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Not my vision

Posted on February 18, 2010 by Staff

Dave Cook

I am not writing for the people who walk fast along Bolin Creek, missing the black snake coiled in the sun. I am writing for the woods themselves, the character of them. Encroachment has probably eradicated the four-toed salamander, but I write for other living treasures of this creek and forest residing in or along the creek: the colony of snowbells, moth mullein, wild comfrey, showy orchis, the madtom, the pike and the prothonotary warbler.

Suffice it to say it’s an extreme waste of public money to make a pathway wheelchair accessible from Estes Drive all the way to the high school. Suffice it to say that the compaction of soil by heavy machinery creating a cement greenway, and the 10-foot wide impervious surface itself coursing several miles, will do nothing good for stormwater run-off. (I served on the board of adjustment for Chapel Hill for a number of years, and there’s a very good reason for keeping impervious surface out of a flood plain.)

From early on, the collective vision of the Friends of Bolin Creek was to preserve the woods for their own sake, a preserve– that was the word we sought out and used. A woods within an urban environment –that’s what we talked about. What a treasure! That we might visit there, leaving as little impact as possible, so that the woods and creek could have their perpetuating effect for generations. We talked about walking, about passive recreation; we didn’t talk about the creek and its woods as a fast track for skateboards, roller-bladers and bikers. Some members didn’t even like that there were mountain bikers blasting past.

Bike lanes? Put them by the road where they belong.

Wheelchair accessibility? Several smaller or shorter wheelchair accessible sections make more sense than several miles of it and would be better use of public money.

There is always the tireless energy of the dollar, of convenience and another way to use concrete. One of the most difficult things for us to learn is that there are limitations. If nothing else, the economics of these times are teaching us that money and resources are not to be wasted. It might be an urbanist’s vision – streetlights to preserve the safety of bicycle commuters, or thinking of what new line can be drawn through the woods, to cut and belittle their intrinsic reason for being – but it’s not mine. It was never ours when we talked about a preserve.

That’s what inspired us when we suffered defeats in council meetings, sat through board meetings and attempted public outreach. Could others see the possibilities of the woods’ subtle and benevolent presence, the trickle of the stream, the quiet light on the barks of trees, the possibilities of solitude inside the world busy all around us?

Ultimately we go to these woods to allow their effect on us, to replenish our souls. A forest has a subtle effect, and there resides there a lost connection for us, what is at the origin of our imaginations, our emotions and our spiritual well-being, a subtle effect ultimately benevolent and nourishing.

Dave Cook is a founding member of Friends of Bolin Creek. He is author of The Piedmont Almanac: A Guide to the Natural World, The Adventures of Crow-boy and Reservation Nation. He now lives in Durham and is program director at the School House of Wonder.

6 thoughts on “Not my vision”

  1. Debbie L. Nichols says:
    February 21, 2010 at 10:23 am

    I love nature as much as you do. I believe that there can be some kind of COMPROMISE available that would allow people with a disability access to nature. Please do not keep people like us out of the picture. We have worked for the environment as much as anyone. You too may be become more able bodied than I am at this moment in time, but I have seen it over and over when others become much more disabled than me or even die. But you too will not like it when you are denied access if you live with a disability.

  2. steve peck says:
    February 22, 2010 at 12:59 pm

    With all due respect when did David Cook become the one to write for the woods. I object to the patarnizing tone of his argument. We must preserve the greenspace that is Bolin Creek. But to speak of Bolin Creek in hushed tones as a pristine wilderness is sophistry. To make those who seek a means of access for all including bicycles and the handicapped seem like rapists of the wilderness is wrong. I have lived by or near Bolin Creek for 20+ years and love the stream plus I realize that as CH/Carrboro grows it has become a green haven for our people. Please make the argument on the merits not demonizing those who disagree.

  3. Julie McClintock says:
    February 24, 2010 at 10:18 am

    Dave Cook is a writer and a naturalist and has the authentic voice to write for the woods. He reminds us that the vision for this 400+ acre woods all along has been to make it a preserve. A 2004 NC State technical analysis also recommended the Bolin Creek Valley for preservation. There are few places left where we can enjoy a relatively wild natural woods.

  4. Joan Widdifield says:
    February 24, 2010 at 2:04 pm

    Proponents of keeping Bolin Creek natural want access for everyone. The Bolin Creek Valley should be an undisturbed open space in perpetuity.

    We want a logical transportation route, which is not next to the creek. A 10′ wide concrete path would contribute to the creek’s degradation. After paving with an impervious surface and clearing the tree canopy for the 5′ clearing on either side of the path, many biological processes would take place that would destroy the creek. We don’t think that our hard-earned tax dollars ($2.5-$4+ million) should be spent in such an irresponsible way.

    We want access for the handicapped (My mother is handicapped. I worked with the handicapped for years, and am producing a documentary film about their lives.) We propose that the town of Carrboro purchase all-terrain wheelchairs for citizens to borrow.

    I think we can find a route for cyclists, handicapped, walkers and parents with strollers and still preserve Bolin Creek for all of us to enjoy.

  5. Terri Buckner says:
    February 27, 2010 at 6:44 pm

    The trail along Bolin Creek was damaged decades ago when OWASA put in the sewer line. Until that sewer line is removed, the creek and surrounding forest can never become a ‘preserve.’ Are those who are arguing against a paved trail advocating for removal of the sewer lines?

  6. Chris Bond says:
    March 17, 2010 at 7:25 am

    Terri, I am an advocate for removing the sewer lines.

    Can you imagine the ecological harm that would be done if one of those lines ruptured? It was a bad environmental decision to place those line there.

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