Our next FMST Eno River section workday is this Saturday April 27, 9AM-2PM meeting at the West Point on the Eno Trail parking lot on Roxboro Street, 5252 North Roxboro Street in Durham. This is the parking lot on the North side of the Eno, not the main entrance to West Point.

We will be working on repairs to the MST between West Point on the Eno and River Forest Park. Some of you worked on the rebuilding of this trail after it was destroyed by the installation of a new sewer line. The trail overall looks good, though there are spots which desperately need maintenance. I continue to work with City of Durham Water Management to try to allow more trees to grow up along the trail replacing those removed when the city clear cut this area.

The main projects this Saturday will be:

1)     Trail repair. There are several locations where due to the lack of trees there are erosion issues and we will be adding rock, gravel, soil to repair the trail and reduce the erosion problem.

2)     Trash removal. There is some trash from recent flooding out there, as well as some old trash. Over the years we have worked on removing trash from this area and the area is much cleaner than it used to be. If the weather is warm enough and the water level low enough, we may work on removing a large chunk of old storm sewer pipe from the river. If you are willing to get your feet wet, this might be a project for you.

3)     Removal of invasive species, particularly privet. We have made good progress reducing the amount of tree of heaven, mimosa, English ivy, mahonia, Bradford pear, Japanese wisteria, and privet along this section of the river, but there is still more to remove. This will be with the weed wrenches and hand pulling.

4)     Trimming the trail. Spring is here, and the trail is starting to get overgrown