Glynn Wilson

An ecoscape enhances the entrance to Turkey Creek

by Glynn Wilson

Turkey Creek Falls, a power spot in nature not far from here just off state highway 79 and the old Narrows Road, is looking more like a park than ever thanks to local volunteers and the Southern Environmental Center at Birmingham-Southern College.

They recently built an “ecoscape,” a garden of native plants, at the entrance to the 466-acre Turkey Creek Nature Preserve, home of the rare vermilion, watercress and rush darters, along with the flattened musk turtle, also on the federal endangered species list.

The spot has long been a summer swimming hole for the area’s youth. Even my 81-year-old mother remembers going there to cool off and have fun as a child during the Great Depression.

It was a popular spot for skipping school and drinking beer when I was in high school, but the area has a history of being trashed by rednecks who have somehow escaped the education they need to understand how to protect nature as they enjoy it.

Glynn Wilson

Deputies patrol for vandals and litter bugs…

Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies now patrol the area, making it harder to sneak in a little spleef. The city of Pinson and Jefferson County erected a gate to guard the entrance, which is closed at night to keep out “vandals.” Birmingham-Southern is also renovating a house nearby for a full-time caretaker and director of educational programs.

Some years back, the Freshwater Land Trust bought 141 acres with $1.4 million from the Jefferson County Greenways program and combined it with the 325 acres owned by the county, where local citizens fought off an attempt to build a prison on the site. The Forever Wild fund, Alabama’s land preservation program funded in part from auto tags, later purchased the property for $2.2 million.

A half a million dollars of that was set aside for an environmental center, which will be used for research and to teach high school and college students about the area’s biology.

White tailed deer, river otters, and other wildlife grace the spot, and even turkeys have been spotted since authorities limited access to the site.

It’s another shining example of nature not far from the bustle of the city, where a person can go to slow things down and tap into their natural biophilia and sooth the soul from the stresses of modern life.

Let’s just hope they don’t patrol it to death and take all the fun out of it. Nature and humans need a certain amount of freedom to go along with all these social controls.

Glynn Wilson

An early autumn view of the Turkey Creek Falls

The Black Warrior Riverkeeper and the Friends of the Locust Fork environmental groups have settled their lawsuit against Metro Recycling for polluting the Locust Fork River with pollution from a used tire landfill in Blount County, Alabama.

U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler approved the settlement requiring Metro Recycling to cease illegal discharges of pollutants, obtain a pollution permit mandated by the Clean Water Act, and pay $7,500 for a Supplemental Environmental Project in the Locust Fork watershed.

The money will fund aquatic surveys in the Locust Fork watershed which will be used to determine future conservation goals within the watershed, according to a joint press release issued by the groups this week.

The parties chose the Freshwater Land Trust, an Alabama non-profit land conservation organization, to receive Metro Recycling’s payment and enable the aquatic surveys.

Metro Recycling owns and operates a used-tire landfill, which was found during Riverkeeper patrols to be discharging pollutants into an unnamed tributary of Whites Creek, a tributary of the Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River. Laboratory results from Riverkeeper’s water samples showed the pollutants illegally discharged by Metro Recycling included: Benzene (a known carcinogen), Chloromethane (possible carcinogen), 1,2-Dichloroethane (probable carcinogen), Ethylbenzene, Toluene, Vinyl Chloride (known carcinogen), and Xylenes, o,m,p.

Metro Recycling violated the Clean Water Act and Alabama law by discharging pollutants without a proper permit, according to Nelson Brooke, Riverkeeper and Executive Director of the Black Warrior Riverkeeper.

“As Riverkeeper of this large watershed, help from committed locals who serve as my eyes, nose, and ears is crucial,” Brooke said in an e-mail interview. “We would not have known about this problem without concerned locals reporting it to us. Working in concert with locals we are an important voice for citizens when our state and federal agencies fail to adequately enforce environmental laws. Under our watch, polluters will be held accountable.”

The settlement money will help the environmental groups better understand the river’s aquatic biodiversity and act as better stewards in future conservation efforts.

“The Friends of the Locust Fork River is glad to be part of an opportunity to update the aquatic survey of the mid-70s through the Supplemental Environmental Settlement portion of the suit with Metro Tire Landfill,” according to Sam Howell, president of the group. “The study will indicate the current health of the Locust Fork River and give FLFR and Black Warrior Riverkeeper information on how to be better stewards of this river’s watershed. I am pleased The Freshwater Land Trust accepted the request to be the facilitator of the $7500.00 to begin the renewed aquatic study. I know the results will make the river and the communities surrounding it a better place to live.”

The Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River is a remarkable free-flowing river. Flowing for 159 miles out of Etowah, Marshall, and Blount counties into Jefferson County, the river is an outstanding resource for locals and visitors alike.

Click here for the settlement agreement.

Click here for the original lawsuit.

Black Warrior Riverkeeper is a non-profit organization whose mission is to protect and restore the Black Warrior River and its tributaries.

Friends of the Locust Fork is a non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to preserving the integrity of the Locust Fork River in its natural free-flowing state, and to that end, the lifestyle of the community which surrounds it.

Freshwater Land Trust is a non-profit organization whose mission is the acquisition and stewardship of lands that enhance water quality and preserve open space.

The Locust Fork News-Journal is an independent online news organization inspired in part by the Locust Fork River. To understand why, read these signature stories about it.

Secret Vistas: A River Runs Through It

The Future of Democracy and the Web Press

The Federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) under the Bush administration is poised to finalize a rule that would allow thousands of natural streams and valleys in Appalachia to be buried by waste from mountaintop-removal coal mining. The plan directly conflicts with the decades-old Stream Buffer Zone Rule, which prohibits surface coal-mining activities from disturbing areas within 100 feet of permanent and seasonal streams.

For years, federal agencies have looked the other way as the coal industry has been allowed to blast away the tops of mountains to reach thin seams of coal. Already, mountaintop-removal mining has flattened more than 500,000 acres and permanently buried 2,000 miles of streams, destroying sources that feed drinking water.

These actions were taken in defiance of the existing Stream Buffer Zone Rule. Now, OSM wants to legalize this destruction, but the Bush Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must first give its approval for the change in rules to become law.

Please take action by telling the EPA that the destruction of Appalachia’s valleys and streams is unacceptable. Tell EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson to protect these valuable resources by keeping the Stream Buffer Zone Rule in place by clicking here to find out more.

I just happened to be on the scene at the Roebuck Springs fish kill taking photos myself when David Whiteside showed up to shoot this video for MTV. He ended up quoting me in the end.

We are still gathering more information and waiting on more from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigation and the Corps of Engineers on the wetlands-destruction portion of the crime scene. Check back soon and help us spread the word. If you want to be kept up to date on this issue or anything we are covering, simply send an e-mail message to fast2write@charter.net and ask to be added to the LocustFork-L mailing list.

To read all about it and see more photos, check out our archives on this story.

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At Least 1,000 Endangered Watercress Darters Killed