Town Lake T-Post and Plastic Removal

Andy and I visited the southwest corner of Town Lake Park the other day. He's a Pittsboro arborist with a tree crane who is trying to drum up work. He's done work for the Tree Museum--but that doesn't pay. He's looking for paying gigs.

I had the idea that he could pluck the quarried pylons out of Town Lake--because I hate seeing vestiges of "built environment" littering the natural world. I mistakenly thought they were reminders of humans attempting to "harden" the environment against flooding. They are not. They harken back to an era when Town Lake provided drinking water to the good people of Pittsboro. They form some sort of impoundment--maybe to keep silt out of the Town's abandoned drinking straw?

While there we ventured out on the mud flats that are courtesy of the 2026 drought. Pittsboro's Town Lake has dozens of t-posts that appear bent by flooding. They are affixed to plastic erosion control fencing. Now would be a good time to remove them.

A friend of mine told me they were an NC State project--attempting to introduce native plants into the eco system. Apparently the lake has too many turtles. In order to keep the turtles from eating the native plants, someone build t-post and plastic enclosures--sort of like a submerged deer fence.

Far be it from me to dismiss whacky ideas, but it is pretty clear that this one simply failed. Fair. Let's accept failure, and get the t-posts and plastic out of the lake.

Let's do it now--while we can walk the mud flats. The Tree Museum has a t-post pulling tool it is happy to lend. Honestly, eradicating t-posts and plastic from Town Lake Park is perhaps a higher calling than eradicating invasives at the new Town Park next to the Plant. I'm in. I could take a break from privet and Autumn Olive to focus on t-posts and plastic.