A 0.7 mile stretch of Ellerbe Creek’s channel in the 17-Acre Wood Preserve is about to get a make-over. The stream channel is not in the shape it once was—literally.

In the 1950s, the US Army Corps of Engineers decided that straight streams with deep, U-shaped channels were most “efficient” for avoiding local flooding, so they straightened and deepened stream channels throughout the North Carolina Piedmont. These altered channels function very well as stormwater conveyance ditches, but they lose much of the stream’s ability to keep its water clean, provide a home and food for critters, and allow stormwater to soak into the ground to replenish groundwater. And those high, steep banks are unstable: fast-flowing water during storms erodes the bottom of the banks and causes sections to collapse.

Read more HERE

The Fall 2009 Ellerbe Creek Journal (339 kB) is now available.

You can view or download all back issues on our newsletters page.

Please remember to share or recycle your copy. Thank you.

Beaver Lodge Local 1504 celebrated the 40th anniversary of one of the most significant cultural events of the 20th century by holding Woodstick, the 2009 Beaver Queen Pageant.

The fifth annual Beaver Queen Pageant was held at the Duke Park Meadow on Saturday, June 6, at 5 pm. Food, family activies, music and general zaniness were enjoyed by all thanks to the incredibly generous, talented and wacky members and friends of Beaver Lodge Local 1504.

Check out some of this year's "entertainment" above, on YouTube (search for "2009 Beaver Queen Pageant"), on the blog spot and on www.flikr.com.

-- Joanne Abel

Please join us in welcoming Katherine Meehan as ECWA’s new Development and Program Director. Katherine will work closely with ECWA’s staff and Board of Directors to diversify and increase funding for our programs and initiatives.

Nature’s cycles don’t wait around for economic cycles to go their way. Despite the economic downturn, the need for vegetated stream buffers to protect our water, trees to purify our air, and green space to refresh our spirits continues unabated. And so, with Katherine’s help and your support, ECWA plans to keep alive our vision of a healthy creek, watershed, and community—now as much as ever.

Katherine comes to ECWA with many years’ experience with advertising and marketing for a small non-profit magazine. Having grown up in Southern California, where the impact of growth on the delicate ecosystem has been devastating to native plants and animals, she is thrilled to have the opportunity to support the important work ECWA has been doing. Katherine has a BA in Anthropology from UC Berkeley. She has lived in Durham since 1996 with her husband and four children. She is an avid gardener, working to create a garden that protects and encourages native plants, trees, and wildlife, while allowing her to grow fruits and vegetables on the few spots where the sun peeks through the trees.

Dear Board of the County Commissioners

The Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association met Wednesday the 8th of April and resolved the following:

IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED THAT the Board of the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association strongly opposes adoption of the proposed change to the Critical Water Boundary of Jordan Lake, based on the survey paid for by Mr. Neil Hunter.

Our position is based on two very strong arguments:

The Board of the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association strongly supports the counter-proposal that Durham County and Orange County obtain an independent survey of the Normal Pool boundary for the entire lake. Given the large potential impacts of this decision on many landowners and on those who depend on high-quality drinking water from Jordan Lake, as well as on the perceived integrity of the land-use decision process as a whole, we feel that this new survey would be a wise use of County funds.

Thank you for considering this resolution as you deliberate on this matter.

(signed) Margot Ward
President of the board,
Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association

ECWAs own Kathi Beratan, of NCSU's Dept. of Forestry and Environmental Resources, was featured on the February 19th airing of "Shooting the Bull" with Barry Ragin and Kevin Davis on WXDU Radio. She talks about stormwater management in Durham, and gives a preview of her guided walk around the Avondale Drive beaver pond.

You can listen to the entire program using the audio player below or with your iTunes software (do a search for "Shooting the Bull") or by visiting Internet Archive.

A new city ordinance has raised awareness of the issue, and the cost of meeting state requirements. Stormwater management in urban areas is not simple, but it is essential for healthy streams and lakes, and a safe water supply. To help people understand the situation, ECWA’s water quality committee has prepared an overview description of the underlying causes and impacts of stormwater in Durham, and a systematic approach to stormwater planning that would help clean up Ellerbe Creek and restoring its ability to provide valuable ecosystem services.

-- Kathi Beratan

Read the entire document: A Systematic Strategy for Stormwater Management in the Ellerbe Creek Watershed.

In order to make everyone aware of the botanical wonders in the Ellerbe Creek headwaters, I've started a blog about Bennett Place, the 40 acre Civil War historic site that Ellerbe Creek - only two feet wide at that point - flows through. ECWA has a long history of working with Bennett Place staff to manage their property for all the unusual species that grow there. Cynthie and I are trying to continue that collaboration. The blog has four posts thus far, with photos and text, at BennettPlaceFlora.blogspot.com.

Please let me know how you like it. Comments and suggestions would be very helpful. I'm hoping to eventually get enough photos and text online that people can take a virtual tour of the watershed.

-Steve Hiltner

Visit Steve's Bennett Place Flora blog.

Not far from my house, in the heart of one of Durham’s older neighborhoods, is pearl mill branch. Its headwaters are nearby, and a mile or so downstream it joins Ellerbe Creek, the main waterway flowing through the city.

When I first discovered pearl mill branch, I knew little about it. A lover of nature but no naturalist, for years I walked or biked along the paved trail that follows its course, cocooned in ignorance.

This ignorance was blissful. My heart pumped at the sheer existence of the creek: I delighted, conspiratorily, in the way it forced itself - a small green concession - from the urban maw. Blessed be the waters, I sang as I meandered along its sides. And blessed too the contours of the land that bend the waters letting them flow, gurgle, and catch the light. And forget not the green jungle that tangles and thrives along its banks. Such was my gratitude for this little fragment of pulsating life: sweet, a little comic, but straight and true."

To read the entire essay, please see our Reflections page.

On December 12, 2007 the City of Durham Stormwater Services Division launched an effort aimed at studying ways to revitalize the health of Ellerbe Creek and its surrounding area.

The analysis will help the City prioritize and implement watershed improvement projects aimed at cleaning up and revitalizing the Ellerbe Creek watershed. The goals of the proposed project are to revitalize the health of Ellerbe Creek and to comply with water quality regulations.

The project is scheduled to begin this month with field crews assessing streams and stormwater devices. The field evaluation and assessment activities are expected to continue until February, 2008. After the field work is completed, a list of prioritized potential watershed improvement projects will be developed. An updated Watershed Plan will be presented in May 2009.

Click HERE to see the City of Durham News Release. You can also view additonal information about the project by visiting the City of Durham web page for this project.

Land for Tomorrow (LFT) is a diverse partnership of North Carolina businesses, conservationists, farmers, environmental groups, health professionals and community groups committed to securing support from the public and General Assembly for protecting land, water and historic places.