With the enactment of the 2004 Revised Land and Resource Management Plan for National Forests in Alabama (RLRMP), Wild South’s relationship with the USFS Bankhead District became a cooperative one rather than the adversarial and litigious one of the 1990’s.  The new RLRMP is focused on restoration and stewardship rather than commodity production and clear cutting, a real sea change in Forest Service management. 

It became apparent in the first years of the new plan that Forest Service budgets were inadequate to address certain needs in the Bankhead: For example, litter and trash dumps defile areas of the forest, rare sandstone glade communities suffer from fire suppression, and trails go without maintenance.  In 2006, Wild South saw an opportunity to take advantage of our new spirit of collaboration with the USFS and help to improve conditions on the Bankhead.  The National Forest Foundation (NFF), the official non-profit partner of the Forest Service, had begun to fund Wild South’s canyon survey and restoration monitoring programs, with matching funds from the Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation and the Fund for Wild Nature.  Engaging the local community as volunteers to help the Forest Service meet its management goals seemed to be exactly the kind of collaborative effort NFF liked to sponsor. 

The Project 

And, thus, Helping Hands was born, supported by NFF, our generous donor members, and in 2009-2010 by a grant from the Walker Area Community Foundation’s General Fund.   Helping Hands projects utilize local volunteers and Wild South staff to assist the USFS in the following tasks: trash clean-up, glade restoration, tree planting, and trail restoration and maintenance. Helping Hands is the most volunteer-driven of Wild South's projects. Over 40 volunteers join us in the Bankhead each year for Helping Hands projects. This involvement shows a true community commitment to restoring the Bankhead's ecosystems. 

We now schedule one Helping Hands project per month, usually on the third Saturday.  We have signed a contract with the USFS to officially adopt two of the trails in the Sipsey Wilderness, committing to maintaining them as part of our Helping Hands initiative.  Storms over the last five years have created a lot of trail work, hard work that has to be accomplished totally with hand tools to comply with wilderness regulations.  We are always looking to add to our volunteer workforce.  The more help we have, the more we can get done. 

Our Mission 

Our mission to inspire people to protect and restore the native ecosystems of the southeast finds its truest expression in the efforts of our volunteers.  We are fortunate to have a very progressive management plan in the Bankhead, as well as USFS personnel who actively promote the collaborative process and truly appreciate the accomplishments of our Helping Hands projects.  We hope to expand this effort to the other states in which we have a presence.  If you would like to join our volunteer work force and receive email notices of upcoming projects, email our Outreach Coordinator, Janice Barrett, at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or call our Alabama office at 256-974-6166.