What time: Program Time: 10:00AM-12:00PM.  

Directions: Travel I-459N, then take exit 27 for Grants Mill Rd. Turn right at Grants Mill Rd. The Cahaba Riverwalk at Grants Mill Bridge will be on the left. 

The Riverwalk is a beautiful riverside nature trail located in Irondale at the Grants Mill canoe launch. Join members of the Freshwater Land Trust, the Cahaba River Society, The Nature Conservancy, Alabama Rivers Alliance, and the City of Irondale as we learn about the unique plant life and aquatic life of this area, along with river education. We will also take a short hike and children will be able to try to net some fish in the river. Bring a sack lunch and drink – we will picnic after the event.

Registration: Please register at events@freshairfamily.org or call (205) 401-0245 (205) 401-0245.

LOCATION:  Brookside municipal complex, Brookside, AL.
From downtown Birmingham: Take Interstate 65 North to Exit 264 (Daniel Payne Road). Turn left at bottom of ramp. Go west about 0.8 miles and turn right at Coalburg Road. Go north approximately 8 miles. Look for the Brookside municipal complex on your left. 

MORE  INFO:   Francesca Gross, Five Mile Creek Greenway coordinator, (205) 264.8464, fgross@rpcgb.org or Michael Sznajderman, Alabama Power Service Organization-Magic City Chapter, (205) 257.4155, msznajde@southernco.com.

CHILDREN WELCOME!  WEAR COMFORTABLE CLOTHES & STURDY SHOES. Bring light tools (rakes, shovels, paintbrushes) and work gloves if you have them.

 The Five Mile Creek volunteer events are a project of the Five Mile Creek Greenway Partnership and the Alabama Power Service Organization. The events help restore Five Mile Creek and raise awareness about the ongoing development of the 28-mile Five Mile Creek Greenway. Learn more at www.fivemilecreekpartnership.org

We really appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm, feedback, and ideas on the Champions for Village Creek Greenway’s efforts along Village Creek. Keep ‘em coming!

I think about the folks who were ardent supporters in Forever Wild’s infancy, like my friend the late Mr. Bill Ireland, and how they would be proud to see Forever Wild’s many successes and the significant support it continues to receive since their efforts. Forever Wild is up for reauthorization in 2012, and we are working now to build support. Support your state land trust – Forever Wild! For more information, see the coalition website at www.alforeverwild.com.

Thanks for reading!

-Wendy Jackson

photo courtesy of Eric Hunt

Photo courtesy of Dr. Mike Howell

The words Forever Wild evoke some of Alabama’s most beautiful scenes: the colorful Walls of Jericho, eagles roosting near Guntersville, the broad expanse of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.

 But the overwhelmingly popular and successful land conservation program is under threat. Although the land purchased under Forever Wild is protected into eternity, the program itself is only in place until 2012 unless the Alabama Legislature chooses to extend its life and funding.

The Freshwater Land Trust is a member of the Protect Forever Wild Coalition, which aims to extend the state land purchase program so that it is reauthorized by the Alabama Legislature before it expires in October of 2012. “Forever Wild is vital to the Freshwater Land Trust’s land conservation efforts,” says Wendy Jackson, Executive Director of the Freshwater Land Trust. “Virtually all of our supporters - many of whom voted yes to the original Forever Wild effort in 1992 – are strong and vocal supporters today of its reauthorization.” 

In its first 17 years, Forever Wild has allowed the state to buy more than 200,000 acres. It has been able to do so by using 10 percent of the annual earnings of the Alabama Trust Fund, the reserve of the state’s oil and gas revenues.

The Forever Wild plan was put to a referendum of the state in 1992 and passed by 83 percent of the popular vote. That incredibly high level of support is believed to come from an unprecedented union of hunting, environmental and business groups that came together, recognizing that saving land is good for the economy, the ecology and outdoors groups. Now, even during the current, tough economic conditions, 85 percent of voters still indicate that funding for Forever Wild should continue, showing the program is as popular as it was in 1992, if not more.

In this year’s coalition, groups as diverse as the National Rifle Association, the Birmingham Business Alliance, and the Nature Conservancy have signed on to reenact the bill in its current form. Under the constitutional amendment establishing Forever Wild, the amount given to the program can never exceed $15 million in any year. In 2010, it is expected to be $8.5 million.

Ninety-nine percent of Forever Wild property is open to the public for some kind of recreation, 89 percent of it for hunting, said Tim Gothard, Alabama Wildlife Federation Executive Director. That is particularly important as private companies are withdrawing land from the state’s wildlife management areas.

“Forever Wild is one of the key ways for Alabamians to get outdoors, particularly as it relates to availability of public hunting land,” Gothard said. “In 2007 and 2008 we lost 50,000 acres of public hunting land in Alabama, and Forever Wild has been the primary mechanism that has allowed us to replace those lands.”

 Forever Wild’s mission is to preserve public land for a variety of needs besides recreation, including protecting threatened lands and rivers. The program makes purchases in all areas of the state. In the Birmingham area, Forever Wild purchased the Turkey Creek Nature Preserve from the Freshwater Land Trust as well as an addition to Ruffner Mountain Nature Center and a portion of the Cahaba River Wildlife Management Area. 

Forever Wild can only purchase lands from willing sellers and has never paid more than appraised value for the land. It contributes to the $2.2 billion economic impact of hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing in Alabama. For more information about the Protect Forever Wild Coalition and how you can help the coalition protect Forever Wild’s funding, please visit www.alforeverwild.com.

Plotting the Community Conservation Plan

With your help, the Freshwater Land Trust is Mapping the Places that Matter. Our creation of a Community Conservation Plan has identified important areas where our conservation efforts will be focused during the coming decade.

Mapping the Places That Matter is the first step towards preserving the places that matter, and it will create significant environmental, social, health and economic impacts that will positively affect our region for years to come. The Community Conservation Plan has the potential to dramatically and positively impact the landscape of North Central Alabama.

We thank the hundreds of people who attended one of the many input meetings held during late summer and fall of 2009 throughout Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Tuscaloosa, Blount, Bibb, and Walker counties. Your valuable input was incorporated directly into the Community Conservation Plan.

Now, we are creating an engaging summary to describe these incredibly important areas that need protection, right where we live. We look forward to releasing this plan in the spring of 2010; please watch our website for more information, and be sure to receive the latest information by giving us your email address (on this page).

The Community Conservation Plan takes into account the Freshwater Land Trust’s core mission of water quality enhancement through land conservation and the interests of protecting biological diversity, protection of open space for public recreation, the expansion and connection to existing conservation areas, and the protection of important archeological, historical, cultural and scientific resources. Like any successful conservation plan, the Community Conservation Plan was informed by a broad range of different partners (over 400 organizations were represented) including other conservation groups, the general public, academic institutions, local government and planning agencies, and many others.

This plan will serve not only the Land Trust, but any other entity who seeks to conserve those areas that we can and must protect. This plan may serve the Land Trust by helping us achieve our mission, but it is the entire population in the eight-county area that will benefit as this land conservation plan is implemented.

Mapping the Places That Matter is made possible through generous funding from the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, Alabama Power Company, the Susan Mott Webb Charitable Trust, the Land Trust Alliance, and Vulcan Materials Company.