Reviewed by: Cindy Hatcher
Forever Wild has expanded Alabama’s State Parks from Huntsville to Mobile. Why it matters.
Reading time: 6 minutes
Sponsored
We all know what we think of when we hear “space” and “Huntsville” in the same sentence. But did you know there is another “space” program in The Rocket City?
In fact, for years, its motto—“The Other Space Program”—was plastered on newsletters, newspapers, billboards and bumper stickers across the city. The name of the group that embodied that moniker? The Land Trust of North Alabama.
The title came from a partnership with Alabama’s Forever Wild program, where they expanded nearly a thousand acres of greenspace adjacent to and around Monte Sano State Park.
In our first installment about Forever Wild, we celebrated our favorite preserves across the state, including the Walls of Jericho in Northeast Alabama, the Black Belt and the Mobile Delta.
In the second story in our three-part series, we’ll learn how Forever Wild has expanded our state parks and why that matters.
Experiencing nature just two miles from downtown Huntsville
According to Marie Bostick, Executive Director of the Land Trust of North Alabama, Huntsville’s economic growth and livability is tied to the expansion of Monte Sano State Park and surrounding area, made possible by Forever Wild and the Land Trust. Bostick told us;
“Two miles from the courthouse square, you can be in a nature preserve and feel like you are miles away from the city. It’s pretty incredible. I don’t honestly know anywhere else in the country where you can say that.
“Because of that proximity, Monte Sano State Park has gotten a tremendous amount of use from people, which leads to the need to protect and grow the footprint as much as you can, so you can spread out that impact from all the people who are enjoying it.”
Nearly 40 years ago, in June 1987, some wise local residents founded the Huntsville Land Trust, which eventually was renamed the Land Trust of North Alabama. The group was initially created as part of a grassroots movement to save the mountain slopes leading up to Monte Sano State Park from encroaching development.
Monte Sano State Park Forever Wild expansion
The passage of the Forever Wild Constitutional Amendment in November 1992 could not have come at a more opportune time to protect and expand Monte Sano.
“The Land Trust has been involved in four transactions that involve Forever Wild on Monte Sano, all of them adjacent to the State Park. That’s intentional, because it’s a very urban state park and there are encroachments from all directions, especially since the 1980s, when development really started taking off on the slopes in the Huntsville area.
“We’ve actually worked on properties on three sides of the park for almost 30 years now.”
Marie Bostick
Forever Wild has purchased seven tracts totaling 994 acres adjacent and surrounding Monte Sano State Park. To put that in perspective, Huntsville, one of the fastest growing major cities in the South, has added more park land and greenspace than New York City’s Central Park. Monte Sano means ‘mountain of health’. What a perfect core to a rapidly changing city.
State park expansion is in Forever Wild’s DNA
Since its inception, Forever Wild has focused on protecting and expanding our state parks.
One of the first tracts purchased by the program in the 1990s was an addition to Lake Guntersville State Park called Eagle Roost. The small, 17-acre parcel of land, which is used to view our national symbol, was purchased right at the time bald eagles were re-introduced in Alabama.
Three decades later, bald eagles can be seen in every Alabama county, especially at Lake Guntersville State Park.
Oak Mountain State Park: An Alabama Story
Another example of Forever Wild’s commitment to expanding our state parks is the recent addition of 1,644 acres to Oak Mountain State Park in 2022.
The tract — known as the Belcher Property — increased the size of Oak Mountain to more than 11,000 acres, preserving a rare mountain longleaf pine forest, near the Greystone and Chelsea communities.
The expansion, like all Forever Wild purchases, was made possible by extraordinary partnerships, in this case EBSCO Industries, The Nature Conservancy in Alabama (TNC) and the Alabama Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.
TNC’s Executive Director Mitch Reid summed up the significance of this addition to Alabama’s largest state park:
“In Alabama, the Appalachian Mountains start here. They go all the way up to Maine. That forest intersected with those mountains and Alabama. And those trees went up that mountain and they became mountain longleaf. At Oak Mountain State Park, the Belcher tract has some of the most amazing places that you will see in all of Alabama. They are part of that legacy, a mountain longleaf system that exists really nowhere else on earth. This is an Alabama story.”
Honor Roll: State park & historical park expansions
Throughout its 34-year history, Forever Wild has expanded both our state parks and historical parks.
Here is a list of other land acquisitions:
- Cathedral Caverns State Park – 4 acres
- Desoto State Park – 286 acres (3 tracts)
- Tannehill State Park – 907 acres
- Fort Toulouse – Fort Jackson State Historic Park – 254 acres
- Blue Springs State Park – 100 acres
- Historic Blakley State Park – 420 acres
Why Forever Wild matters for state parks
From Monte Sano State Park to Historic Blakley State Park in Baldwin County, Forever Wild has preserved and saved many.
Bostick explained the program’s impact:
“From a conservation standpoint, Forever Wild has to rank near number one. It made funding available to acquire eco-sensitive or historically-important lands and buffers for the state parks.”
Next up: Forever Wild and recreation
Forever Wild has saved some of our most precious landscapes.
In the next edition, we will explore how the program has enhanced community recreational opportunities statewide, from mountain biking, fishing to bird-watching.
Sponsored by:
