12/07/03

Huntsville Times
 

Imagine a vast natural playground stretching from North Alabama into Central Tennessee. Imagine forests, meadows, rivers and wetlands open to the public for hunting, fishing, canoeing and hiking. Imagine farms managed to be both self-sustaining and environmentally responsible.

Such dreams may be on the verge of reality.

Working with state and federal agencies, the Nature Conservancy, the national land-protection organization, is trying to preserve 3 million acres of the Cumberland Mountains and the Cumberland Plateau.

That's not a misprint: It's 3 million acres. But unlike the purchase-and-protect strategy the Nature Conservancy has used in the past, these days it takes a different approach.                          

It purchases some land and then works with landowners to make sure other, adjacent lands are used wisely and in a Earth-friendly manner. Call it buy a little, save a lot.

The Conservancy's Alabama group did just that on Keel Mountain in Madison County and again in the Paint Rock Valley.

According to the Nashville Tennessean, the Conservancy plans to buy outright 50,000 acres - almost 80 square miles. Most of it will be in Franklin County, Tenn., to protect the headwaters of the Paint Rock River. The Conservancy's Tennessee Chapter has a $2.5 million grant from the Doris Duke Foundation it must match with $6 million.

Significant changes apparently are coming in Jackson County, Ala., too. The Conservancy may at long last preserve the famous Walls of Jericho rock formation. It may also protect woodlands near or adjacent to the Skyline Wildlife Management Area, more land in the Paint Rock Valley and perhaps even tracts into Marshall County.

Not long ago, a Nature Conservancy representative from Birmingham confirmed that big things were afoot, but he said the group couldn't say much until all the details were worked out with property owners.

Alabama, like the rest of the country, has awakened to the economic potential of eco-tourism. The state is developing a North Alabama Birding Trail; one's already in place along the coast. A canoe trail exists in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.

An education field center is planned for Little River Canyon. Lawrence County, home to part of the Bankhead National Forest, hopes to build a visitors' center for recreational users. The state has two new wildlife refuges, on the former Fort McClellan property at Anniston and along the Cahaba River.

As U.S. manufacturing yields to foreign competition, economic development no longer means just attracting new industries. Economic prosperity based on nondestructive uses of natural resources brings in dollars while providing residents with recreational opportunities.

Alabama is rich in natural treasures. Now it's realizing what they're really worth.