Agenda - 09-14-2021; 7-b - Mountains to Sea Trail (MST) Update

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1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: September 14, 2021 Action Agenda Item No. 7-b SUBJECT: Mountains to Sea Trail (MST) Update DEPARTMENT: Environment, Agriculture, Parks & Recreation (DEAPR) ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Summary of Project Activities Memo David Stancil, 919-245-2522 Adopted MST Map - January 2018 Christian Hirni, 919-245-2516 NC 54/Mebane-Oaks Road Adjustments PURPOSE: To receive an update on the activity of staff and other project partners on acquiring and constructing the segment route of the NC Mountains to Sea Trail (MST), a part of the NC State Parks system, within Orange County. BACKGROUND: In January 2018, the County adopted a route map for the portion of the NC Mountains to Sea Trail in Orange County. This action was the culmination of several community meetings and planning exercises to identify, refine and address the planned route of this trail through Orange County. The NC Mountains to Sea Trail is a continuous off-road trail linking Clingman's Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Jockey's Ridge State Park on the state's Outer Banks. The MST is part of the North Carolina State Parks system, with over 680 miles of the roughly 1,000-mile trail route open for use and road connecting sections identified by the Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail (FMST) organization to allow hikers to complete the trail in areas where road routes are needed. A statewide MST Master Plan was completed and approved in 2015 with an established corridor for the trail across the state, broken into defining segments. The plan included information about each segment, prioritization and plans for further work, centralized web-based content about trail progress, and a set of tools and guidelines to assist trail planning partners. One of the regions in the state where the trail corridor was in need of further identification and refinement was the Eastern Piedmont section, from Greensboro to Durham. Segments of the adopted MST corridor traverse Orange County, entering from southwestern Orange County at the Alamance County line and running northeast through lands owned by the Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) around Cane Creek Reservoir. The MST corridor then continues northeast to the Orange County Seven Mile Creek Natural Area, before entering Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area and into Hillsborough along the Town's Riverwalk. The trail then heads eastward into Eno River State Park and toward Durham.