Record crowd hikes new trails at Red Mountain Park

What brought more than 200 people out to hike across the ridge of Red Mountain? It was not just the bright blue skies and warm temperatures, unseasonable for November anywhere but Alabama.
Maybe it was the excitement of the unknown, a chance to check out newly cut trails, newly uncovered mine sites and amazing scenic views, [...]

Bham Botanical Gardens welcomes thousands

Are you one of the 350,000 visitors who strolled, sat, sniffed, listened or gazed last year at the amazing collection at Alabama’s most popular living museum? Then you know what draws so many to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, located just off U.S. 280 at the southern edge of Birmingham.
One recent Sunday, a group of old-time [...]

Take a new look at Red Mountain Park

More than 150 hikers came out on Oct. 18 for the first opportunity this fall to explore new trails and historic structures at Red Mountain Park. What a great day it was to be outdoors and to see more of the 1,200-acre property that is not yet officially open to the public.
With plans for a [...]

Great news for Ruffner Mountain’s Green award

We’re all looking forward to having easy access to the great new facilities at Ruffner Mountain Nature Center, while we wait for street work to be completed. In the meantime, it’s nice to celebrate with the organization which recently won the Green Project of the Year Award at the Going Green Awards Luncheon sponsored by [...]

Ecoscape charrette invites everybody’s opinion

What do you know about ecoscapes? And what can you contribute to create one in North Birmingham?
Don’t worry what you know and what you don’t. If you care about making your community a healthier and more attractive place to live, planners want your opinion about the best way to do that, and a charrette is [...]

A different kind of Catalyst sparks new leaders to action

Sustainability. Culture. New Leadership. With those three pillars of a progressive community, more than 1,000 members of the group called Catalyst continue to challege young citizens to get involved and do more.
Their slogan is “It’s Hip to Be Civic,” and they prove the truth of that every time that gather for a Green Third Thursday [...]

Different kind of “F.B.I.” tracks invasive plants

Pssst! Don’t look now but some bad guys are sneaking up on us. “Mi Mi Osa” and “Lenny McPrivet” are infiltrating the edges of our vital waterways and forests, according to the Freshwater Land Trust, which serves as our local version of the “F.B.I.(=Find Bad Invasives).” So learning how to track them down and [...]

Jones Valley Urban Farm provides food, new view of our city

You know you’re seeing something special when you reach the edge of Park Place in downtown Birmingham and see the green shoots rising out of what once was very unfertile soil. And you know you’re seeing something special when Birmingham’s own Edwin Marty and Jones Valley Urban Farm are widely recognized on the national [...]

Curbs and gutters mark Ruffner Mountain progress

Ruffner Mountain Nature Center is seeing changes every day, as part of the Three Parks Initiative supported by the Community Foundation. Ruffner Executive Director Kathy Freeland found herself getting excited about the installation of curbs and gutters on June 10, just one more step toward the completion of new facilities at this important park.
Other exterior [...]

Postcards carry our pride and our dreams

You’ve heard us ask before: What do you imagine? People are still responding, many of them on postcars picked up at our recent annual meeting. If you’re reading this on line, you don’t have to wait to respond — just add your comments, either about these ideas or about your own. Let us know what [...]