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TIGER Groundbreaking: Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez and Mayor Bell Speak at Ceremony to Begin Work on 29 Miles of Trail

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It was a great day to break ground on the first 29 miles of the Red Rock Ridge and Val­ley Trail sys­tem! Mayor Bell wel­comed Vic­tor Mendez of the Fed­eral High­way Admin­is­tra­tion; Mr. Mendez spoke of pub­lic and pri­vate sol­i­dar­ity for this plan… through­out our region that led to our receiv­ing the TIGER grant.

We appre­ci­ate all of the peo­ple who made this hap­pen and want to espe­cially high­light these crit­i­cal con­trib­u­tors: City of Birm­ing­ham, Alabama, ALDOT, Jef­fer­son County Depart­ment of Health, CSX, Com­mu­nity Foun­da­tion of Greater Birm­ing­ham, Mike and Gillian Goodrich Foun­da­tion, UAB and UAB Med­i­cine, Susan Mott Webb Char­i­ta­ble Trust, and Alabama Power.

Finally, we were priv­i­leged to receive atten­dance and sup­port from the offices of Con­gress­man Bachus, Con­gress­woman Sewell and Sen­a­tor Ses­sions. We couldn’t have done this with­out you all: www.redrocktrail.org

 
Photo: It was a great day to break ground on the first 29 miles of the Red Rock Ridge and Valley Trail system! Mayor Bell welcomed Victor Mendez of the Federal Highway Administration; Mr. Mendez spoke of public and private solidarity for this plan throughout our region that led to our receiving the TIGER grant. </p> <p>We appreciate all of the people who made this happen and want to especially highlight these critical contributors: City of Birmingham, Alabama, ALDOT, Jefferson County Department of Health, CSX, Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, Mike and Gillian Goodrich Foundation, UAB and UAB Medicine, Susan Mott Webb Charitable Trust, and Alabama Power.</p> <p>Finally, we were privileged to receive attendance and support from the offices of Congressman Bachus, Congresswoman Sewell and Senator Sessions. We couldn't have done this without you all: www.redrocktrail.org

 
For more on this spe­cial day:

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/05/roads_to_recovery_trail_projec.html#incart_river_default

Join Us For Red Rock Tuesday at Vulcan Park on March 5!

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The Fresh­wa­ter Land Trust and Fox 6 WBRC will be at Vul­can Park on Tues., March 5 to show­case this great amenity to our com­mu­nity and to dis­cuss ideas to bet­ter con­nect the trail to the community!

vulcan1This appear­ance is the twen­ti­eth, once-a-month “Red Rock Tues­day” seg­ment on Good Day Alabama. We have had great crowds out in Brook­side, Ruffner Moun­tain, Pin­son, Tar­rant, Home­wood, Hoover, Birm­ing­ham, Gar­den­dale, Trussville, Ves­tavia and Clay, Red Moun­tain Park, Mid­field, Nor­wood, Green­wood, Crest­wood, and Cen­ter Point.  This week we will show you one of Birmingham’s great­est treasures!
 

We hope to see you at Vul­can Park on Tues., March 5!

When: Tues., March 5
6:20 a.m. — 8:20 a.m. (Main pub­lic appear­ances at 7:20 and 7:50 a.m.)

 

Where: Vul­can Park & Trail
1701 Val­ley View Dr, Birm­ing­ham, AL 35209

 

Please direct ques­tions to valerie.wilson@freshwaterlandtrust.org or call 205.417.2777.

 

B.A.S.S. Employees Brave Cold to Help Restore Darter Habitat.

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The Fresh­wa­ter Land Trust part­nered with nearly 30 employ­ees from B.A.S.S. on Novem­ber 14, 2012 for a vol­un­teer work day to restore crit­i­cal habi­tat for the endan­gered ver­mil­ion darter and water­cress darter. The vol­un­teers showed up ready to work at the Tapawingo Springs Pre­serve in Pin­son from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to remove inva­sive species and replant native shrubs along the wet­land area.

Both the water­cress and ver­mil­ion darters are endemic to Jef­fer­son County, Ala. The ver­mil­ion darter’s habi­tat is lim­ited to only a six-mile seg­ment of Turkey Creek. Rec­og­niz­ing the impor­tance of Tapawingo Springs to these fish, the FWLT has worked since its incep­tion to acquire and for­mally pro­tect the prop­er­ties encom­pass­ing the springs and to restore areas pre­vi­ously impacted by devel­op­ment. Vol­un­teer days such as this are crit­i­cal in main­tain­ing this essen­tial habi­tat, and the Fresh­wa­ter Land Trust is proud to part­ner with B.A.S.S.

“This is an impor­tant work­day for B.A.S.S. employ­ees,” said Noreen Clough, con­ser­va­tion direc­tor at B.A.S.S. “It’s a chance to get out­doors and prac­tice what we preach — that clean water and healthy habi­tats are good not only for the fish but for the soul. Get­ting our hands dirty and feet wet are all part of under­stand­ing how ecosys­tems work and how some­thing as small and lovely as a darter can inspire us.”

For more than 40 years, B.A.S.S. has served as the author­ity on bass fish­ing. The Birmingham-based orga­ni­za­tion advances the sport through advo­cacy, out­reach and an expan­sive tour­na­ment struc­ture while con­nect­ing directly with the pas­sion­ate com­mu­nity of bass anglers through its Bass­mas­ter media vehicles.

B.A.S.S. offers an array of ser­vices to its more than 500,000 mem­bers and remains focused on issues related to con­ser­va­tion and water access.

Greenwood Park Now Open as Part of the Village Creek Greenway

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A new park is now open for Birm­ing­ham res­i­dents, com­plete with walk­ing trails, a multi use ath­letic field and a state-of-the-art play­ground.  McWane Cast Iron Pipe Com­pany opened the entrance to the new Green­wood Park on Novem­ber 17, 2012.  The two-acre park, which is part of the Vil­lage Creek Green­way, is located just off Inter­state 20/59 between Tal­lapoosa and Coosa streets in Birm­ing­ham. It is directly across the inter­state from W.C. Pat­ton Park.

“I never thought I’d live to see this day, “said East Birm­ing­ham Neigh­bor­hood Pres­i­dent Ster­ling Fields. “We just thank McWane.”

In addi­tion to the ameni­ties Green­wood pro­vides to the com­mu­nity, the park has a nat­ural stormwater-collection and treat­ment sys­tem lined with native shrubs and grasses. These fea­tures will fil­ter stormwa­ter from nearby sur­faces that pass through the park on the way to Vil­lage Creek.  The park will not only pro­vide recre­ational oppor­tu­ni­ties for nearby res­i­dents but will also improve the water qual­ity of Vil­lage Creek.

At a ribbon-cutting cer­e­mony at Green­wood, Birm­ing­ham Mayor William Bell stressed the impor­tance of hav­ing great parks in the city – a point echoed by Birm­ing­ham city coun­cilors Max­ine Parker and Valerie Abbott. Con­gress­man Spencer Bachus was also on hand for the grand opening.

The new park fits into the Vil­lage Creek Green­way, which is part of the regional Red Rock Ridge and Val­ley Trail Sys­tem. McWane is on the steer­ing com­mit­tee,  Cham­pi­ons for Vil­lage Creek Green­way, an ambi­tious group of busi­ness lead­ers, neigh­bor­hood asso­ci­a­tion pres­i­dents and other non-profits work­ing to develop trails along the creek.

The group’s mis­sion is to engage and edu­cate the com­mu­nity in the devel­op­ment of a series of parks and green­ways along Vil­lage Creek with the goal of improv­ing water qual­ity and the qual­ity of life for the com­mu­nity.

Green­wood Park lines up well with that mission.

“This project is a demon­stra­tion of our con­tin­u­ing com­mit­ment to improv­ing the envi­ron­ment and the health and safety of our team mem­bers and the well­be­ing of our com­mu­ni­ties,” said McWane Pres­i­dent G. Ruffner Page.

This park project is part of the set­tle­ment of an enforce­ment action, United States v. McWane, Inc., taken on behalf of the U.S. Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency to enforce fed­eral envi­ron­men­tal laws.  McWane sug­gested that a por­tion of the penal­ties be rein­vested into the com­mu­nity through the con­struc­tion of Green­wood Park.  In a land­mark agree­ment, the EPA and Depart­ment of Jus­tice agreed to McWane’s request, and now, that dream has come to fruition.  This project is a ter­rific exam­ple of a coop­er­a­tive effort to turn past mis­takes into present and future benefits.