A River Runs Through It…
August 16th, 2009The Locust Fork, that is…
A view of dusk on the Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River on Sunday, August 16, 2009, looking south from the bridge on Cedar Springs Road — right in the heart of what would have been a dammed drinking water reservoir — in the area they call Little Shenandoah.
“…all good things – trout as well as eternal salvation – come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy,” Norman Maclean wrote in the conclusion to his memoir A River Runs Through It.
“All there is to thinking is seeing something noticeable which makes you see something you weren’t noticing which makes you see something that isn’t even visible. Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words…”
First they wanted to dam the river, now they want to sell the land off to the highest bidder to be clear-cut and developed. If the people got what they wanted in a democracy, if democracy actually existed in Birmingham, Alabama, including a watchdog press, this last of the American South’s free-flowing beauties would remain pollution free.
Instead, they want to dump mercury from coal-fired power plants and all the rages and brimstone from hell out of the coal mines into the water — upstream from where our drinking water comes from.
In a rational world, this would constitute a crime. In modern day Alabama and America, it is simply “economic development,” and thus defined as “progress.”
In terms of the human spirit, the people who claim to be our leaders seem to have it all backasswards. Our new buzzword should be sustainability, not more urban sprawl. There’s a recession on, good old boys, or haven’t you heard the news?
We will stop you if we can, and we might just have to borrow some tactics from your good friend Karl Rove to do it. If you have skeletons in the closet and you don’t want your family brought into it, drop this corrupt bidding war now and let Forever Wild take over the property and conserve it for future generations. They will take steps to foster more public access to the river in the area and allow more citizens to enjoy what’s left of this scenic beauty.
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.Related Column
Secret Vistas: A River Runs Through It
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments
August 16th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
If we keep this up, we’ll have to change our state motto from “Alabama the Beautiful” to Alabama the dumped upon. Ask the people of the Black Belt, with coal ash filling their landfill and air and raw sewage in their water.
As for the developers who have their greedy eyes on this land, be warned if you try to develop it. It will become the most expensive development you have ever tried. Chances are whatever you have planned will not be economically viable in the end. Since none of you are talking publicly about what your plans are for the land, we can only speculate based on your background to date. We urge any developer with the highest bids in this fight to drop your offers now!
We urge the water board members to do the right thing and vote down these development bidders — and give Forever Wild a chance…
August 17th, 2009 at 8:58 am
An apocryphical story from the early 1800s has it that Davey Crockett, after exploring this area, said that what is now Jefferson, Blount, Shelby and Walker counties were “the most beautiful place on earth.”
That’s quite a statement coming from a frontiersman who was intimately familiar with the Blue Ridge, the Shenandoah and most of the Appalachians.
Parts of north Alabama are still stunning, tending to reinforce Crockett’s assessment. If we maintain some watchfulness, we may be able to keep it that way.
August 18th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
What I meant to say was: Waterboard the Water Board–if they are in cahoots with the rapacious developers who care nothing for the beautiful environment (what’s left of it) and only about the bottom line profit.