December 12, 1998
1. Wildlaw Offering $5,000 Reward to Apprehend Arsonist
2. Facts About Alabama's Eco Significance - Stats You Can Use
3. Chief Ladiga Trail Celebrates New Addition and $200,000
4. Green Map System - Connecting Cities With Eco-Resources
5. Ruffner Mountain 1000 Acres!! Please Help
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Quote of the Month:
"The Bible declares that on the sixth day God created man.
Right then and there, God should have demanded a damage deposit."
- From Jim
Hightower's book "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road
But Yellow
Stripes and Dead Armadillos"
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1) Wildlaw Offers Reward to Apprehend Arsonist - Wildlaw,
a non-profit law
firm out of Montgomery, announced that it is offering a $5,000
reward for
information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person
or persons
who set fire to the Cheaha Wilderness. According to the U.S. Forest
Service
the fire was deliberately set in 20 "sets" or starting
places along an old
closed woods road that lead into the southern part of the wilderness.
The
Forest Service estimates that over 3100 acres were burned in the
wilderness.
The costs to fight the blaze is expected to hit $400,000.
All info Wildlaw receives on this matter will be turned over
immediately to
the Forest Service investigators. Please contact Wildlaw at 334-265-6529
or
reward@wildlaw.org if you know any information.
2) Alabama's Ecological Significance - David Bayne,
a professor at Auburn
University's Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures,
recently wrote
an article in "Alabama Issues 1998" titled "Alabama's
Surface Waters - A
Treasure Taken For Granted". Check out some of the statistics
he documents
in the article.
# About 1/12th of all water that flows into the oceans from
the lower 48
United States flows through Alabama.
# Alabama has more navigable channels (1,438) than any other
state. (Mettee
et al. 1996)
# Relative to North America, Alabama fresh waters support 43%
of all known
species of gill breatthing snails, 52% of known aquatic and semi-aquatic
turtles, 60% of known mussels and 38% of known fish (Lydeard and
Mayden,
1995)
# Species and percentage of species recognized by biologists
as being either
extinct, endangered, threatened or of special concern: 10% (31
species) of
Alabama fishes, 69% (119 species) of Alabama mussels, 65% (97
species) of
Alabama gill-breathing snials and 43% (10 species) of Alabama
freshwater
turtles (Lydeard and Mayden, 1995)
# There are currently fish consumption advisories in effect
for over 60,000
acres of reservoirs and 42 miles of streams in Alabama (ADEM,
1996).
# A recent economic study involving 6 Alabama reservoirs (Weiss,
Logan,
Martin, Lay, Harris and Lewis Smith) representing 1/4th of the
surface area
of all Alabama lakes, estimated annual expenditures by recreational
users in
1994-95 at over $500 million. The total annual economic value
based on user,
landowner and lakeside business surveys was estimated to be $1.47
billion
(Fishery Information Management Systems, 1997).
# The total estimated economic impact of sport fishing in the
state in 1994
was over $2.0 billion (Travnichek and Clonts, 1996)
These are some pretty powerful statistics. Perhaps you can
use some of these
figures the next time someone tells you that protecting and preserving
Alabama's environment is not important.
3) Chief Ladiga Trail Addition and $200,000 - On Friday
(Dec. 11th) citizens
of Jacksonville Alabama celebrated the expansion of the Chief
Ladiga Trail,
Alabama's first extended rails to trails project. The event marked
the
opening of Jacksonville's 4.4 mile stretch of the 33 mile nature
trail which
connects Calhoun and Clebourne counties. The ribbon cutting ceremony
was
also a celebration of the procurement of a 200,000 grant to link
Jacksonville
with the city of Weaver. For more information about the Chief
Ladiga Rails
to Trails project call Pete Conroy at 256-782-5681.
4) Check Out the Green Map System Website - Just found
a great website that
would benefit Alabama cities. It's called the Green Map System
and it's
mission is to implement a "globally designed strategy for
identifing,
promoting and linking the Eco Resources within cities." For
those of us who
believe in "thinking globally and acting locally" it's
a wonderful resource.
The address is:
http://www.greenmap.com/green.map.html
5. Ruffner Mountain 1000 Acre Goal Becoming a Reality
- With the help of the
Trust for Public Land, a national land conservation organization,
the Ruffner
Mountain Nature Center in Birmingham will soon purchase more than
400
additional acres from the United Land Corp (Ruffner's total acreage
will top
1000). This will preserve the rest of Ruffner Mountain's ridgetop
forest, as
well as the meadowlands, a natural spring, and historic sites.
The purchase
will be funded in part by the Jefferson County Greenways and Forever
Wild
programs. Ruffner Mountain needs your help to make this vital
acquisition a
reality. Please consider making a year end gift to the Ruffner
Mountain's
Land Acquisition Fund at 1214 81st S. Birmingham, Alabama 35206.
Please share BEN with friends and fellow conservationists.
If you have any questions about BEN, contact Pat Byington at
205-226-7739 or pkbyington@aol.com
