Reviewed by: Patrick Byington
NEW: Lake Guntersville State Park growing? Forever Wild votes “yes”
Reading time: 2 minutes
Forever Wild Board of Trustees voted this week to move forward and acquire a 60-acre tract adjacent to Lake Guntersville State Park. Keep reading to get all the details on that, plus two more big developments for state parks.
A 60-acre addition to Lake Guntersville State Park
Lake Guntersville State Park—known for its Eagle Awareness programs—is growing. The Forever Wild program, the state’s land acquisition program, plans to acquire the John Doss Mountain Addition adjacent to Lake Guntersville State Park.
If they move forward with the acquisition, they’ll use the land to build more beautiful trails in the region, according to Alabama Department of Conservation and National Resource Commissioner Chris Blankenship.
But they’re not stopping there.
Is Cathedral Caverns growing too?
Not only did the board vote to move forward with the acquisition at Lake Guntersville State Park, they also voted to move on a first appraisal for a 109-acre addition to Cathedral Caverns State Park.
“Our goal for Cathedral is to make it more of a park that has a cave instead of just a cave-centered park.”
Chris Blankenship, Alabama Department of Conservation and National Resource Commissioner
If the board moves on the second appraisal, Forever Wild will be able to accomplish that goal.
Meanwhile, big state park developments are also happening in the Birmingham area. As reported by The Bama Buzz, our sister publication, the board voted to approve expanding Oak Mountain State Park by 277 acres.
Needless to say, it was a banner day for state parks.
“This just happened to be one of those [meetings] when three different parks had properties that had been nominated and were available. I think it’s always good to add land to our parks.”
Chris Blankenship, Alabama Department of Conservation and National Resource Commissioner
If you want to learn more about Forever Wild, here’s how it’s changed our state for the better.
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