26 July 2005
Ecotourism for Marion and Perry County
By Thomas H. Wilson, biologist
Judson College, Marion, Al
Outdoor recreation, relaxation, sports, and education are
hot money producing items for any rural community. Marion
and Perry County
are poised to gain significant economic benefit and fame from the “green and
wild” industry. The natural diversity of
our area is possibly the greatest of any area in the State. We are on the fall line of the Appalachian
Mountains and are on the edge of the Upper Coastal Plain and the
Black Belt Prairie. We have the Cahaba
River along with its oxbow lakes
which has the greatest biodiversity of any river in North America.
There are over 200 lakes and ponds in our area including those of the Marion
State Fish Hatchery. This expanse of
freshwater serves as magnets for migratory waterfowl. And, it is only three easy hours to the Gulf
of Mexico.
Perry Lakes
Park and the adjacent Barton Beach
Cahaba River Wildlife Preserve are starting to have an ecotourism impact on our
community and this is only the beginning of this growing industry. Perry
Lakes Park
has the only old growth hardwood forest owned by the State of Alabama. All other State Parks and forests are managed
for wildlife, game, and commercial timber harvest. The Park belonged to the Federal Government,
U. S. Fish and Wildlife for most of the 20th century. This forest and area of the Park was
designated an official U.S. Fish and Wildlife Wilderness in the early 1900s and
this management plan has been honored and followed to the present time. There are no stumps in the Park…no sign of
past logging or alteration of the environment in the majority of the
property. Jack Snow and other past
Marion Hatchery Managers, Joe Addison, and Nick Nichols of Marion
along with Perry County Probate Judge Donald Cook, are to be commended for
protecting the Perry Lakes
Park forest and making it the
unique and valuable ecotourism and educational resource that it is today.
If you want to see a mature forest with huge, old trees
filling the canopy, and, if you want to see forest floor flowers that only
occur in dense shade and deep humus, you best go to Perry
Lakes Park. I once saw three Great Horned Owls perched in
the same oak tree in the Park. The Park
web site contains a Bird List that is unmatched for the number of species for
any single area in Alabama north
of Dauphin Island.
Perry Lakes
Park has a fine diversity of trees,
wildflowers, shrubs and ferns. Many of
the trees have been identified and are labeled with common and scientific
names. I have grants pending to create outdoor classrooms in several areas of
the Park. These areas will have signs
that teach about the particular ecosystem. There are six Alabama State Champion
Trees in the Park and I am in the process of nominating many more champions
from this wonderful and unique outdoor treasure. Auburn University Rural Studios students have
build a pavilion, restrooms, and a covered bridge and will soon complete a 100
foot tall birding tower that is positioned on the edge of an oxbow lake in the
Park.
Barton’s Beach Cahaba River Preserve is beside the Park and
a trail leads to the largest sand and gravel bar on the Cahaba
River. Barton’s Beach is a spectacular natural area
and a wonderful outdoor laboratory for learning about aquatic ecosystems. Two
Perry and Dallas County
creeks have good ecotourism potential.
Oakmulgee Creek contains walleye and spotted bass. This creek along with Washington Creek could
be important for local outdoor adventures.
The Marion State Fish Hatchery is beside the Park and its
old growth woods and many ponds have attracted birders for half a century from
around the State and Nation. A pair of
Bald Eagles is presently nesting in a giant pine beside one of the Hatchery
ponds.
Our county neighbors are cashing in on their natural
heritage. Bibb
County has the new Bibb County
Cahaba River Wildlife Preserve with its showcase of Cahaba Lilies. The Bibb County Glades is an exceptional
place for rare plants. The Cahaba
River Park
at Centreville is a fine place for families and for festivals. The Oakmulgee Division of the Talladega
National Forest which is only 20
miles from Marion is home to over
100 colonies of endangered Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers. Tannehill and Brierfield
County Parks
are wonderful natural and historical areas of Bibb
County.
Paul
Grist State Park
north of Selma and only 15 miles
from Marion offers trails, a big
lake for fishing, recreation, picnics and a pavilion for parties. The Old
Cahawba Archaeological
Park at the mouth of the Cahaba
River in Dallas
County is an interesting place to
visit and to learn Alabama
history.
We must act now to ensure that the significant birding areas
of Bibb, Perry, and Dallas counties
are part of this new outdoor recreational and educational movement. The Central Alabama Birding Trail is now
officially started. The Alabama
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the U. S. Corp of
Engineers recently signed a cooperative agreement at the Holy
Ground Battlefield
Park in White Hall. Birding is the number one participation sport
in the Western World. Birders spend
about $44 billion dollars a year on birding activities. Thirty five million dollars are spent
annually in Alabama by birders
and that will increase as communities develop their resources and when the
Northern, Central and Coastal birding trails are connected.
Our area must be officially included in the Central Alabama
Birding Trail. The Perry County
Commission is well aware of this new source of money and jobs. Their management of the Perry
Lakes Park
and their support of the Auburn University Rural Studios projects at the Park
will quickly position the Park and our area as a premium stop on the Birding
Trail. The 100 foot tall birding tower presently being constructed at the Park
by Rural Studio students will be a major tourist and birding site of the
South. My NRCS Earth Team and I have established
trails in Perry Lakes
Park and are initiating a new
birding trail near the Hwy 14 Sprott Bridge landing.
We must convince the appropriate State political people to
create and install a State boat ramp (canoe take-out) at the old Fikes Ferry
road bridge (East side of the river at Radford on old Perry County Hwy
10). This is the only boat take-out
between the Sprott ramp below the Hwy 14 bridge and the Hwy 6 bridge. However, erosion and fallen trees now make
this takeout almost unusable. The seven
miles of Cahaba River
from the Sprott Bridge
to this County Hwy 10 proposed take-out is the most beautiful section of the
river. The Alabama Department of
Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) has allocated funds for the construction
of boat access on the Cahaba River. I am working with the Cahaba River Clean
Water Partnership, which Perry County
is a member, to get the Radford ramp approved and built.
The Golden Club
Swamp six miles north of the Sprott
Store on Hwy 183 is a natural wonder in March when the entire swamp glows
golden yellow with arum lilies in bloom.
I have proposed making the Golden
Club Swamp
a Perry County Preserve to the Clean Water Partnership. Birders and Garden Club members from around
the State have made annual March visits for many decades to see the beautiful
lilies of this swamp and the Prothonotary Warblers that make it their home.
The Clean Water Partnership is working to wed the Cahaba
River Trace cultural heritage project with the developing natural heritage
component of the Cahaba River
corridor. This proposed Trace and its
scenic map will rival the Natchez Trace in Mississippi. Be part of the progress in ecotourism in Marion
and Perry County
by providing support and encouragement for these and other outdoor recreation
projects. Watch this paper for further notices of citizen action responses to
help make Marion and Perry
County a wonderful place to live
and to visit