We Started Forest Protection as the

Bankhead Monitor, then Wild Alabama,

and Continue as Wild South

When our movement started as the Bankhead Monitor in 1991, the Bankhead National Forest was being managed as fields of loblolly pine trees to produce timber and pulp.  Planted rows of trees were clear cut in a checkerboard fashion on a 40 year cycle.  We exposed violations of federal laws that resulted in criminal investigations of local U. S.

Forest Service (USFS) practices, and the Forest Supervisor of Alabama and several District Rangers were ultimately replaced. 

Today, the National Forests in Alabama lead the country in adopting natural forest restoration as the goal for all the lands on all the forests.  No more rows of trees.  No more clear cuts.  Managing the national forests for the American public and protection of streams and wildlife habitat, not to benefit the timber companies.

Wild South’s model of problem identification, public education, and legal appeals has resulted in tangible gains on the ground and in USFS policy.  Our strong advocacy to value culturally significant areas has lead to protection of Cultural Heritage and Traditional Cultural Properties, and we continue to work to identify and protect historic sites.  We organized activists such as the Echota Cherokee to defend their cultural heritage areas and cultural treasures. 

Working with other forest protection groups, we have helped to protect over 305,000 acres of public lands from corporate logging abuse in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana.  We have gained protection for 14,810 acres of the Bankhead National Forests as cultural and heritage areas, and 4,000 acres as a special botanical area.  Thousands of additional acres have been protected and enhanced to produce better wildlife habitat, and protect watersheds through permanent changes in USFS policy.

The USFS lacks the resources to map the many beautiful canyons of the Bankhead National Forest.  With support from several generous foundations, Wild South volunteers and college interns are mapping the canyons, that contain most of the remaining old growth forests, and we provide the USFS with descriptions and delineations of the canyons so they will be inventoried and protected. 

We helped protect other public lands, including hiking trails on 1,000 acres of forest on the Muscle Shoals Tennessee Valley Authority Reservation along the cliffs of the Tennessee. Our litigation, media campaign, and public outreach prevented this beautiful forest and public use area from being given to a private corporation to build a golf course. This site, along with recently designated sites in the Bankhead, are now part of a North Alabama Birding Trail.  The Shoals Environmental Alliance grew from this effort, and was named "Volunteer Group of 2004" by the Wilderness Society.

Our involvement on the Liaison Panel to advise the USFS in developing the new Land and Resource Management Plan for the national forests in Alabama has eliminated timber production and develped plans for forest restoration to provide better habitat and hiking, hunting, and camping opportunities.  We motivated people by developing a Citizen’s Guide for commenting on the USFS forest plan revision, which was used as a template by the Alabama and regional Sierra Clubs, the Alabama Environmental Council, and the Shoals Environmental Alliance to encourage public comment on other projects.

We have worked to list and protect several endangered species, including the vermillion darter and the Alabama sturgeon; our petition to have the cerulean warbler listed as an Endangered Species is currently under review. 

Litigation - - Why we do it.

Frequently the only way to get governmental agencies to stop doing things that harm the public lands or the environment, or to get them to do what they are legally bound to do, is to bring suit against them.  Thanks to NEPA, we have this right.  The first step is to file an appeal, and this may be enough to get them to change their ways.  If this does not work, we go to court.  Luckily, we have a strong partner to file the appeals - WildLaw.  Since 1993, we have been a party in more than 75 appeals and 20 lawsuits.

With WildLaw we have stopped damaging activities on about 305,000 acres in the South. We currently have 5 appeals filed.  Most of them are to stop timber sales on national forest land, when rules concerning public involvement or protection of wildlife habitat or watersheds have not been followed.

Suit to Prevent Toxic Emissions from the

Chemical Weapons Incinerator

Wild South is a plaintiff in a lawsuit to motivate the U.S. Army to employ alternative methods to dispose of chemical weapons at the Anniston Army Ammunition Depot on the grounds that the emissions from incineration could affect the trees in the nearby Talladega National Forest, and those in Georgia and further into the Appalachians.

Wild South published an investigative report on the incinerator, scooping every publication in the state about the Army’s proposed deviations from its permit issued by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM). The article helped to educate the public about the possible dangers to the people in the Anniston area.  This was the first time that Americans living around a facility had been issued gas masks in anticipation of a catastrophy.