In Chicago, where I spent a number of years working with the National Audubon Society on ecological restoration for better bird habitat, they have learned the hard way that it is hard to recreate what has already been lost. But since the Chicago region has so little native prairie and woodland left, ecological restoration is the only route towards regaining that sense of ecological place that so many of us here enjoy and take for granted. Prairie plants along creek and railroad corridors inspired some of the best and most forward thinking restoration projects in the country, some of which are even near downtown.

Although we haven't lost nearly as much as these folks have, we still have thousands of acres of bulldozed land near our strip shopping centers and thousands of lifeless retention ponds sitting around taking up space as ecological deserts. In addition, we have almost completely lost many native species that were associated with the old Piedmont prairies that occurred in patches in this area before Europeans introduced the idea of fire suppression as a good thing. But when the Nature Conservancy Southeast Resource office and NatureServe moved into new digs near the American Tobacco Trail on Fayetteville Road, we began to envision our retention pond as a habitat for wildlife and a demonstration for others looking to re-create a portion of that old Piedmont habitat out of very little. Now in its third year, the little red mud pond out back still has a long way to go. But the hard work of a handful of employees has been noticed by a few passers by on the ATT. We regularly have visitors sitting at the picnic table listening to the green frogs in summer or walking past it on the way to work at our office building.

Night herons and great blues occasionally stop by to pick up the green frogs that inhabit the pond. Woodpeckers enjoy inhabiting the dead pine trees nearby while flying over the relative openness of the pond. And this fall and winter, we have had weekly visits from a very healthy male red fox that very much appreciates the native beautyberries (Callicarpa americana) we've planted on the banks. All with just two years of growth!

As we develop trails such as the American Tobacco Trail, it's important to remember that these corridors serve as habitat for all kinds of wildlife that we would otherwise not have the pleasure of meeting. The fox has been a welcome surprise to us, and probably has livened up the day of at least a jogger or two on the adjacent trail as it forages for berries and critters. Oases like this along the trail are going to be some of the last places users of this trail will be able to see wildlife in southern Durham due to current and future development patterns. There are plenty of opportunities to work harder to re-introduce native species of plants along the trail and in the backyards of adjacent landowners.

Suggested Resources:

• Miracle Under the Oaks by William Stevens (available used on Amazon.com cheap)
• Native Shrubs and Woody Vines of the Southeast: Landscaping Uses and Identification by Leonard Foote and Samuel Jones
• Selected resources for native plants in the area:
  Niche Gardens
  NC Botanical Gardens

  Pictures:

  TNC and NatureServe staff planting in May 2001

  Fuzzy picture of fox from December 2003

  Before Planting Efforts (Spring 2001)

  Heron

  Pond in 2003 with heron

  I'm afraid we don't have a good "after" picture. We'll get one this summer.

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