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.