This Land, Your Land

A hot summer and less-than-average rainfall should lead to a vibrant display of color this autumn in the mountains of western North Carolina, Western Carolina University's fall foliage forecast says.

"It’s been a hot year in North Carolina, with above-average temperatures this summer. Rainfall has been slightly less than average during the spring and summer. These are two factors I look at when thinking about the timing and quality of fall leaf color change in the mountains,” said Kathy Gould Mathews, a WCU associate professor of biology specializing in plant systematics.

“I predict this fall color change will be variable throughout the Southern mountains, but on the whole we should expect to see rich and attractive color change this season,” Gould said Wednesday in The Reporter, a WCU publication.

Although peak fall color typically occurs during the third week of October, this year's peak might arrive closer to the end of October because of the warm temperatures, Mathews said. The color change should begin at the higher elevations in late September and continue through mid-November in the lower levels of western North Carolina.

Thanks to the Smoky Mountain Hiking Blog, where we saw the WCU report.

As the meadow at the Blue Ridge Parkway's Crabtree Meadows Recreation Area fades into history, the National Park Service has changed the park's name to capitalize on the area's 70-foot waterfall.

Crabtree Meadows Recreation Area has been renamed Crabtree Falls Recreation Area, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported recently. The park is at Milepost 339.5 near Spruce Pine.

Many visitors are unaware of the 2 1/2-mile Crabtree Falls Loop Trail and Crabtree Falls, the newspaper says. The 253-acre recreation area also has a campground, picnic area with grills, and restaurant and gift shop.

For more information, contact Crabtree Falls Campground at 828-675-5444

National Parks on the Outer Banks have closed in anticipation of the approach of Hurricane Earl.

Visitor centers and campgrounds at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, and Wright Brothers National Memorial were to close by 5 p.m. or earlier Wednesday, as was ocean-side beach access for off-road vehicles at Cape Hatteras.

The reservation system for Ocracoke Campground has also been suspended until further notice.

Earl was expected to bring high winds to the Outer Banks but not to make landfall.

This year's celebration of the Blue Ridge Parkway's 75th anniversary culminates September 10-12 at the Blue Ridge Music Center (Milepost 213) and the Cumberland Knob Recreation Area (MP 217). The celebration will include music, food, history discussions, craft demonstrations and many more activities for all ages.

Performances on the Blue Ridge Music Center stage include Sierra Hull & Highway 111 on Friday, Dr. Ralph Stanley & His Clinch Mountain Boys on Saturday, and shape note singing with Laura Boosinger and the bluegrass gospel of The Churchmen on Sunday.

There will also be some jamming tents, nature walks, storytelling, films, Appalachian craft demonstrations, an antique camper exhibit, children's activities, and more.

It's all free, including the speeches by politicians on Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Construction on the Blue Ridge Parkway began near Cumberland Knob - just south of the Virginia/N.C. line - on September 11, 1935.

The state will present conceptual plans for Carvers Creek State Park, which is being developed in northern Cumberland County, in a public meeting in Fayetteville Monday night.

The public meeting at Pine Forest High School at 6:30 p.m. August 30 is part of the process to create a master plan, a park's blueprint for long-term development of facilities and recreation opportunities and a guide for protection of natural resources, a news release says.

Carvers Creek State Park was authorized in 2005 but has not been developed in part because of state budget woes. The state has continued to acquire land, though, and the park now encompasses 2,812 acres, including the former James Stillman Rockefeller estate near Spring Lake as well as undeveloped tracts that lie between Fort Bragg and U.S. 401 north of Fayetteville.

The Nature Conservancy, which donated parts of the property and coordinated the sale of other parts to the state, describes the Carvers Creeks property as "a mosaic of Sandhills communities, including pine/scrub oak sandhill, and wetland areas such as seeps, stream pocosins and a small swamp. The natural area is home to several active red-cockaded woodpecker colonies and several populations of Sandhills pyxie-moss."

Park design alternatives discussed at Monday's meeting will be available on the state parks website beginning August 31.

State park rangers and volunteers are monitoring more than twice as many sea turtle nests on Bear Island at Hammocks Beach State Park this season than last, a news release says.

One of the 19 sea turtle nests was created by the relatively rare green sea turtle, the release says, while the rest are by loggerhead turtles, which while also endangered are more common. The green sea turtle nest is among only nine known on the North Carolina coast this season.

There were eight sea turtle nests recorded on Bear Island in 2009.

There are three species of sea turtles that nest within Cape Hatteras National Seashore: the loggerhead, green and leatherback. All are federally listed as either threatened or endangered.

Programs at Hammocks Beach and Cape Hatteras enlist volunteers to monitor sea turtle nests and to ensure the success of hatchlings as they emerge and make their way to the ocean.

At Hatteras, volunteers are needed and will be trained to assist National Park Service biologists with monitoring nest sites, educating the general public about sea turtle management, installing and maintaining closures, handling hatchlings, and assisting with excavations.

Loggerhead and green sea turtles dig nests above the high tide line along beaches, and lay eggs that incubate for roughly 60-90 days before producing hatchlings from September to November. Hatchlings emerge from the nests at night and make their way toward the brightest horizon, which on an undeveloped beach is always toward the sea. Bright, artificial lights can confuse the hatchlings. Officials and volunteers re-orient confused hatchlings.

Each nest could produce more than 100 sea turtle hatchlings.

A loggerhead that was tagged at Bear Island with a GPS satellite tracking device and later nested at Brown Island can be tracked at the website www.seaturtle.org.

If you're interested in volunteering at Cape Hatteras and can commit to a specific number of hours, leave your contact information for Katy McCurdy at 252-995-6968 or 252-216-7829.

The state has added more than 1,500 acres of natural woodlands to the Bladen Lakes State Forest near Elizabethtown, The Fayetteville Observer reported Tuesday.

Bladen Lakes State Forest encompasses about 33,000 acres adjacent to Jones Lake and Singletary Lake state parks and Turnbull Creek Educational State Forest. White Lake is nearby, as well.

Bladen Lakes is one of the largest state-owned forests in North Carolina, The Observer says. It has 130 miles of dirt roads, and is open for hunting, fishing, camping, hiking and horseback riding, but requires permits.

The 1,562-acre addition comprises an approximately 777-acre Prestage tract, a 683-acre Boyette tract and the approximately 140-acre Stevens tract.

A.T. Journeys, the monthly magazine of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, looks at quick opportunities to bag peaks on the AT, and all three it suggests are in North Carolina.

"ATC’s Laurie Potteiger notes that deep in the heart of the southern Appalachians are magnificent A.T. 'peak' experiences that require little more effort than turning off your vehicle’s motor, silencing your cell phone, and stretching your legs," the article says.

Potteiger visits Wayah Bald, with its "expansive views of rows and rows of other pristine mountains in the distance," Clingman’s Dome, at 6,643 feet the highest peak on the A.T., which features "a large concrete observation tower with a circular ramp that provides spectacular 360-degree views of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park," and Roan Mountain, where "flower lovers make the pilgrimage to see one of the most notable displays anywhere in world" when wild rhododendron blooms in June.

Though some of the A.T. at Roan Mountain is inaccessible most of this summer as the day use area is renovated, hikers can still access the mountain from nearby Carver’s Gap, Potteiger says.

The July issue of The Steward, the State Parks newsletter, provides an overview of May's public airing of the ongoing development of a master plan for Chimney Rock State Park.

The park encompasses some 4,300 acres in the Hickory Nut Gorge area at Lake Lure, including the formerly private Chimney Rock Park tourist attraction.

Nearly 200 people, most of them from the area, attended the day-long public planning session in Lake Lure.

The article describes three types of development plans:

- The “conservation-focused” alternative, which considers protection of eight significant natural heritage areas to be paramount and would allow limited public access. "It includes about 10 miles of hiking trails, two new day use areas, and a visitor center near Lake Lure, but otherwise, very little development outside of the existing Chimney Rock access."

- The “low impact recreation” alternative proposes using only previously disturbed areas for future park development. It would establish a visitor center at “the Meadows,” which is at the lower elevation of the existing Chimney Rock Park and would serve as a hub opening to an extensive network of trails and backcountry camping options on the gorge’s south side. The park would have three day use areas leading to mountain biking, climbing and additional hiking trails, with two of these on the north side of Hickory Nut Gorge.

- The “intensive recreation and use” plan calls for a visitor center on the summit of Chimney Rock Mountain above the developed area, in an abandoned 25-acre orchard. It would be a hub for backcountry and tent/trailer camping, picnicking and hiking. There would be five day use areas on the north and south sides of the gorge with access to camping, mountain biking, climbing, equestrian and hiking opportunities. A secondary visitor center and satellite park administrative offices would be built on the Rumbling Bald Mountain access area – property now under the protection of The Nature Conservancy.

The intensive recreation plan would require either access to the visitor center from the side of the park farthest from the Lake Lure area or construction of a "very expensive" road through the eastern area of the park.

Chuck Flink, president of Greenways Inc., the Durham-based environmental planning and landscape architecture firm responsible for completing the plan this year, said it’s highly likely the final master plan proposal will be a hybrid that sifts the best ideas from all three versions, the article says.

The public comment period for development of the Chimney Rock State Park master plan closed June 23, the Greenways site says.

The state Division of Parks and Recreation will dedicate the new visitor center at Raven Rock State Park in Lillington on Saturday, July 17.

Raven Rock State Park, named for the large rock face on the Cape Fear River (below), was established in 1969 and now encompasses 4,694 acres.

The project to build the 7,190-square-foot visitor center also included a picnic shelter, improvements to the picnic grounds, an accessible nature trail, a paved entrance road to the park and paved parking areas with space for 139 vehicles, a news release says. It all cost $4.3 million and came from the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, the principal funding source for state park capital projects and land acquisition.

The new visitor center will present exhibits that explore the natural history and the unique geologic events that resulted in the Raven Rock landscape, the history of Cape Fear River navigation and the river’s importance to local culture and commerce.

The center is also designed to be LEED certified, with a geothermal heat pump, solar hot water heating and low-flow water fixtures, low-energy light fixtures, solar lights in the parking area, recycled building materials and natural landscaping.