Turkey Creek Nature Preserve Enhanced
November 8th, 2008
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Glynn Wilson |
| An early autumn view of the Turkey Creek Falls |
