Triangle Tour Series
Thursday september 5, 2024
This series of concurrent tours will focus on the use of native plants in public-facing and large-format landscapes. We’ll address how public spaces can be redesigned to allow native species to thrive and why this practice can increase biodiversity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions with smart operational cost considerations.
Attendees will be responsible for driving to and from tour sites at the designated times. Please register for as many tours as you would like to attend. Please car pool to be more sustainable and reduce parking challenges.
There is no cost for tours. Please let us know if your plans change and you cannot attend a tour you have registered for at info@keepdurhambeautiful.org.
Forum registration is not required to attend the tours.
Tour Schedule
Note: Please select one tour for each time slot.
Find tour details and descriptions below.
7:30 Tour Time 1 (New Time Added)
Durham: Roadside Slope Transformation along The Low Line at Pettigrew Road hosted by City of Durham (Repeat session added)
8:30 Drive to next site
9:00 Tour Time 2
Durham: Roadside Slope Transformation along The Low Line at Pettigrew Road hosted by City of Durham
Carrboro: Native Plantings across 3 HOAs in the Bolin Creek Regenerative Stormwater Conveyance (RSC)
10:30 Drive to next site
11:00 Tour Time 3
Durham: Restoring and managing a Piedmont Prairie at Sarah P. Duke Gardens
Carrboro: Native Prairie at Pacifica Cohousing
12:30 Drive and Lunch on your own
1:30 Tour Time 4
Cary: Piedmont Prairie at Carpenter Village HOA hosted by Leaf & Limb
Chapel Hill: Plant Materials of the Atlantic Southeast at Mason Farm Biological Reserve hosted by NC Botanical Garden
Durham: Restoring and managing a Piedmont Prairie at Sarah P. Duke Gardens (Repeat session added)
3:00 Tours Conclude
Tour details and descriptions
7:30 & 9:00 Durham: Pettigrew Street, The Low Line with Guide Ben Bergmann, City of Durham Horticulturist
This is relatively large site compared to most urban landscapes in downtown Durham. It is also high visible given that it is long and narrow, on a busy street, and across from Durham Station (bus) and American Tobacco Campus. See this site about 2/3 the way through its transition from a nearly bare, eroding grass/weed slope to a site with street trees and plantings dominated by native species. We will talk about management of and service benefits provided by green infrastructure at such sites.
Address: 305 West Pettigrew Street Parking Deck. Meet in the gravel courtyard between the parking deck and 210 W. Pettigrew Street (Burt’s Bees HQ)
9:00 Carrboro: Native Plantings across 3 HOAs in the Bolin Creek Regenerative Stormwater Conveyance (RSC)
This one-acre, sloped parcel falls between 3 Carrboro neighborhoods (Forest Court townhomes, Bolin Creek, and Bolin Forest). Just under a year ago a Regenerative Stormwater Conveyance (RSC) was built through an EPA grant to the Town of Carrboro on behalf of the Carrboro Stormwater Collaborative to manage erosion that was impacting private homes, a playground, HOA common areas, and causing silt to flow into Bolin Creek. See this site only 5 months after native plants were installed by community volunteers to help stabilize the RSC. We will discuss early- stage challenges and how we are approaching them. We anticipate that it will take several years to achieve dense native vegetation and manage invasive species through engagement and education of homeowners, HOAs, and community partners.
Address: Park at Forest Court townhomes @ 101 Forest Court, Carrboro, just off of Bolin Creek Drive in the Bolin Forest neighborhood. We will meet there and walk down the slope of the Regenerative Stormwater Conveyance.
11:00 & 1:30 Durham: Sarah P. Duke Gardens – Restoring and managing a Piedmont Prairie with guides Bobby Mottern, Director of Horticulture (11:00am), and annabel Renwick, Curator (1:30Pm)
The The Piedmont Prairie | Duke Gardens in the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants was initiated 10 years ago. Seed of more than 100 local ecotype plant species was collected from within 50 miles of Durham. This seed was propagated to produce around 20,000 plants which were planted in 2015 and 2016. The prairie landscape has been managed by fire and mowing since 2016. Bobby Mottern and Annabel Renwick will discuss the benefits of burning and the importance of mowing at different times of the year to encourage a more diverse plant community.
Instructions: Please arrive in advance of 11. Guides will meet you next to the iris fountain at the Doris Duke Center and walk the group to the prairie. Someone will wait to guide those who arrive later.
Address: Sarah P Duke Gardens, 420 Anderson Street, Durham; note paid parking is required, please carpool if possible
11:00 Carrboro: Pacifica Cohousing Neighborhood: A Model for Ecological Harmony
On this tour, discover Pacifica Cohousing (https://pacificacohousing.com/), an 18-year-old community nestled near the center of Carrboro, North Carolina. Join us on a tour led by original resident Sharon Myers, where you’ll witness firsthand how Pacifica prioritizes nature.
Native Flora: Explore diverse native plants thriving in Pacifica’s common spaces, a testament to the homeowners’ commitment to the local ecosystem.
Stewardship: Learn about soil fertility, erosion prevention, and stormwater management—other cornerstones of Pacifica’s landscape care.
Shared Responsibility: Gain insights into community-driven land management and sustainable practices including lessons learned over the last 18 years of care of these common spaces.
We hope you leave with a deeper understanding of how communities like Pacifica can add value to managed landscapes, going beyond their backyards to create sustainable, ecologically rich environments.
Address: 141 Viburnum Way, the address of the Pacifica Common House.
Important Update: Hanna Street (previously designated for parking) is closed to parking this week due to a Town of Carrboro paving project. Hanna Street will be a tow-away zone this week, so people should NOT park on Hanna Street.
There are four disability parking spaces in Pacifica, so if folks need those spaces, they can use them. Other tour participants will need to park at Wilson Park and walk over to Pacifica. We will meet in front of the large, centrally located Common House (big, white building) to start the tour. The Pacifica Common House address is 141 Viburnum Way, Carrboro, NC. According to Google maps, it is a 16-minute walk from Wilson Park to the Pacifica Common House.
There is limited parking in the Pacifica neighborhood, and most spaces are reserved for homeowners. Meet the tour leader, Sharon Myers, near the Common House – the largest building located centrally in view from the end of Hanna Street.
1:30 Cary: Piedmont Prairie at Carpenter Village HOA hosted by Leaf & Limb
Leaf & Limb webpage about Piedmont Prairies
Address: 600 Foundry House Ct in Cary. Foundry House Court is a short street and you cannot miss the prairie.
1:30 Chapel Hill: Plant Materials of the Atlantic Southeast at Mason Farm Biological Reserve hosted by NC Botanical Garden
The North Carolina Botanical Garden (NCBG) has been collecting seeds for restoration for almost 20 years and in 2019 we increased our efforts to advance the native plant materials supply chain. Come visit our Plant Materials of the Atlantic Southeast propagation facilities and trial farm to learn more about how NCBG is working to increase the availability of local ecotype seeds available for ecological restoration. You will learn about the steps taken to collect wild seeds and how these seed are used for plug production and to create trial and seed increase beds. Along the way we will discuss some of our local and regional projects.
Mason Farm Biological Reserve is a place for research, education, and appreciation of the natural world. This 367-acre wildlife preserve and natural area in Chapel Hill is home to over 800 species of plants, 216 species of birds, 29 species of mammals, 28 species of fish, 28 species of reptiles, 23 species of amphibians, and 67 species of butterflies. Part of the roughly 40,000 acres of protected lands surrounding Jordan Lake and its tributaries, Mason Farm serves as a wildlife corridor between Chapel Hill and the Cape Fear River Basin to the Atlantic Coast.
Address: Find Directions Here to Mason Farm Biological Reserve, Chapel Hill, NC 27517; please carpool if possible.