New Trail Opens on CLC Property on Nov. 9 at 10 a.m. in Statesville

Catawba Lands Conservancy, Carolina Thread Trail and Girl Scouts, Hornets’ Nest Council (Girl Scouts) invite you to attend a ribbon cutting to open a new 2.2-mile trail that will be part of The Thread.

The trailhead unveiling, ribbon cutting and hike will be held on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013, starting at 10 a.m. The event will take place at the Girl Scouts, Hornets’ Nest Council Trail’s Trailhead at 1763 Turnersburg Highway in Statesville, NC 28625.

This natural surface trail, which will officially open to the public beginning Nov. 9, will weave through a 358-acre permanently conserved area that’s protected by Catawba Lands Conservancy (CLC) within the Girl Scouts’ Dale Earnhardt Environmental Leadership Campus at Oak Springs in Iredell County.

The trail is within a protected area conserved by CLC. A portion of the protected area is designated as a NC State Significant Natural Heritage Site – an area of special biodiversity importance identified by the NC Natural Heritage Program to protect the natural habitat of rare plant and animal species. The Girl Scouts, Hornets’ Nest Council Trail careens through this site and provide a unique access for the public to explore this natural and ecologically rich area.

After a brief welcome and opening remarks, Tom Okel, executive director of CLC, and Sally Daley, chief executive officer of the Girl Scouts council, will unveil the trailhead marker and cut the ribbon to the trail. Girls Scouts from Troop 1377 will be dressed in uniforms and lead the inaugural hike along the trail for attendees; Troop 1377 is from the University Area of Charlotte. A grant from the North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund helped conserve this area and land for the trail.

This new trail is one of nine trail segments, totaling 14.4 miles, currently opened in Iredell County that are part of The Thread. This trail opening adds 2.2 miles to the network, bringing to 135 the total number of trail miles of The Thread open to the public across our region.

Oak Springs, located on a 673-acre campus, is a regional destination for Girl Scouts and provides camp activities and educational experiences for girls from Anson, Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, Rowan, Stanly, Union and York, SC counties.