Blog Posts / Press
- Categories
- Blog Articles (198)
- Conservation (59)
- Health (5)
- Landowners (11)
- Partners (66)
- Past Events (21)
- Press (21)
- Q&A (8)
- Trails (39)
- Uncategorized (3)
Freshwater Land Trust receives accreditation renewal
We are excited to share that the Land Trust Accreditation Commission has renewed Freshwater Land Trust’s accreditation! Land trust accreditation promotes nation-wide quality standards for land trusts and land conservation. We are part of 443 land trusts across the country that have received the accreditation mark of distinction. Together, these land trusts have conserved millions…
Trail extension will connect Rotary Trail to 41st Street
To support Jones Valley Trail Extension, give today or contact our office for more information. Freshwater Land Trust is leading a campaign to raise $1,000,000 to build Jones Valley Trail Extension. Running along 1st Avenue South, this highly-anticipated, multi-use trail will connect downtown Birmingham from Rotary Trail to Avondale’s 41st Street and make many future…
Freshwater Land Trust awarded EPA’s Trash-Free Waters grant
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 23, 2020 BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA – Freshwater Land Trust and partners were recently awarded a $500,000 project grant over three years from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Trash-Free Waters program. Freshwater Land Trust is one of seventeen recipients and one of three recipients located in Alabama. The major goals of the funded project are to remove…
Trails Less Traveled To Try
During the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, we want you to be able to get outside, to exercise, and to enjoy spring sunshine as often as possible! But even when you are outside, it is important to avoid large groups and remain at least six feet away from others. Luckily, Red Rock Trail System offers dozens of…
A note from Rusha Smith, our new Executive Director
Dear Friends of Freshwater Land Trust, I am thrilled to be Freshwater Land Trust’s new Executive Director. My love of this state and its amazing natural spaces drew me to this special organization, and I am honored that our Board of Directors has chosen me for this position. Alabama is home to me. I was…
District purchases rail corridor, opens new trail
Five Mile Creek District purchases 16.5 miles of rail corridor, opens new trail in Gardendale FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JEFFERSON COUNTY, ALABAMA – A new recreational trail is open in Gardendale, adding two miles to Five Mile Creek Greenway in north Jefferson County. In July 2018, the Five Mile Creek District purchased 16.5 miles of rail…
Libba Vaughan leaving the Freshwater Land Trust
Libba Vaughan is leaving the Freshwater Land Trust. She will be joining Leadership Birmingham as their new executive director. “Although we are sad that Libba is leaving the Freshwater Land Trust, we are grateful for her leadership that has positioned this organization for even greater success in the future,” says Robin Wade, chairman of the…
Restoration at Roebuck Springs: home of the watercress darter
BIRMINGHAM, AL — This week, the Freshwater Land Trust breaks ground on a restoration project at Roebuck Springs in Don Hawkins Park, in partnership with the City of Birmingham and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Freshwater Land Trust will improve and restore Roebuck Springs, home of the watercress darter. This federally endangered fish…
Endangered Alabama fish found upstream of dam removal site
Four years after the Freshwater Land Trust and partners removed a 100-year-old dam, a critically-endangered fish species is making a new home in a section of Turkey Creek in north Jefferson County. In October, the Land Trust and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found a population of Vermilion darter upstream from the former dam site,…
Kiwanis Breaks Ground on New Park and Vulcan Trail
We are excited to announce that last Friday, May 19, 2017, the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham broke ground on their Centennial Park/Vulcan Trail project. This $4.6 million investment will reconnect Vulcan Park and Museum to downtown Birmingham, both visually and physically, through a new park, a new trail, and a new lighting system on Birmingham’s iconic…
Turkey Creek Restoration Continues thanks to FLT partners
In a small watershed in northwest Jefferson County lives a tiny, vibrantly colored fish found nowhere else on earth. The Vermilion darter (Etheostoma chermocki), inhabits now a 9 mile stretch of Turkey Creek downstream from Shadow Lake. In the late 1990s, researchers noticed a precipitous drop in the population of these bottom-feeding fish. As a…
12.5 acres of streamside property preserved for the Cahaba River in Mountain Brook & Vestavia.
In late September, Ed and Memily Colvin joined a growing group of landowners who have looked to the Freshwater Land Trust to help guide them in their conservation goals. The Colvins donated twelve and a half acres of land along the banks of the Cahaba River in the cities of Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills.…
Freshwater Land Trust Welcomes Libba Vaughan
This is an exciting year at the Freshwater Land Trust as we celebrate our 20th anniversary. Over the past two decades, we’ve accomplished great things for land conservation in Central Alabama through the support of our outstanding partners and supporters. While we continue to expand our footprint and take a step into the next…
Pete Yorn to Headline 8th Annual Land Aid Event at Avondale Brewery
Join us for our 8th Annual Land Aid concert featuring acclaimed indie singer/songwriter Pete Yorn. Land Aid 2016 will be held at Avondale Brewery Company on Friday, September 16. Doors will open at 7:00 p.m. and the concert will start at 8:00 p.m. Currently touring for his new album, ArrangingTime, the Los Angeles (by way…
Freshwater Land Trust Announces Leadership Changes
After 15 years of leadership as Executive Director, “Mother Nature’s Real Estate Agent” Wendy Jackson is bidding farewell to the Freshwater Land Trust and has been named as Executive Vice President of the national Land Trust Alliance. The national Land Trust Alliance (LTA) is a land conservation organization that works with over 1,000 land trusts…
The Locust Fork Mitigation Bank
Northeast of the city of Birmingham in the rolling farmlands of Blount County, big days are ahead for a 111-acre swath of land in the Locust Fork Watershed. A new cooperative project between Westervelt Ecological Services and the Freshwater Land Trust, the Locust Fork mitigation bank will restore and rehabilitate this stretch of land in…
Double Oak Mountain Acquisition
Two miles of ridgeline on Double Oak Mountain preserved forever. BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—For more than 60 years, Double Oak Mountain has represented a family’s legacy. Over the years, this family watched as dirt roads turned to asphalt and pine forests turned to brick homes. Although the mountain was changing in front of their eyes, their legacy…
REACH Birmingham
Poor nutrition, physical inactivity, poverty—these are all factors contributing to dangerous chronic diseases and the largest health disparities in underserved Birmingham communities. The Freshwater Land Trust is working to combat these health disparities by joining forces with several local organizations as part of “Birmingham REACH for better health.” What is REACH? “Birmingham REACH for…
Rotary Honored
Rotary Club of Birmingham Honored as Water Conservationist of the Year by AWF The celebration of the Governor’s Conservation Achievement Awards continues! While the Freshwater Land Trust brought home the AWF Conservation Organization of the Year Award, the Rotary Club of Birmingham was also honored as Water Conservationist of the Year Award for their outstanding efforts with the…
Conservation Awards
The Freshwater Land Trust was recently selected as the Conservation Organization of the Year for the Alabama Wildlife Federation’s Governor’s Conservation Achievement Awards! For more than 40 years, this award has recognized organizations that make lasting contributions to conservation in Alabama. The Conservation Organization of the Year Award is a part of the Governor’s Conservation Achievement…