LRRP Mailing List

Would you like to receive information about programs, trail work days and events at Little River Park.  Send an email to Erin at littleriverpark@co.orange.nc.us to be added to the LRP mailing list.  

 

By the Numbers: March - May 2007

The Little River Regional Park staff take daily recordings of vehicle traffic, rain fall and Visitor Estimates. 

 

Vehicle Count
Month			Year-to-date
March-07	April-07	May-07	2006	YTD
1659	1629	1729	19,119	8027
Rain Totals (inches)
March-07	April-07	May-07	2006	YTD
2.798	3.876	1.83	49.035 in	15.047
Visitor Estimate
March-07	April-07	May-07	2006	YTD
2488.5	2443.5	2593.5	28,678.5	12040.5

Park Tee’s For Sale

Support Little River Regional Park with style...get your “Hike” or “Bike” Little River Tee-shirts at the Park Office. 

Shirts are $15.00 each.  Women’s sizes small, medium and large are available in blue.  Men’s sizes medium through 2XL are available in gray.      

Be on the lookout for the winner of the newsletter naming contest sporting her Little River Park tee-shirt.

 

Please keep your dogs on their leashes while at Little River Park

Here are four simple reasons why:

1. The Little River Regional Park and Natural Area is a safe haven for many kinds of plants and wildlife.  Dogs may scare birds or other wildlife away from nesting, feeding and resting sites.  The scent left behind by dogs can signal the presence of a predator, potentially disrupting or altering their behaviors.

2. Safety of other park visitors.  Some park visitors and children are afraid of dogs, even the friendliest ones.  Unfamiliar sights, sounds, and smells can disturb even the friendliest and calmest dogs.

3. For the safety of your own dog.  Off the leash, your dog may become lost or injured.  Wildlife could bite your dog and transmit disease.  Your dog may find the poison ivy or other plants with thorns and burrs.  If your dog is on a leash then these encounters with danger will certainly be less likely to occur. 

4. It’s the law! Little River Regional Park regulations requires dogs to be on a leash at all times while in the park and on the trails.

 

PLEASE USE CAUTION

Little River Park is a natural area and home to many creatures.  The speed limit in the park is 15 mph.  Please drive slowly and watch for rabbits, birds, snakes and their young as they cross the driveway.  Be on the lookout for young groundhogs or juvenile killdeer that are living in the park. 

And the Winner Is:

The winning Little River Regional Park and Natural Area’s newsletter title was submitted by Toni Fesel.  "River Rambler" will be the title of the new park newsletter. Thanks to everyone who submitted an entry.  The winner can pick up their prize LRP tee at the Park Office.   Other great entries included:  The Tree Bark, DO Little News, DO Little River News, Go with the flow and Little River Regional Rambler.

Ask the Garden Lady

What are the best ways to keep my flowers looking great during the summer heat?

 

The best ways we have found to keep our butterfly garden looking great all year long includes adding mulch and watering the right way.

Mulch helps insulate the soil and maintain moisture.  A 2 to 3 inch layer is  all you need.  An added bonus of using mulch is that it aids in weed control.

It is best to water your plants infrequently with a deep soaking.  Water thoroughly, then allow the soil to dry before you water again.  Frequent, light watering wastes water and leads to the development of shallow roots.  The best time to water is early morning or late evening. 

 

Attracting Beautiful Butterflies

Despite the late frost that “burned” the leaves on some of the plants in our butterfly garden, it has continued to thrive.  The garden provides food and homes for a variety of birds, bees, spiders and even toads as well as caterpillars and butterflies. If you’re interested in creating a similar space for butterflies in your own backyard, here’s some information on a few of the plants in our garden.

Plants that provide food for the butterflies:

Bee-balm (Monarda didyma)

 

Bee-balm is a strong-scented perennial native to the northeastern United States.  They grow 3 to 6 feet tall with a crown-like whorl of showy red flowers 3-4 inches in diameter.  Besides being beautiful the leaves can be used as a mint flavoring in cooking or making teas.  Find the bee-balm in LRRP butterfly  garden.  Blooms from July to September.  

 

 

Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatoriadelphus fistulosus)

Native to eastern North America, this perennial can grow up to 10 feet tall.  Joe-Pye Weed flowers from mid-summer and can be found in wet forests or alongside ditches. The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Great Spangled Fritillary, Pearl Crescent, Monarch, and the Tawny-edged Skipper are just some of butterflies known to love Joe-Pye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)

This red-flowering honeysuckle is native to the southeastern U.S. It is drought tolerant and prefers full-sun. These vines attract butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators and songbirds enjoy the berries in the fall. Unlike its relative, the Japanese Honeysuckle, this vine will not spread out of control.

 

Butterfly-weed (Ascelpias tuberosa)

Butterfly-weed also known as chigger-weed or pleurisy-root is a perennial native to much of the eastern United States.  Often favored for its striking flowers that are usually orange, but can be yellow or red.  Enjoy the butterfly-weed while sitting on the garden bench under the arbor. Blooms from May to August.

 

Plants that provide food for caterpillars:

Spicebush (Lindera benzion)

Native to eastern U.S., the leaves of this deciduous shrub are a favorite of the spicebush swallowtail.  It typically grows 6 to 12 feet high and prefers moist soil with full or partial sun.  The thick, oblong-ovate leaves are aromatic when crushed and turn a brilliant yellow in the fall.

Bronze Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)

Bronze Fennel has stunningly beautiful, purple feathery plumes and a strong licorice scent.  Actually a native to Europe, Spanish explorers brought seeds with them to plant in the New World.  Bronze fennel grows between 4 – 6 feet tall, prefers full sun and is also drought tolerant.  Swallowtail butterflies lay eggs on the foliage and the larvae feed on the leaves.

 

Volunteers in the Park

Little River Regional Park would like to thank the six volunteers who came out on April 21 to cut back some young pines  along the summer lane residential access road.   The summer lane entrance plays an important role in the park acting as our ’back door’.  Keeping the road cleared and wide will allow better emergency access, material deliveries, better access to the far reaches of our bike trails and maintain a nice neat appearance for residential access.

                

Little River Park Volunteer Workday volunteers Marcia Eickmeier, Derek Tattersall, Chris Teo, Martha Turner, Marcia Geers, and Douglas Burket with Park Staff Mike DiFabio, Michelle Pesavento and Erin Nicholson (not pictured).

 

 

The weather was clear and sunny that morning. With the help of both veteran and new volunteers we were able to clear quite a bit in just a couple of hours.  The work was relatively easy, requiring snips, lopers, and pruning saws (and a lot of bending over).  Finishing by noon left plenty of time for some to hike the trails. 

Little River Park would like to thank all of the volunteers for all their help on this project.  Volunteers  like these folks are who make Little River Park special.  Please look for more volunteer work days coming up in the future.