Back to Bald Knob!

 Ten hardy BRFAL members returned to work at Bald Knob Natural Area Preserve in Rocky Mount on two beautiful days in late October. They removed 5 bags of trash, 250 yards of barbed wire fencing, lots of intermingled trees and shrubs, and various invasive plants consisting mostly of Chinese Privet.

Bald Knob is a 1350 foot knob in an area of lower elevation land that has unique thin mafic barren soil (formed from 500 million year old exposed ferromagnesium rock).  That soil is home to some very unusual and endangered plants that are found only in a few spots in Virginia and North Carolina – including the Piedmont Fame Flower and Keever’s Bristle Moss.  The preserve now encompasses about 120 acres.

Since 2017, BRFAL has worked with DCR employees Ryan Klopf and James Francis to improve the site by removing many decades of old cattle fencing, invasive plants, tires, discarded appliances, and other trash.  We have done some work to improve the creek bed and buffer, as well as remove some of the invasive plants that have decided to call Bald Knob home.  Someday, more stream restoration will be done and many of the non-native plants may also be removed, but that is perhaps far in the future.

DCR plans to install a parking area and begin some trails this winter.  Perhaps we will be able to help with some of that effort. 

Enjoy these pictures of the awesome crew that came out to volunteer and the pile we were left with at the end of the day!

For more information on Bald Knob Natural Area Preserve, visit:

Bald Knob Natural Area Preserve (virginia.gov)

For more information on the damaging effects of privet on natural areas, visit:

fslisi.pdf (virginia.gov)

Thanks for coming!

 

Nature Expo 2024!

 

Creek Week!

Ten years ago, the Western Virginia Water Authority developed Creek Week, a program that conducts activities in schools to create awareness about the importance of water resources. However, only a few schools have a creek on their property, but Franklin County Middle School does and has been a wonderful place for hands-on activities. The Water Authority provides all the necessary equipment and sets up the program, and their programs have won multiple awards.

The Creek Station is the heart of the program, and BRFAL Volunteers staff it. The station is divided into two simultaneous groups, and the goal is to have at least two experienced SOS volunteers who have worked the program before and one person with less experience. Chekka, Geoff, Connie Jean, Lee, Martha Kuon, and Carolyn Briggs worked this year. Chekka's college students also provided excellent assistance, with two of them being from Franklin Co. and remembering their Creek Week years ago. On Monday, two of Chekka's students helped, five helped on Wednesday and Thursday, and three on Friday.

Several organizations participate in Creek Week. The Water Authority brings two people, while The Blue Ridge Soil And Water District runs a station. The Clean Valley Council provides one or two volunteers to assist.

This program is unique and offers experiential education to children, leading them to care about their environment. The BRFAL team has six years of interpretive training and additional NPS training to achieve the program's goal, which is to make attendees care about the resource, which is the Earth.

-report submitted by Shearer