In the first months of the third year of CRS’s Americorps OSM/VISTA program in the Lower Cahaba Watershed, several new and longstanding community projects in Bibb County have made substantial headway. Our Progress:
Blocton Coke Ovens- 12-4-06 University of Alabama Center for Economic Development and the Town of West Blocton received a grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts for $4,500 to design a conceptual plan for the Blocton Coke Ovens Park. This initial grant award will make it easier to receive funding from federal and similar grant sources.
Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge (CRNWR)- The CRNWR will be hiring two maintenance positions in the coming year as part time staff for maintenance at the Refuge.
The Friends of the CRNW Refuge are currently organizing and are embarking on a membership campaign. A logo contest was held at local schools and the official Friends logo will soon be in use.
Geomet, one of the companies that holds the mineral rights lease on the refuge, is currently proposing on-site drilling with a footprint on the Refuge.
A site for the remediation of an approximately 8,000 foot long “high wall” left over from strip mining operations at the Refuge is being addressed by the CRNWR, the Office of Surface Mining (OSM), and the state Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) Program. The high wall poses a threat to human health and safety in its current location off the main gravel road and gravel parking lot on the refuge. The coming years could hold the Refuge as recipient of remediation monies, which are sparse and hard to come by, considering the $5.5 Million backlog of projects of this caliber (Birmingham News, “Abandoned mine sites recovering, but slowly”, Kent Faulk, 12/3/06.)
Italian Catholic Cemetery at West Blocton- The St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Montevallo, Alabama is taking an interest in maintenance and upkeep of the Italian Cemetery located on Primitive Ridge Road in West Blocton. This historic cemetery is the burial site for many of the coal miners of Italian descent and their families. A community workday will be held on Saturday, December 16th to clean up the site.
Scenic Designation for the Little Cahaba- The Cahaba River Authority and the Bibb County Citizens for Wildflowers are working together to study and engage property owners on the pros of an initial Bibb County designation of “Scenic River” for the Little Cahaba River, which could serve as a pilot program for the state in naming/honoring significant pristine waterways.
Bibb County and Regional Recreational Tourism and Ecotourism- 11-2-06 the first Bibb County Outdoor Recreation and Planning Meeting was held this November by the University of Alabama Center for Economic Development Director, Nisa Miranda in conjunction with CRS’s OSM/VISTA program. The purpose of the meeting was to introduce and gather ideas on creating Bibb County as an outdoor recreational destination. The natural resources held in the Cahaba River and Talladega National Forest lend Bibb County as an ideal recreational destination for outdoor enthusiasts and local residents alike. Two previous meetings have been held in the county since the summer. We will continue to introduce this idea and to gather information from the residents of Bibb County on to how to achieve our goal of joint economic development And protection of our natural resources.
Two regional meetings have also been held on the topic of ecotourism for the lands surrounding the Cahaba and the Cahaba Canoe Trail. The meetings were held in Birmingham with a collaboration of federal, regional, collegiate, and nonprofit partners. A third meeting is planned for December 13th.
Canoe Trails- The Nature Conservancy has purchased land for a canoe launch in Dallas County off county highway 22. The Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel (ABTT) is also focused on waterways and tourism at the close of their Year of Outdoor Alabama, 2006. A statewide Alabama Waterways and Tourism Meeting was held on 12-4-06 to showcase potential and developed “trails” on Alabama Waterways. Five different projects were showcased, including the Cahaba, the Sipsey Fork of the Black Warrior, the Tenn-Tom Waterway, the Tensaw Mobile Delta, and the creation of a statewide, 651 mile Coosa scenic water trail. More information is available on the ABTT Website,
www.800alabama.com.
Bibb County Blog- A blog is a unique format for sharing information. It’s a simple way to create a Website, without buying software or having to pay to host a Website. The public can write in and comment on the contents of the blog over the Internet. A blog is monitored, designed, and managed by its originator. To learn more about blogs and to keep up with events in Bibb County and the Lower Cahaba Watershed, keep visiting
http://bibbcounty.blogspot.com
