March Council Meeting

The Winston County Natural Resources Council meeting will be held at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 18th at the U. S. Forest Service Office in Double Springs. At this meeting we will have a draft agenda for the Winston County Natural Resources Field Day to be held on April 30th.

There will also be a report on the successful Arbor Week Tree Sale that was held in February.

Prescribed Burning Websites

Daryl Lawson, a Registered Forester at Alabama A & M University, recently sent me an e-mail about websites that promote prescribed burning on Alabama forestland. If you have a moment, you may want to visit these websites. Prescribed burning is almost universally supported by forest management experts, yet the practice is little used by most forestland owners in North Alabama. These websites could help promote the practice among private forestland owners in this part of the state. Daryl has also included a link to the Fire Dawgs Facebook page. The Fire Dawgs is a student organization at Alabama A & M dedicated to prescribed burning.

GoodFires

Visit My Forest

Alabama Prescribed Fire Council

AAMU Fire Dawgs

Rock Watershed Meeting and Bacteria Blitz

The February 4th, Rock Creek Watershed Management Project meeting was very productive. Quite a few stakeholders participated, despite the terrible weather conditions. During the meeting we reviewed the project goals and also discussed the current progress of the project. Stakeholders provided us with very important information regarding pollution in the Rock Creek Watershed. In addition, we were able to discuss different outreach strategies for getting the greater community involved in the project. All of this valuable information is being processed and we plan on having a draft plan ready within the next month or so.

The Smith Lake Bacteria Blitz and Bacteriological Water Testing Training sessions led by Alabama Water Watch were also successful. Twenty-six volunteers throughout the Smith Lake Watershed were certified as Bacteriological Water Monitors, and about 40 sites were tested for E. coli during the Bacteria Blitz! AWW personnel will report on Blitz results at the upcoming April 9th WCSLAI meeting, and at the April 10th SLEPC meeting.

Thanks to all who helped to organize and participated in these activities!

We are planning another Rock Creek Watershed Meeting as well as Bacteria Blitz for the first part of April. We will keep you posted on dates and times, and hope to see you there!

For more information on this project please contact Mona Scruggs at (251) 282-9998.

Arbor Week Tree Sale

The Winston County Natural Resources Council conducted another successful Arbor Week Tree Sale this year. Johnna Franks with the Alabama Forestry Commission heads up this effort by locating and ordering a good variety of trees and ornamental plants. This year's sale fell during a period of unseasonably cool weather, but buyers still came out. Some trees may still be available through Friday, February 26th, call 489-5014 for more information.

Article on White-nose syndrome in Birmingham News

The Birmingham News included an article today on White-nose syndrome which is devastating bat populations from New York to Tennesse. View the article on al.com to learn more. All caves on Forest Service lands in Alabama, including Bankhead National Forest, are closed to recreational caving in efforts to stem the spread of this fungus.
http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-stories/2010/02/bat-killing_fungus_spread_rais.html

February Council Meeting

The next council meeting will be at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, February 18th, at the U. S. Forest Service Office in Double Springs. We will briefly discuss the Natural Resources Field Day and the Arbor Week Tree Sale. After the meeting, we will head over to Lennith Hill's and Randy Moody's farm to plan the field day.

I hope that you will be able to attend this important meeting.

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to update you on the results of our program for 2009. In the last year we collected a total of 702 bags or roadside trash. This equals 20,825 pounds! That's a lot of garbage. While it is evident to me as I travel throughout the county that there is still much work to be done I am proud of what has been accomplished so far. We are looking forward to even greater success in 2010.
Thank you...Crystal