and plants exposed to constant light more readily suffer damage from air pollution or drought. Trees can be seen producing new leaves in the fall after a severe drought, though it is unclear to what extent this is due to light pollution. I have seen tuliptree branches surrounding a streetlight still with foliage in December, while red maples and Japanese maples not so close lights produced new leaves in fall following severe droughts, such as in 2019. There are nearby silver maples that often retain some foliage into winter, though silver maples generally seem to lose their leaves early, but again it is not clear how much this is due to streetlights not far from the trees. Occasionally trees try to grow in the winter for other reasons, such as after severe injury and/or drought, and some deciduous species are somewhat evergreen when young.

This young tuliptree next to a streetlight in Durham still had a lot of green foliage December 11, 2016. ©

Different species have different light sensitivities. According to a forestry bulletin from Purdue University trees such as boxelders (a species of maple), many birches, hornbeams, dogwoods, American beech, tuliptrees, sycamores, cottonwoods, black locusts, hemlocks, and American and Siberian elms are among the most sensitive trees. High-pressure sodium lights most impact plants, along with incandescent bulbs, unless they are low intensity. Purdue recommends mercury vapor, metal halide, and fluorescent lights, in order of increasing risk. Unfortunately these blue-rich lights are very attractive for insects.

Many insects are attracted to light, especially blue light, though not all insects or moths are attracted to light. Low-pressure sodium attracts few insects, but instead it can cause insects to rest as if it were daytime. Once insects or other animals are drawn to lights, they waste energy needed for survival and are more exposed to predation. Treefrogs often hunt around porchlights and spiders spin their webs nearby, while bats circle around streetlights. Some moths can hear bats and avoid them, but mercury vapor lights somehow interfere with this defense.

A light left on overnight at the entrance to Jordan Lake State Recreation Area's Seaforth day-use area attracted many moths, including a rosy maple moth, dagger moths, and what seems to be an oakworm moth of some kind. ©

A large imperial moth and an unidentified underwing moth found outside a building at UNC; there was also a green June beetle. © 

Moth wings, mostly from luna moths, discarded by predators at Falls Lake State Recreation Area; the predators were probably aided by the park's lights. © 

A few years ago it was discovered that a dung beetle navigates by the Milky Way, which probably has not been possible over vast areas of the world for a long time, unless the beetles have a way to see the Galaxy that humans lack. The Milky Way seems to be an almost imperceptible glimmer in the Triangle during the summer, at best. The Milky Way is in the sky all year, but if I have seen it at all, it is only when the Summer Triangle asterism, which includes a segment of the Milky Way, is high on summer nights, and our galaxy might be visible as a barely brighter strip of sky. Reportedly after an earthquake knocked out the power in Los Angeles people were frightened when they looked up and saw the arc of the Milky Way, though it was a familiar milky-looking glimmer in the night sky throughout the existence of humanity, until several decades ago.

The media airs satellite images showing the mostly dark, heavily sanctioned DPR Korea contrasting with the brilliant glow radiating out of the ROK and northeastern China, but while capitalist East Asian cities are spectacles to see (apparently Hong Kong has been called the most light polluted city on Earth), all that light represents wasted energy, probably generated by burning fossil fuels or dams, and climate change is becoming more and more obvious around the world and could ultimately burn us all.

Predators can benefit from artificial lighting, but this upsets the ecological balance. In Switzerland when streetlights were installed in some valleys, a bat that did not hunt at streetlights went locally extinct while a similar species that could make use of the lights made inroads, though light was probably not the only factor. Large toads enter streets to hunt under neighborhood streetlights on summer nights here, where they frequently get run over. Apparently amphibian eyes can take hours to recover after exposure to bright light, so they may be left blinded by passing cars. It is probably well-known that coastal light pollution confuses endangered sea turtle hatchlings, as well as disrupting the vertical migrations of zooplankton, tinkering with the base of the marine food chain. Commercial fishing actually introduces a lot of light pollution far out in the ocean in some places, visible from space. Many aquatic animals are attracted to light at night and marine organisms use light to lure prey or startle predators.

Birds migrating at night, especially in storms, are attracted to lights and crash to the ground after collisions or exhaustion. Thousands of birds can die at once when flocks of waterfowl mistake parking lots for water and try to land as if on water. The Fatal Light Awareness Program (www.flap.org) estimated that one to ten birds die per building per year, due to collisions with glass or light pollution, and 100 million to one billion migrating birds die each year in North America (this might refer only to the USA and Canada). People sometimes complain about depredations by cats, but might be ignoring losses due to buildings, windows, habitat loss, insecticides, climate change, airplanes, and the increasingly powerful wind energy lobby. If birds and other wildlife are killed by proposed wind turbines beyond the horizon off the Outer Banks, how will we know? It also seems like marine life would be disturbed by offshore construction, as it would be by oil exploration. Like a full Moon, artificial light prompts birds like mockingbirds to sing at night, with unknown impacts (see the link to an upcoming webinar on new research below). Mammals generally avoid lit-up areas, so lights could drive them away from habitats they could otherwise inhabit (this might include bobcats, which are still sometimes seen in the Triangle).

There have been few studies of light pollution's affects on us, but artificial light at night may cause cancer and could damage eyesight and is supposed to contribute to sleep problems. Working at night is supposed to increase the risk of various diseases. There are conflicting studies regarding crime, but criminal activity is more visible with motion sensitive lighting than continuous lighting. It would not be surprising if all the glare at UNC increases crime and it detracts from the beauty of the campus.

The night sky is a commons everyone had access to just by looking up, until air pollution and light pollution became abundant, another example of business dumping its externalities and abusing or expropriating the commons for private use, though in the case of light pollution we also do it to ourselves on a smaller scale. The starlit sky was important in human development, though things are much more abstract now, so religious ritual is conducted indoors, abstracted and estranged from our natural environment; astronomers don't have to observe at night; and the heavens are now a destination for tourism, neoliberalism, and warfare. Despoiling a lifeless celestial body like the Moon might not be the same as despoiling the Earth's living biosphere, but damage to the environment, our common cultural heritage, and Space Age historic sites on other worlds is still likely. US space policy under Trump, Obama, Bush, etc. seeks a cosmos under neoliberalism and imperialism. At state parks in rural eastern North Carolina, such as Jones Lake, there is little light pollution and the sky is so full of stars that it can be hard to recognize the constellations, but these are still not primordially dark skies. Amateur astronomy groups from the Triangle have to travel to places such as Medoc Mountain State Park to find relatively dark skies. Jordan Lake has darker skies than Durham, but the Milky Way is still obscured.

Fortunately there are low-hanging fruit on the path to restoring the night sky. Lights should be shielded so they only shine downward and turned off or dimmed when not in use, though a large percent of light still reflects off the ground and into the sky, such as at the vast and empty after hours parking lots around Southpoint Mall and neighboring strip malls. Outdoor lights should be checked regularly to make sure they stay correctly aimed. It is helpful to organize residential outdoor lights in separately controlled zones. Designers recommend beginning with less illumination than you think you need, to avoiding putting in too much. If a transformer is necessary, factor in how many lights you might connect to it when deciding on wattage. Lights might be placed around pools for safety, but fish are not immune to light pollution and can sense electromagnetic fields. Use high-quality fittings, especially for more exposed low-voltage systems. The International Dark Sky Association ( www.darksky.org ) has recommendations on design and specific fixtures.

Exterior lights require much less intense wattage than interior lights, and soft lighting usually looks best. Low pressure sodium bulbs minimize light pollution, but they produce monochromatic yellow light. An increasing problem is blue-rich white light (BRWL), produced by otherwise environmentally-friendly LEDs. Our eyes are especially sensitive to blue light, so we perceive more intense pollution from them (consider how blinding oncoming blueish-white car headlights are), though this light transmits a shorter distance through the air than redder light. BRWL lengthens the time necessary for our eyes to adapt to darkness and is less visible to the elderly. Warm white LEDs (less than 3000K) are a better choice.

At the start of the pandemic last spring the City of Durham was still able to send teams to install about 21,000 LED bulbs, apparently energy-efficient but producing glaring, probably blue-rich, white light, on existing and new streetlights, and the number of streetlights alone (mandated by the UDO in new construction) was already a problem in some neighborhoods. These LED bulbs could be the reason why it seemed like more cicadas than usual were being attracted into the street at night and often killed last summer.  Recently I noticed that the new traffic circle at the intersection of Herndon and Barbee roads seemed to be tinged blue or even violet, though the effect might have been heightened by yellower lights leading up to the intersection.  

Durham's streetlights might have become more energy efficient over the decades, but it has also gotten ever harder to see the stars without traveling some distance, and then there is the chance that people will be suspicious or even call the police. Neighborhood parkland where I watched meteor showers and saw the bright comets Hale-Bopp and/or Hyakutake has since been marred with a streetlight, though the area is supposed to be closed at night. I have suggested, without result, to the representatives of “developers” and officials that they could create dedicated places for people to stargaze, such as where there are ridges or lakes offering good views of the entire sky. Some public lands in the Triangle are open 24 hours a day, but they are often somewhat distant and there still might be dangers in going there to see the night sky.

Reportedly people can request extra shielding on treetlights in the City of Durham by contacting transportation specialists Terry Thompson or Denise Warren at 919 560 4366 ext 36407 or terry period thompson at durhamnc period gov or denise period warren at durhamnc period gov durham and they will send the request on to Duke Energy. People can request the removal of offensive streetlights, but the Durham Police Department gets a veto.

A few years ago Trump brought up some of the obvious problems with new forms of lighting, but advocated going backwards to inefficient, and therefore polluting, incandescent bulbs instead of looking for new ways to combine efficiency and aesthetics. Red light is supposed to be less harmful to human nocturnal vision. Perhaps lights could be designed to be less visible to wildlife, smart enough to activate only when needed, and more efficient.

Virtual LUNCHBOX Talk: Analyzing the Effects of Urban Noise and Light Pollution on Avian Communities

NCSU Master of Science student Lauren Pharr will talk about the impact of anthropogenic noise and light pollution on area birds in a webinar February 25^th 12 – 1pm, organized by the NC Botanical Garden and the New Hope Audubon Society. The Botanical Garden offers a Lunchbox Talk on conservation topics every month. For more information and registration see: ncbg.unc.edu/learn/

Proposed rezonings in southern Durham County and the City of Durham

Also related to the post linked at the beginning, there was a community consultation meeting via Zoom Tuesday, January 26^th 6 – 8pm about the hundreds of acres owned by the Triangle Brick Company west and south of the intersection of Highway 55 and Hopson Road. “Development” interests, typically represented by lawyers and/or engineers at these legally mandated meetings, want to have this vast area (I think the figure was 241 acres and it is probably roughly a mile or even more from east to west) around the abandoned claypit, extending from both sides of 55 to within view of Grandale Road on a ridge, much of it already clearcut several years ago, rezoned to be all Light Industrial (some of it is currently Rural Residential) and annexed by the City. The proposal is a business park, ultimately with 5 to 6 short office or industrial buildings, similar to those at the corner of Hopson and 54, with staged construction beginning in the spring of 2022. Of course if a site is rezoned without a development plan, something else could be built, if consistent with the zoning. Another large chuck of land west of this “assemblage” was clearcut a few years ago, and it seems like it is only a matter of time before it will be sold and built on. These are some of the last large tracts of undeveloped, rural private land surrounding the Wildlife Resources-managed gamelands around Jordan Lake at the very south end of Durham County. This Federal land as well as some owned by Durham County covers bottomland that can be inundated when the Lake is used for flood control, and doesn't protect much of the higher ground. Some species need both lowland and upland habitats, such as many salamanders, and others might live in bottomlands only because the uplands have been made inhospitable for them by sprawl. Not far south of the countyline there have been vast changes as residential sprawl around rapidly growing Cary in Wake County spread into northeastern Chatham County, formerly remarkably 'empty,' except for a few houses and older subdivisions (maybe these would be called exurbs), with vast expanses of relatively young forest, some of it held as private hunting reserves, inhabited by flocks of turkeys, possibly bobcats, etc. Rarely seen bobcats might be one of the mammals that can be driven away by artificial lighting. Today the area is almost unrecognizable, with old roads renamed or rerouted, two lane roads have become wide enough for many lanes, and much of the forest and old houses were scraped away, creating a lunar or martian landscape during construction. For years there have been yard signs nearby saying 'no' to Cary.

Looking roughly southeast from the powerline at the northwest corner of the site in 2012; this is only part of the "assemblage" and is now a young pine forest. ©

The intersection of Hopson Road and NC 55 at the east end of the site, which includes the wooded land in the background and some on this side of 55, to the left. ©

Looking east from the northwest corner in 2018; most of the land on the left is owned by the US government and Durham County; NC 55 is out of sight behind a ridge far down the powerline and the old claypit is behind the forest in the center. ©

There will be a meeting Thursday, February 18^th 6-8pm about the 40 acres of Durham County-owned land at 451 TW Alexander, 6001 NC 55, and 6026 Experiment Drive/Avenue. This is where a large hill was blasted away several years ago for a failed commercial or residential project, the earth being used as fill for North Carolina's first toll road, part of the ring of 540 around Raleigh (construction which could harm the endangered dwarf wedgemussel in southern Wake County). Apparently excess material from the hill was dumped in the claypit. Nearby roads were re-routed and a new road built, near the colony of pinxterflower azaleas, as well as deep red, five-petalled fire pinks and other common to very rare wildflowers around a former farm. The area is probably unusual because of the presence of igneous rock formations, unlike the typical sedimentary bedrock in the Triassic Basin of southern Durham. I last heard that the County wanted to build something like a sludge-drying facility for the nearby Triangle Wastewater Treatment Plant, but the neighborhood meeting is about rezoning to Office and Industrial (parts of the site are currently zoned for residential, commercial, and office use) for “a new Durham County Public Works Administration Building.”

The site in 2010; there was a wooded hill with a house here and this is about where the driveway was; the Triangle WWTP is lower out of view on the left and there is now a residential development on the right, across TW Alexander Drive. © 

Community consultation meeting information and other planning-related announcements are sent out every Friday through the Planning Public Notification Service of the Durham City-County Planning Department ( sign up at durhamnc.gov/411/Planning-Public-Notification-Service ). Those owning land within a certain distance of a proposed rezoning receive legally mandated notifications by mail. There is a link to join the meeting via computer or phone, but it is not working:  dtwarchitectsandplanners.my.webex.com/dtwarchitectsandplanners.my/j.php?MTID=m687db88b818ca d7daefa13e28c13a1bf  To join by phone, call 415-655-0001, meeting ID 142 953 5347.

There will be meeting 5 – 7pm February 18^th about rezoning 2102 So Hi Drive from Rural Residential to Science Research Park, to build two office buildings. This is a large piece of land at the corner of So Hi and Northeast Creek Parkway, bordering RTP. The site is on the south (RTP) side of the intersection, extending from the Triangle Curling Club on the east to about an equal distance west, on Northeast Creek Parkway. The owning entity is Parmer Woodlands 3 LLC, with an address in Carlsbad, California, and similarly named companies with the same address own large parcels adjoining 2102 So Hi and on the west side of the intersection, making up most of the north end of RTP. Northeast Creek flows through 2102 So Hi, and is joined by a small stream flowing from the north that crosses So Hi in a narrow valley by a church. Beavers have been very active in the area and this might be where there is or was a very large, though shallow, beaver pond, between a ubiquitous sewer easement and a high-tension powerline. Fish probably include pickerel and bowfin and would be hunted by belted kingfishers. Other ponds can be seen from Northeast Creek Parkway. Durham's Interactive Maps ( durhamnc.gov/1455/Interactive-Maps) shows a large body of water there, though maps are often inaccurate regarding waterways. Fire pinks, pinxterflower wild azaleas, evergreen Catawba rhododendrons, more than one species of dogwood, umbrellatrees (a deciduous magnolia, blooming around May 1^st here; fire pinks might also bloom in May, while pinxterflowers bloom in April), spicebushes, milkweed, burdocks, Hepatica, star chickweed, toothworts, liverworts, and horsetails are some locally uncommon to rare plants growing in the general area. Nearby areas are carpeted with spring ephemerals and some, such as lavender Hepaticas, could be blooming already and can start around January if it is a 'warm' winter. Hawks are common, phoebes nest along the Creek, and upstream hummingbirds fight over summer beds of orange jewelweed. The usual procedure is for the rezoning or annexation applicant to have one or more informal community meetings, followed by a formal hearing before the Planning Commission, and then a hearing during a regular City Council or Board of County Commissioners meeting.

To join via Zoom, go to zoom.us/join, meeting ID 884 8173 7483, passcode 450403, or call 646-558-8656 and enter the same ID and passcode.

Looking north on Northeast Creek Parkway; Northeast Creek parallels the road on the right. ©

A Hepatica off of Grandale Road in late March. ©

Hepatica with fresh new leaves, trout lilies, spring beauties, Christmas ferns, and probably some star chickweeds in early April off of So Hi Drive. ©

Third party ballot access in North Carolina after 2020

The NC Green Party lost its hard won ballot access with the 2020 general election, with campaigning and petitioning hobbled by the pandemic. Without ballot access Greens running for office will have to get on the ballot individually or run as write-in candidates and will not be listed as Greens and voters will not be able to register as Greens. The NCGP is asking Governor Roy Cooper to maintain the Party's official status and/or to maintain the status of registered Green voters for 18 months; waive petition requirements for all parties that had ballot access as of 2020 (the Constitution Party apparently also lost its ballot access last year); and to lower the required number of signatures to establish or re-establish a party by at least 75% and to allow electronic signatures. The pandemic severely limited campaigning last year and makes petitioning hazardous, and there aren't gatherings where people could be asked to sign in-person. Greens plan to run in several local elections in 2021. For more information, a sample letter, and to sign up to send a letter or email, go to: www.ncgreenparty.org/ask_cooper_for_covid_relief

RDU Quarry Town Hall with NC Senator Wiley Nickel

There will be a town hall meeting about the proposed rock quarry at the RDU Airport, adjacent to Umstead State Park, Wednesday, February 10^th 6 – 8pm with Wiley Nickel of the NC Senate and Dr Jean Spooner of the Umstead Coalition ( umsteadcoalition.org , www.facebook.com/umsteadcoalition/ . To sign up and submit questions see:  forms.gle/78F8oVdBE7e9hrKy6

Some late summer events and anniversaries

More items will be added during coming weeks.

Emerald ash borers found in Chatham County

Emerald ash borers are now known to be in Chatham County, and have already spread through Durham, Orange, Wake, and other counties.  According to an article in the Chatham News and Record, the NC Forest Service detected the beetle through trapping along Wilkinson Creek south of Chapel Hill ( www.chathamnewsrecord.com/stories/invasive-emerald-ash-borer-makes-its-way-into-chatham,2622 ).  The NCFS created a new map in June showing where these East Asian beetles have been found, though they have probably spread further ( www.ncforestservice.gov/forest_health/fh_maps.htm ).  I have wondered if I am starting to see the effects in Durham, but I'm not certain (and I'm watching for laurel wilt, but so far it has only been found at the southeast corner of the state).  Their larvae bore in living ash trees and possibly related fringetrees, and since they are not native to North America and therefore have few natural controls they become so numerous that they kill trees above a certain size.  The many species of ash and one fringetree are ecologically and culturally important and common trees (people also plant Chinese fringetrees, and I think there are some at UNC).  It is possible to treat individual trees with (controversial) insecticides and various Asian parasitoid wasps are being released to control the beetles, and some trees might be able to survive.  On the other hand, it seems like the beetles could ultimately kill all or almost all ash trees where they spread (and ash seeds don't stay viable long enough to replenish the population later), and there is little to stop them (and people transport wood with grubs, etc. so they are spreading faster than they should naturally).  Studies show that it is a waste of money to preemptively cut ash and what if a tree that would have withstood the onslaught is cut, so I urge people not to kill healthy trees.  For more information see:  durhamspark.blogspot.com/2016/04/emerald-ash-borer-unnecessary.html
Here is a Twitter account that links the latest news on EAB in North America:  twitter.com/emeraldashborer (be warned there might be a virus at the Yadkin Ripple link).

Demand an End to War:  Rage Against the War Machine (more details below, October 11 - 12)

The next planning call will be August 4th at 3pm EST, 2pm CST, and 12pm PST:  marchonpentagon.com/rage-against-the-war-machine-call-sunday-august-4/

Support the Venezuela Embassy Protectors

The Embassy Protectors, Americans who occupied Venezuela's embassy in Washington with the permission of the elected Maduro administration, to prevent the US government and coup supporters from seizing the building, were removed by the US and now face trials on various charges, and some could be imprisoned for up to a year and fined $100,000 dollars.  They are seeking tax-deductible donations to pay $50,000 in legal fees and solidarity messages and actions by other groups.  For more information see:  defendembassyprotectors.org/

Tulsi Gabbard voted for House Resolution 246

Tulsi Gabbard is being justly criticized for voting for House Resolution 246 "Opposing efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel and the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement targeting Israel" July 23rd.  I would have condemned the resolution and I avoid products made in Israel, but it should be noted that the text acknowledges Americans' first amendment rights to criticize US and Israeli policies and the use of boycotts against countries like South Africa, and it calls for a 'viable, democratic Palestinian state."  It is possible that BDS is sometimes excessive, but Israel's actions are outraging the world and under the Trump administration the USA makes even less of an attempt to appear like a evenhanded peace broker.  Israel is the entity carrying out collective punishment and denying the rights of its neighbors and its Arab citizens.  Islamophobia is increasing around the world and often leads to violence against Muslims and even people just thought to be Muslim and is being used by the new crop of 'authoritarian' leaders, such as Trump.  The resolution doesn't seem to do anything except express that the majority of the House of Representatives is biased against the Palestinians and solidarity campaigns and backs brutal Zionist colonialism, and that isn't new. 

Did Gabbard do this because she is really very opposed to BDS and a partisan for Israel, or was it for expediency or somehow a mistake?  On the other hand, Gabbard still appears to be better on foreign policy than the current occupant of the White House or most of her competitors (or North Carolina's Congressional delegation).  David Price, Butterfield, Foxx, etc. also voted for H.Res.246.  The text, votes, etc. can be found by searching at Thomas.loc.gov [It isn't very surprising that Democrat David Price and other members of Congress from North Carolina voted for the resolution, but I was surprised that Gabbard supported it, given her progressive statements condemning the plot against Venezuela and intervention in Syria, though it's possible that her vote was not surprising to anti-war people in Hawaii.]

The second round of Democratic presidential primary debates are being held July 30 - 31st, and I think Gabbard will appear on the 31st.

Marxism-Leninism Today

Hari Kumar, primary instigator of no longer active Alliance Marxist-Leninist and International Struggle Marxist-Leninist (old articles are online at ml-review.ca/aml/index/subject.html ), has set up a new blog focusing on Marxist-Leninist history and analysis of current news:  ml-today.com/

Ten years after the US-supported Honduran coup

School of the Americas Watch is urging support for HR1945, the Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act, to end "security aid:" www.soaw.org/take-action-on-the-10th-anniversary-of-the-military-coup-in-honduras/  There are currently 61 co-sponsors, but none representing North Carolina.  Demonstrations and deadly repression is going on in Honduras now, though it is not often mentioned by the mainstream media.   

For more information see:  www.counterpunch.org/2019/06/28/honduras-at-ten-years-after-the-coup-a-critical-assessment/

Also:  www.counterpunch.org/2019/07/11/the-honduran-coup-one-decade-later/

Library booksales

The Friends of the Durham Library will have booksales August 3 - 4, October 5 - 6, and December 7 - 8, and the hours for all of these sales will be 10am - 12pm members only and 12 - 4pm open to all on Saturdays and 1 - 4pm $10 paper grocery bag sales open to all on Sundays.  The sales are at Books Among Friends (Suite 252) inside Northgate Mall (1058 West Club Boulevard, Durham), formerly next to Sears (with Sears closed, people will have to enter through entrance 8, between Foot Locker and Plato's Closet; FODL store's back service door won't be open).  There are small satellite sales inside the library branches daily ( durhamcountylibrary.org/friends/ ). 

The Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library will have book sales September 13 - 15 and December 6 -8 ( friendschpl.org/FCHPLevents ).

Friends of the Lee County Library has a continuous book sale:  library.leecountync.gov/friends  

Niche Gardens is going out of business

This pioneering native plant nursery a few miles southwest of Carrboro is going out of business ( nichegardens.com/ ).  It is no longer possible to order online, but they will be open Mondays - Fridays 9am - 5pm in August.  Sales will start in September, with all plants available for 25% off September 2nd through 22nd, and even more September 23rd to their close on October 18th.  Plants can't be reserved, sales are final, no exchanges or credits, and no itemized receipts.  The nursery itself is for sale.  Niche is at 1111 Dawson Road (look for a gravel driveway on the left); from Carrboro take Jones Ferry Road across University Lake, turn right on to Old Greensboro Road, and Dawson Road is on the left after 7.5 miles).  Besides the retail nursery there are display gardens.  NCSU graduate Kim Hawks founded Niche Gardens on Dawson Road in 1986, when gardening with native plants was a more unusual concept.  The nursery was also a pioneer in selling plants online.  Hawks sold the nursery to employee Blair Durant in 2002, and I think he was still in charge as of last year.        

August 1st - 7th is World Breastfeeding Week:  www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2019/08/01/default-calendar/world-breastfeeding-week-2019

Friedrich Engels died August 5, 1895 in London, UK of throat cancer.  His ashes were spread in the English Channel off of the high white chalk sea cliffs of Beachy Head in East Sussex, England. 

The bombing of Hiroshima

The US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima a little after 8am on August 6, 1945.  The UK consented under the Quebec Agreement.

The USSR and Mongolia entered the war against Japan very early on August 9th, as had long been requested by the other Allies, and quickly advanced deep into Japanese-held areas.

The bombing of Nagasaki

A second atom bomb was dropped on Nagasaki August 9, 1945 after 11am when the cloud cover that would have saved the city broke (Wikipedia articles say that the primary target August 9th was Kokura and that it had been the alternative target on August 6th).  The bomb used on Hiroshima was set to explode as it fell, while the bomb used on Nagasaki exploded at ground level, but hills deflected some of the force and unlike in Hiroshima there wasn't a firestorm.  Hiroshima and Nagasaki were both hit by atomic bombs (as opposed to more destructive hydrogen or thermonuclear bombs based on nuclear fusion and first developed by the USA for use during the Cold War), but the designs were different.

August 9th is the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples and this year it focuses on Indigenous Peoples' Languages and 2019 is the International Year of Indigenous Languages:  www.un.org/en/events/indigenousday/  I would like to study Classical Nahuatl or a related modern language.    

SAF End of Summer Celebration

This fundraiser for Student Action with Farmworkers will be Sunday, August 11th 1 - 4pm at the NC Museum of Art in Raleigh.  Meet the community of SAF supporters and enjoy food, music, and art, and the announcement says something about the opening of NCSU's corn maize:  www.saf-unite.org/content/saf-end-summer-celebration

International Youth Day is August 12th:  www.un.org/en/events/youthday/

The Mexican capital Tenochtitlan fell to a force of several hundred Spaniards and thousands of Indian allies under Hernando Cortés around August 13, 1521, following a long siege and attack by land and water (the city was in a large lake, Lake Texcoco, and crossed by many canals).  Aztec emperor Cuauhtémoc (his predecessor Cuitláhuac, who replaced Moctezuma II, had died of disease in 1520) was captured as a flotilla attempted to escape the last assault in Tlatelolco, Tenochtitlan's connected sister city.  Tens to hundreds of thousands of its inhabitants were killed in battle and by massacres (also involving rape and looting), disease epidemics, and starvation (similar to the numbers killed by atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki).  Much of Tenochtitlan was levelled during the war and modern Mexico City sits on the ruins.  In all, several thousand Spanish and native allies (the majority of casualties were allies), were killed.  The Spanish force included some non-Spaniards and women.     

Societies far away probably didn't know about Tenochtitlan and the rest of the Valley of Mexico, but populous Tenochtitlan and the surrounding region could be considered a cultural and political capital of North America in its time, similar to New York City, Washington, and Los Angeles today.  It was the capital of one of the most politically and culturally powerful states in pre-Columbian North America.  I think objects from ancient Mexican cultures have been found as far away as the Southwest and Eastern US, though it is an open question whether people there knew their origin.  Maize formed the basis of the economy over much of the Pre-Columbian Americas and is thought to have been domesticated in what is now Mexico, though that was long before the Mexica and might have begun in a different region.  

Karl Liebknecht was born August 14, 1871 in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany and was a founder of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (which he represented in Prussia's parliament and later in the German Reichstag), the Spartacist League, and the Communist Party of Germany.  Along with Rosa Luxemburg he was tortured and executed by Freikorps rightists, supporting the Social-Democratic German government at the end of WWI.   

In a recorded radio broadcast at noon on August 15, 1945 Emperor Hirohito announced domestically that Japan had surrendered to the Allies.

UNC-Chapel Hill will start charging for parking on weeknights, from 5pm on Mondays to 7:30am on Fridays, starting Thursday, August 15th (and daytime parking on weekdays is not free as usual):   move.unc.edu/parking/weeknight-parking/

World Humanitarian Day is August 19th:  www.un.org/en/events/humanitarianday/

The International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism Day is August 21st:  www.un.org/en/events/victimsofterrorismday/

The International Day Commemorating the Victims of Violence Based on Religion or Belief is August 22nd:  www.un.org/en/events/victimsofreligiousviolenceday/

The International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition is August 23rd, commemorating the beginning the Haitian Revolution on the night of August 22 - 23, 1791 in what is now Haiti and the Dominican Republic on the island of Santo Domingo:  en.unesco.org/commemorations/slavetraderemembranceday

German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born August 27, 1770 in Stuttgart, Germany; his thought was a major influence in the later development of Marxism.   

Triangle Friends of Farmworkers late summer activities
TFF will cook for the FLOC Black-Brown Unity Tour bus coming to North Carolina from Toledo, Ohio August 27th.  To help, come to 130 Hunt Street in Durham anytime 1 - 6pm August 26th and possibly also August 27th; the morning of August 29th members will set up a lunch at the FLOC office in Dudley. 

The next anti-VUSE picket at a Circle K, in Chapel Hill or Carrboro, is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, September 3rd, details TBA.

The campaign to give Circle K one-star reviews on Google and Yelp continues.  If you do it at home, let them know your name, the store's address, the date, and optionally your review.  Just on July 17th members left about 60 reviews.  Below is an example:

Circle-K REVIEW:  Location:  5009 Fayetteville Road, Garner/Raleigh, NC                     July 7, 2019

“This Circle K always has a wide variety of snacks, and a gal can’t live without her favorite snacks and a sturdy cup of coffee.  Add to that the convenient location, chit-chatty workers and my loyalty is hooked.  It is a source of frustration to me, however, that Circle K continues to stock VUSE e-cigarettes in defiance of a nationwide boycott supporting FLOC, the farm workers union, which means, by extension, that Circle K also supports the inhumane treatment those workers endure from Reynolds Tobacco.  Since I, a stubborn Missouri Mule in Garner, refuse to support cruelty in any form, this means I can no longer stop here even if I am craving a Little Debbie Oatmeal Crème cookie.   So instead of the high grade I would like to give this business,  I must give a "one" until such time as the corporate values of Circle K align with my personal values regarding the way farm workers are treated.  Please pressure your management to support this move for justice.  Please hurry - ease your conscience and my withdrawal symptoms.       Thank you for your consideration”.  

TFF's next business meeting will be Monday, September 23rd at 7pm at 130 Hunt Street in Durham.

The International Day Against Nuclear Tests is August 29th:  www.un.org/en/events/againstnucleartestsday/  I was surprised to learn that the US detonated nuclear weapons as recently as 1992:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States%27_nuclear_weapons_tests  In the Vela Incident on September 22, 1979 a possible nuclear test was detected in the Indian Ocean between South Africa and Antarctica.  There were many theories, including that it was a joint test by South Africa and Israel (Israel is generally thought to have hundreds of nuclear weapons today and South Africa used to have nuclear weapons). 

The International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances is August 30th:  www.un.org/en/events/disappearancesday/ 

US and Canadian Labor Day, is Monday, September 2nd.  Unions called for the creation of a day for workers in the late 19th century, with some advocating a date in September, and the government supported a September date instead of May 1st, associated with revolutionary labor movements. Around the world May Day is labor day or an official holiday in many countries, such as Mexico, and that date also has roots in the American labor movement.  Beginning under Eisenhower May 1st has been called Loyalty Day and Law Day and previously it was Child Health Day.

Imperial Japan formally surrendered September 2, 1945 onboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.  There were other surrenders elsewhere. 

Wild and Scenic Film Festival

This annual environmental film festival will be Thursday, September 5th 6:30 - 9:30pm at the Carrboro Century Center (100 North Greensboro Street, Carrboro) and is being organized by the Haw River Assembly.  Tickets are $20 to 30 dollars, and can be bought at hawriver.org/2019-wild-scenic-film-festival/ or by calling 919 542 5790. 

International Literacy Day is September 8th:  www.un.org/en/events/literacyday/  The success of Cuba's 1961 literacy campaign and later initiatives both in Cuba and as aid to other countries have often been noted. 

World Suicide Prevention Day is September 10th:  www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/wspd/en/

National Estuaries Week will be September 14 - 21.

International Day of Democracy is September 15th:  www.un.org/en/events/democracyday/

Mexico's Independence Day is September 16th, commemorating Miguel Hidalgo's Grito de Dolores (Cry of Dolores) in 1810.

The International Day for Preservation of the Ozone Layer is September 16th:  www.un.org/en/events/ozoneday/  September 16, 2009 agreements protecting the ozone layer became the first universally ratified UN treaties.  The ozone layer (made of a form of oxygen) absorbs some ultraviolet light, but is depleted by industrial chemicals, such as CFCs, which are also potent greenhouse gases. 

The 62nd Annual Convention of the NC AFL-CIO will be held September 19 - 20 in Charlotte.

The Global Climate Strike will be September 20.

Durham's annual Centerfest will be September 20th and 21st (10am-11pm Saturday and 11am to 5pm Sunday) downtown:  centerfest.durhamarts.org/  

The International Day of Peace is September 21st and this year's theme is Climate Action for Peace: www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/

The NC Museum of Natural History's BugFest will be September 21st and this year's theme is beetles (almost 1/4th of all known animal species are beetles).

The International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons is September 26th:  www.un.org/en/events/nuclearweaponelimination/  The USA, Russia, and other major nuclear powers demand that smaller countries completely and unilaterally denuclearize, and not develop rockets that could carry nuclear weapons, while they have thousands of nuclear weapons ready to destroy humanity and instead of beginning to get rid of them, they spend huge amounts to maintain their current weapons and develop new ones. 

Iraq was accused of developing nuclear weapons, and was invaded in 2003, killing many civilians and leading to sectarian conflict and the creation of ISIS.  Libya gave up its weapons program and was attacked in 2011, creating a "failed state" and flood of migrants through Libya to the EU.  Democrats and Republicans accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons and it is under severe pressure and faces war, despite not developing nuclear weapons while under threat from nuclear powers, and agreeing to the JCPOA, which Trump tore up.  Iran also has the right to develop peaceful nuclear technology under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.  The DPRK developed nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, and seems relatively safe from attack by the USA and other countries, though that isn't only because of its nuclear status, and the nuclear weapons give the US another justification for its Korean policies.  On the other hand, the US doesn't mind when its allies, such as Israel and India, develop nuclear weapons and even helps them. 

World Maritime Day is also September 26th, and focuses on women working in shipping industries this year:  www.un.org/en/events/maritimeday/

World Rabies Day is September 28th:  www.who.int/rabies/WRD_landing_page/en/  I heard from a local licensed wildlife rehabilitator that vaccination against this almost universally fatal virus is offered by the Durham health department, and immunity usually lasts a long time, but vaccination is expensive. 

September 28th is also the International Day for Universal Access to Information:  en.unesco.org/commemorations/accesstoinformationday

World Space Week is October 4th - 10th:  www.un.org/en/events/spaceweek/

Demand an End to War:  Rage Against the War Machine

This sequel to the March on the Pentagon last fall ( durhamspark.blogspot.com/2018/10/reportback-from-womens-march-on.html ) will be Friday, October 11th in front of the White House and the Anti-Imperialist Revolution Summit will be Saturday, October 12th ( marchonpentagon.com/demand-an-end-to-war-rage-against-the-war-machine/ ).

The next planning call will be August 4th at 3pm EST, 2pm CST, and 12pm PST:  marchonpentagon.com/rage-against-the-war-machine-call-sunday-august-4/

Chapel Hill's annual Festifall will be Saturday, October 12th 11am - 3pm along West Franklin Street and includes political groups:  www.chapelhillfestifall.com/

Disarmament Week is October 24th - 30th:  www.un.org/en/events/disarmamentweek/

Brexit

Just in time for Halloween, the United Kingdom is now supposed to leave the European Union October 31st, possibly "crashing out" without a withdrawal agreement, resulting in problems such as the return of a "hard" international border between British-held Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and the possibility of renewed fighting.  Brexit could also encourage the disintegration of the UK if constituents such as Scotland or Northern Ireland vote to secede in coming years, and there are already calls for referenda. 

Close the School of the Americas

School of the Americas Watch is organizing a demonstration outside Fort Benning, Georgia (near Columbus and the border with Alabama) November 15 - 17.  November 16th is the 30th anniversary of a massacre at the Central American University in San Salvador, El Salvador in 1989. 

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 ©.