Forever Wild Deserves Chance to Save Locust Fork Land
August 16th, 2009
The Swann-Joy covered bridge on the Locust Fork just north of the property up for sale…
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.Guest Column
by Nelson Brooke
In April, Black Warrior Riverkeeper and the Friends of the Locust Fork River nominated 3,200 acres of property along the Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River, owned by the Birmingham Water Works Board, to Alabama’s Forever Wild program.
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| Glynn Wilson |
| Nelson Brooke |
Support for the nomination was provided by 33 organizations and businesses, Blount County residents and government officials. The Water Works Board was a willing seller, and its representatives expressed interest in working with Forever Wild.
This was, of course, a very exciting opportunity because the BWWB had plans to build a water supply reservoir dam on this portion of the river. To have this magnificent, free-flowing river go from being endangered to forever protected would be a dream come true. The catch: I had a feeling developers and coal-mining prospectors would have an interest in the property, too, and I was told the Forever Wild board rarely shows strong interest in a nominated property during its first review.
When Forever Wild voted in a board meeting in June to appraise the property, this signaled Forever Wild had sincere interest in the property. An appraisal is a first step in its process, however, and Forever Wild would not be able to consider making an offer on the property until the next board meeting in September. I kept BWWB’s real estate representative apprised of the process, and I was told the BWWB was very interested in seeing Forever Wild make an offer.
To my surprise, on June 30, the BWWB voted to open a bid process to accept offers on the property from July 1 through July 31. The water board performed its own appraisal, which valued the property at $3.2 million. Apparently, the BWWB’s attitude toward Forever Wild suddenly changed, and board members decided to sell the property to the highest bidder.
Supporters of the nomination immediately began asking questions, wondering why the BWWB chose to quickly sell the property. I was told Forever Wild had been given an equal chance to make an offer during the 30-day bid process. My response was that Forever Wild could not possibly meet the deadline.
It was clear Water Works officials did not want to understand or work with the Forever Wild process anymore and chose to “play dumb” when asked why they were moving in another direction. I hoped the BWWB would reconsider the 30-day bid process and give Forever Wild a chance. But, unfortunately, the water board chose to go through with the bid process.
On Aug. 4, the water board held a bid opening at its Birmingham headquarters. To the surprise of numerous bidders in the room, attendees were informed that the bids received by the July 31 deadline were actually being considered as “offers,” and they would be negotiable once opened.
Let the bidding wars begin!
At the end of the meeting, Water Works officials said they would meet with their real estate agents and attorneys to begin making a decision, starting with the highest bidder. The highest bid was $3.75 million. By the end of the day, the highest bid was $4.01 million.
When asked during the bid opening if the BWWB would be considering the intended use of the property in its decision-making process, the answer was no.
It is worrisome the BWWB will not be considering the property’s future use.
This piece of the river is no longer being considered as a water supply reservoir by the BWWB, but Water Works officials should still see value in ensuring these 3,200 acres are protected from coal mining, irresponsible development and other harmful uses. After all, the new source the BWWB chose over the Locust Fork, Holt Lake, is a reservoir on the Black Warrior River downstream. The Locust Fork is one of three main tributaries that form the Black Warrior. Protection of the watershed upstream is vital to water quality.
While watershed protection is not a practice familiar to the BWWB, it is nationally known as the most effective way to secure a clean water supply for future generations. Some great reading on this subject is provided in “Protecting the Source: Land Conservation and the Future of America’s Drinking Water,” a publication by The Trust for Public Land and the American Water Works Association.
Conserving this property along the Locust Fork will protect part of the watershed known to have a 300 million-year-old riverbed, ensure vegetative buffers are held intact along the riverfront, improve water quality, provide invaluable habitat for wildlife including rare and endangered species, and provide much-needed public access to a river known for its beauty and value as a recreation hotspot for swimming, fishing, paddling and sightseeing.
The BWWB’s own logo has two sayings stamped on it: “Serving Your Community” and “Preserving The Environment.”
It seems the latter saying has been swept downstream. I implore the BWWB to do the right thing by giving Forever Wild a chance.
Riverkeeper Nelson Brooke is executive director of Black Warrior Riverkeeper. Web site: BlackWarriorRiver.Org.
E-mail: nbrooke@blackwarriorriver.org
Corporate Response
A response to this column by Anthony L. Barnes, chairman of the Birmingham Water Works Board, was published in Sunday’s Birmingham News under the headline: Watershed protection and commitment to water quality will not be affected by land sale
Our View
The Locust Fork News-Journal joins the Black Warrior Riverkeeper group in calling on the water board to do the right thing and allow the Forever Wild board time to bid on the property. Otherwise, there is at the very least an appearance of impropriety hovering over the land sale like a dark cloud.
The water board has a history of corruption and it is hard not to assume that the highest bidders in this process, willing to up their offers after the advertised deadline, are involved in corrupt land speculation fueled in part by the new zombie beltline highway with at least five major interstate interchanges slated just south of this controversial land.
For more on the National Public Television report on Zombie Highways, including the proposed Birmingham Northern Beltline, start with this link: Zombie Highway in Alabama Exposed on Public TV
Comments
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August 16th, 2009 at 9:55 am
If the Birmingham News wants to be a constructive part of this discussion, the editorial page editor should write a definitive editorial demanding that the water board do the right thing and turn this property over to the Forever Wild program. Anything short of that is corporate hogwash.
The water board purchased this land under false pretenses in the first place, threatening small property owners with eminent domain. They have already gone back on a verbal promise to allow the original land owners to buy their family farms back if the dam was never built.
The water board has held onto this land for nearly two decades even though the plan to dam the free-flowing Locust Fork was fought off by activists. So what’s the rush to sell off the land now to the highest bidder?
The pledge on the part of Water Board chairman Barnes to protect the watershed comes off as just another hollow promise from a public entity acting like any old for-profit corporation.
As Nelson Brooke points out, the mission of the water board is supposed to be “Serving Your Community” and “Preserving The Environment.” But the way this land sale has been handled shows that the water board is about as interested in preserving the environment as the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, which defies its name every time it grants another pollution permit based on the idea of promoting economic development rather than protecting the environment.
When will the people of Alabama catch up to the rest of the world in understanding that short-term profits are not always in the best long-term interest of a sustainable future?
The public should become more involved in the democratic process in this state, and the so-called “mainstream media” should do way more to help inform the public so wiser decisions about our natural resources can be made.
August 16th, 2009 at 10:46 am
When a customer receives a PAPER letter and bill from the
BBWB each month, it is obvious there is WASTE of resources and excessive COSTS to the customer!
Even with automatic EFT, I receive a paper bill. No e-billing from the BWWB!
Listen to the BWWB stupid ads to “drink more water. Another WASTE of resources.
There is more going on at BWWB than maintaining a quality water supply.
BWWB? Don’t expect good and wise decision-making. There is just “something in the water.”
August 16th, 2009 at 11:42 am
This was just brought to my attention. It wasn’t in the blog version of the story that appeared in the Google alert the other day.
This segment was in the Birmingham News the other day:
August 16th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Glynn, if I can help….. let me know. There are some excellent enviromental attorneys who helped us in Athens chase the NBAF to Kansas………. please keep writing about this….. I am very interested in this topic….
August 16th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
More in the works. There are supposed to be two or three lawyers on it over here, but they aren’t sayin’ much, yet…
August 19th, 2009 at 10:44 am
[...] to protect the Black Warrior River watershed, wrote about that meeting in a guest column on the Locust Fork News-Journal blog. BWR's Nelson Brooke jots down notes before taking a sample of possibly polluted [...]