Annual Tree Sale in February

The WCNRC will hold their Annual Tree Sale during Arbor Week in Alabama, which is celebrated the last full week in February. The sale will begin on Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 9:00 am, and continue the remainder of the week. The sale will be held at the Alabama Forestry Commission's new office site, which is located near the end of Coats Street in Double Springs, formerly known as the old TMA Sawmill site.

Fruit varieties available this year are: Arkansas Black and Gala apple trees, Blueberry, Muscadine and Thornless Blackberry.

Tree species available this year are: Leland Cypress, Crepe Myrtle, Ginkgo, Sawtooth Oak, Water Oak, Japanese Maple, Crab apple, Shumard Oak and Red Maple.

The Council will also have a limited amount of landscaping shrubs available this year, such as, Foster Holly, Nandina and Roses. Prices will vary again this year, so please call 205-489-5014 for more information.

Rock Creek Watershed Meeting in Addison, Alabama

Rock Creek Watershed Meeting
Thursday, February 4th
Traders & Farmers Bank
Addison
7:00 P.M.

A meeting for stakeholders in the Rock Creek watershed is planned for Thursday, February 4th at the Traders and Farmers Bank meeting room in Addison. The meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m. for those interested in serving on either the technical committee or the evaluation/outreach committee, with the regular meeting beginning at 7:00 p.m. The purpose of this meeting is to complete a Watershed Management Plan by mid-march. Having participation from a broad range of citizens is important to the success of this plan.

Alabama Water Watch is also planning on having bacteriological water testing training sessions on Friday and Saturday. After the training on Saturday morning, they will conduct a "Bacteria Blitz" where several volunteers will conduct bacteriological water testing at several sites in the Smith Lake Watershed. Volunteers will turn in their samples to Alabama Water Watch later on Saturday so that the samples can be incubated properly. Watch here for further details on the bacteriological water testing training. Here's some photos from a training session that was held in Addison last year.

Sponsored by Winston County Smith Lake Advocacy Inc.
& Alabama Water Watch. For information, Mona Scruggs with Alabama Water Watch at 251-282-9998, or LaVerne Matheson with WCSLAI at 256-747-4422.

Managing Feral Hog Damage Program

A series of workshops on managing feral hog damage will be held at three locations in south Alabama. A full version of the flyer is available here:

http://www.aces.edu/forestry/hogflyer.pdf

January Council Meeting

The regular meeting of the council will be held at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, January 21st, at the U. S. Forest Service Office in Double Springs. I've invited Lennith Hill and Randy Moody to join us at that meeting. Their farm will be the site of the 2009 Forestry Field Day. While we had hoped to visit the farm after the meeting, the weather forecast does not look favorable. We will reschedule that part of the meeting for a later date.

Johnna Franks will also have an update on the tree sale plans for Arbor Week. The sale dates this year will be February 23-26th. Please mark your calendar for Tuesday, February 23rd, because that will be the main sale day where help will be needed.

Denson Named Bankhead District Ranger

Miera Crawford Nagy, Forest Supervisor of the National Forests in Alabama, has made the following announcement:

"I am pleased to announce that Elrand Denson has accepted to Bankhead Ranger District position. Elrand is currently the District Ranger on the Houston/Rolla/Cedar Creek RD on the Mark Twain NF in Region 9. Prior to moving to Missouri, Elrand was the NFsAL Hydropower Coordinator.

Elrand's reporting date is February 28.

Please join me in welcoming Elrand to the National Forests in Alabama."

Allison tells me that the council will be able to welcome him to the Bankhead at the March council meeting.

Thanks Tom

Tom Counts is changing gears in 2010; he's retiring from his position as a wildlife biologist with the U. S. Forest Service. In addition to his job as a biologist, Tom is a hard working member of the Winston County Natural Resources Council. Through his involvement in the Alabama Natural Resources Council, he has helped us understand how our local council fits into the larger state-level organization. The members of the Winston County Natural Resources Council are thankful for the years of steady support that Tom has given to us and to the State Council. Even though Tom is changing his work status this year, we look forward to him continuing his role as an active council member.

Rock Creek Watershed Meeting in Addison, Alabama

Members of the Alabama Water Watch Program recently hosted a meeting about the Rock Creek Watershed. A coalition of groups including the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Winston County Smith Lake Advocacy, Inc., the Winston County Natural Resources Council, the Winston County Commission, private landowners, ADEM, the Cullman Soil and Water Conservation District, and Smith Lake residents, are working together to prepare a grant that could help protect and improve the Rock Creek watershed. In order to get more involvement by local residents, this meeting in Addison was held at the Cullman Electric Cooperative building. An overview of the watershed area, which includes land in both Winston and Cullman counties, was given by the Alabama Water Watch staff. Alabama Water Watch is drafting a proposal that will result in a grant application being submitted to ADEM in April. If funded, the grant will help implement a variety of practices to protect and improve water quality in Rock Creek.

The next day, a group toured various stops in the Rock Creek Watershed. More photos from the meeting and tour are here.