Nonprofit Acquires 366 Acres on Black Warrior River for Permanent Conservation

An Alabama nonprofit has acquired more than 360 acres of land on the Black Warrior River for permanent conservation, they announced Friday.

The Freshwater Land Trust is an organization that aims to obtain and protect environmentally significant property in Alabama and is also developing a network of trails in Jefferson County.

On Thursday, the FLT and Black Warrior Riverkeeper announced the acquisition of 366 acres of land on a peninsula where the Locust Fork and Mulberry Fork join to begin the Black Warrior River.

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Birmingham's Drummond Company owned the West Jefferson County land and operated the now-closed Maxine coal mine in that area. BWR sued Drummond years ago, alleging that for decades, the company discharged polluted water into the river from the abandoned mine.

Ultimately a consent decree was issued that required Drummond to remediate the problem, and as part of that order, they gave 250 acres of the peninsular land to the FLT. They voluntarily agreed to donate the other 107 acres, guaranteeing an even larger part of the peninsula will be preserved.

“Freshwater Land Trust has a strong track record of implementing SEPs, and we are very excited to acquire and protect such an environmentally valuable property on the Black Warrior River,” stated Liz Sims, FLT’s Land Conservation Director, “We believe this is a great outcome for everyone involved.”

BWR and FLT said the land is covered in a forest of pines, sweetgum and white oaks and is habitat for Great blue herons and great egrets, who hunt from the river banks.

"Preservation of the Mulberry and Locust forks’ confluence has long been a goal of mine because it is such a special place at the formation of the Black Warrior River,” said Nelson Brooke, Black Warrior Riverkeeper. “After the Mulberry Fork flows 122 miles and the Locust Fork flows 158 miles through the Cumberland Plateau, they converge to form the Black Warrior River, which then flows for 168 miles from the tail end of the Appalachian Mountains and through the East Gulf Coastal Plain before emptying into the Tombigbee River.”

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