Bankhead Liaison Panel Meeting

The Bankhead National Forest Liaison Panel will hold its quarterly meeting on Thursday, April 29, 2010. The meeting begins at 6 PM and will be held at the Bernice Hilton Walker Building (Traders and Farmers Bank) in downtown Double Springs. This will be an excellent opportunity to meet Bankhead's new Ranger, Elrand Denson, and learn about new and on-going projects in the Forest.

Rock Creek Project and Bacteria Blitz Updates

The Rock Creek Watershed Management Plan meeting on April 8th was very successful. Several community members and representatives of local government and agencies came out to give feedback about the plan. The plan is being completed, but there will be one more opportunity for you to check it out and provide input on April 29th, at 7pm in Addison at the Traders and Farmers Bank. We encourage you to come and participate in the ongoing planning process!

The Spring Bacteria Blitz was also a success! There were around 30 sites tested throughout the Smith Lake Watershed. About 1/3 showed signs of E.coli bacteria. If you would like to hear more, come out to the meeting in Addison on April 29th, where we will briefly discuss the results.

Hope to see you soon!

Payne Creek Demonstration Area Grand Opening

The Payne Creek Demonstration Area Grand Opening was held on Friday, April 9th, 2010.  This area highlights the restoration of shortleaf pine woodlands in the Bankhead National Forest.  It will provide a place where visitors can learn about the shortleaf woodlands restoration that is occurring on the Bankhead. The area located just off Highway 33 approximately a half mile north of the Sipsey Fork Bridge.  Some of the practices implemented on this site include planting, thinning, and midstory removal.  With the help of WildSouth volunteers, an old logging road down to Payne Creek was opened so visitors could easily access the canyon area near the creek.  Students from Double Springs Elementary School, Alabama A&M University, and Falkville High School attended the grand opening.  The Winston County Natural Resources Council helped sponsor this educational event.

April Meeting-Winston County Natural Resources Council

We will have our regular monthly meeting at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 15th, at the U. S. Forest Service Office in Double Springs.

There have been a number of important meetings recently including the Rock Creek Watershed Meeting, the Spring Bacteria Blitz, the WCSLAI Meeting, and the Payne Creek Demonstration Grand Opening.  We will get reports on these events.

We have a brief planning meeting about the Natural Resources Field Day that will be held on April 30th at the Moody-Hill Farm.

For those that can, we will visit the site at the Moody-Hill Farm after the meeting.

Please Join Us!

Please remember the Rock Creek Watershed Management Project Meeting that will be on Thursday April 8th at 7pm in Addison at the Traders and Farmers Bank Building.
We will be presenting a draft of the Rock Creek
Watershed Management Plan, and would really appreciate your help with putting on the finishing touches!
We are also having a Spring Bacteria which will take place on Friday and Saturday, April 9-10th. If you are interested, and haven't already done so, please reply to this email or call me at (251) 282-9998 to coordinate the materials pick up and plate turn-in. Hope we can count on you!
There will be no training workshops during this trip, but we hope to plan another one soon.
Thanks and hope to see you soon!

Nine Foot Alligator Killed in Walker County

I received an e-mail with photos this weekend stating that a 9' 3" alligator had been killed in a strip mine lake in Walker County.  The e-mail was a little scarce on details, so I called the Walker County Extension Office to see if the story was true.  They called Tony Burgett with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and he confirmed the report.  The lake was near Lupton, and is a local swimming hole.  It's speculation on my part, but I suspect that the landowner had safety concerns about an alligator in the lake.  Here's a link to some of the photos that were forwarded in the e-mail.