Backdoor Naturalist Seeks to Preserve Beaty Park

By Melissa Atherton

"I would like for people to think about nature and what we need to do to care for it.”
-Alice Sudduth

Alice Sudduth hosted a highly-attended Saturday morning nature hike on the Beaty Property. Venie Clontz sold this nineteen-acre wooded parcel to the Town of Davidson in 1985 with the promise that it would be a park. In July 2017, despite months of citizen opposition, the Board of Commissioners voted to sell the land to a developer planning to build a hotel, condos, shops and restaurants. Three months later, the same officials terminated the agreement with the developer, but they did not create a plan to preserve the land as a park.

Sudduth is a member of the grass-roots organization, Save Davidson, that fought to preserve the land and honor Mrs. Clontz’s intentions. Sudduth has lived in the Lake Norman area her entire adult life and has spent the past thirteen years on Julia Circle in Davidson. She spent her career as a clinical psychologist, and is now a self-described “Backdoor Naturalist.” She is participating in a twelve-week course to become a Certified Master Naturalist. The classes are taught by ornithologists, entomologists, and other scientists. Maintaining the certification will require Sudduth to volunteer 40 hours per year. Eager and purposeful, she has already begun volunteering by hosting nature hikes.

Sudduth’s Saturday hike traveled along the trails built by families in the neighborhood. Seven teaching stations included lessons on poison ivy, trees (willow oak, cedar, sycamore, Virginia pine, and tulip poplar), erosion, watershed, wetlands, fiddlehead ferns, animal tracks, and red-tailed hawks. She explained that the land was formerly used for farming and the man-made pond was used for fishing. Due to a leak in the dam next to the pond, the State requires the Town of Davidson to keep the pond at a low water level. Sudduth would like to see the leak repaired and the pond restored.

Sudduth’s modest, conceivable, and affordable vision for Beaty Park includes the following: repair the dam, build a small parking lot and bathroom, maintain the trails, and add a gazebo or pier. She noted that the work is a perfect opportunity for Eagle Scout projects. Sudduth plans to continue hosting the hikes in order to increase public awareness of this town-owned gem.

Link to the Save Davidson Beaty Property timeline:

http://bit.ly/2HUeiNZ

Link to Master Naturalist program:
https://www.mecknc.gov/parkandrec/stewardshipservices/getinvolved/pages/ccmn.aspx?redirect
=charmeck