Agenda 10-19-2021; 8-a - Minutes

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31 1 2 b. Mountains to Sea Trail (MST) Update 3 The Board received an update on the activity of staff and other project partners on 4 acquiring and constructing the segment route of the NC Mountains to Sea Trail (MST), a part of 5 the NC State Parks system, within Orange County. 6 7 BACKGROUND: 8 In January 2018, the county adopted a route map for the portion of the NC Mountains to Sea 9 Trail in Orange County. This action was the culmination of several community meetings and 10 planning exercises to identify, refine and address the planned route of this trail through Orange 11 County. The NC Mountains to Sea Trail is a continuous off-road trail linking Clingman's Dome in 12 the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Jockey's Ridge State Park on the state's Outer 13 Banks. The MST is part of the North Carolina State Parks system, with over 680 miles of the 14 roughly 1,000-mile trail route open for use and road connecting sections identified by the 15 Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail (FMST) organization to allow hikers to complete the trail in 16 areas where road routes are needed. 17 18 A statewide MST Master Plan was completed and approved in 2015 with an established corridor 19 for the trail across the state, broken into defining segments. The plan included information about 20 each segment, prioritization and plans for further work, centralized web-based content about 21 trail progress, and a set of tools and guidelines to assist trail planning partners. 22 23 One of the regions in the state where the trail corridor was in need of further identification and 24 refinement was the Eastern Piedmont section, from Greensboro to Durham. Segments of the 25 adopted MST corridor traverse Orange County, entering from southwestern Orange County at 26 the Alamance County line and running northeast through lands owned by the Orange Water and 27 Sewer Authority (OWASA) around Cane Creek Reservoir. The MST corridor then continues 28 northeast to the Orange County Seven Mile Creek Natural Area, before entering Occoneechee 29 Mountain State Natural Area and into Hillsborough along the Town's Riverwalk. The trail then 30 heads eastward into Eno River State Park and toward Durham. 31 32 Because almost all of the MST located east of Hillsborough will be within Eno River State Park 33 and its master plan, the State and the Eno River Association have taken the lead to addressing 34 the trail from Hillsborough Riverwalk east to the Durham County line. 35 36 Orange County's responsibility is to connect the trail from Alamance County to Occoneechee 37 Mountain State Natural Area, and it is this area that has been the area of focus since 2018. As 38 shown in the current and prior Capital Investment Plans (CIP), the first area of emphasis was to 39 extend the trail west from the Hillsborough Riverwalk through Occoneechee Mountain and to the 40 Seven Mile Creek Natural Area. This would extend an existing section of the trail, and significant 41 progress has been made by the county, Town of Hillsborough, Eno River Association and State 42 Parks. This is addressed in the attached Project Summary of Recent Activities in the section 43 "Riverwalk to Seven Mile Creek Natural Area." 44 45 The second area of emphasis as per the adopted plan and the CIP was the subsection from NC 46 54 to Buckhorn Road, encompassing the Cane Creek Reservoir lands of OWASA. Working with 47 several willing and interested landowners, staff has secured sections of trail corridor as well as 48 a future trailhead on NC 54, and is finalizing trail easements with multiple property owners on 49 lands that abut the OWASA Cane Creek lands where the trail would run. Updates on the 50 progress in this area is provided in the attached summary document in the section titled "Cane