Dispatches from the Executive Director - Week of Dec. 16, 2019

The Land Protection Committee met this week to discuss a number of exciting potential opportunities for future nature preserve acquisition.  In particular, I’m most excited that we may have the chance connect the current Veasey Nature Preserve with Glennstone through a potential future land purchase.  This would not only allow us to connect natural areas from the Ellerbe floodplain to our Veasey lands, but would also provide an opportunity to connect trails to any future Ellerbe Creek greenway that runs downstream from the city of Durham. 
 
I try to keep tabs on the Planning, Environmental Affairs Board, and City Council meeting agendas to make sure we know about the topics they are considering and have time to respond if we feel the need to do so.  For those of you interested in staying up to speed on local politics and decisionmaking, the Durham City Council meeting is tonight (Monday, Dec. 16th).  Even if you don’t attend, it’s useful to look at the agenda to see what they are working on for any given month.  The agendas can be found at https://durhamnc.gov/AgendaCenter/City-Council-4. 
 
And I’m VERY excited about a small event/workday that our stewardship coordinator is pulling together for this Friday, Dec. 20th.  Some of us will be out with any available stewards burning the brush piles that were created when clearing out trees in our future potential woodland/prairie restoration in Glennstone.  For me, this is a test run to see if we can consider having a larger solstice burn event in conjunction with prairie restoration.  It’s something I was involved in when I lived in Chicago and we were restoring woodlands and prairies there, and I found it to be one of the most exciting ways to engage the public (I mean, who doesn’t love standing by a fire on the first day of winter out in the middle of nature).

Peace, love, beaver,
Rickie