We drop into a narrow canyon in a gap between storms. The narrow creek rushes beside us and off the bluff, water aloft and falling into the larger creek below. The hemlocks begin to fill the mid-story as we descend. We move more quickly than is typical on a Forest Bathing immersion because we want to reach the rock shelter before the next line of weather arrives. Still, we move into silence after our initial introductions and safety protocols at the top of the trail. The forest begins to take us in as we begin to open.
We are hosting four military veterans on this immersive Forest Bathing session, a beta session for a new program for Alabama Veterans that we are launching and seeking to fund. For over two years I have collaborated with Janice Barrett, the Bankhead Outreach and Education Coordinator at Wild Alabama on a monthly day-long Forest Bathing program in the Bankhead National Forest. In heat and in cold, we guide participants into deep connection with what is now being termed the more-than-human world rather than nature. The term nature implies a separation between humans and everything else (air/water/rocks/trees), when in actuality, none such separation exists. We move into the senses through guided prompts, and participants most often feel the reality of our connectedness. This process yields impressive evidence based benefits for physical, mental, spiritual, and social well-being. In addition to the military veterans on this blustery day, we are hosting Sheila Holifield, Regional Public Relations Specialist for the Southern District of the US Forest Service. Sheila is writing an article on the launch of our new Forest Bathing program Veteran Well-Being Through Forest Bathing. Wild Alabama has applied for an NEEF grant to fund the new program. (We did not get the grant.) The Forest Service launched a new initiative that focuses on how nature connects us, and our program is a good fit for an article. Our program is different from the wilderness programs for veterans. We developed a protocol for persons with disabilities as well as for those who can hike the relatively short distance into the steep narrow canyon. The program does not require out-of-state travel, and is workable as a day trip. We begin the program by noticing the feeling of breathing, a crucial relationship in our lives that we typically ignore. This is an opportunity to notice how much we are isolated in our thoughts, even though we are made for connection. We are only connected with all of being regardless of our beliefs or ideas. When we breathe, we engage with the living air so that we might live. We can explore this relationship by noticing the details. What does it feel like to be a body breathing? Does anything shift when a person becomes aware of the air as a fundamental ally? The sky darkened and the birds were silent. The storms broke as we settled into our bodies. Torrents of water streamed through the tulip poplars, oaks and hemlocks. The creek gushed, The waterfall roared. Together in the rock shelter, we noticed the lightening and thunder beyond the veil of rain. We moved through the program protocols, coming into a sharing circle after each invitation to notice with the senses, exploring an expansive relationship with the forest - the trees, the water, the stone, and the sky. Several participants voiced the power of the dramatic flow of water. All expressed gratitude for the experience of the storms from within the rock shelter. Eventually we made our way back up the trail after the storms had passed, after our final sharing circle. A week later Janice and I facilitated a follow-up session with the veterans on Zoom to gather feedback. The veterans want more. They want to offer the program to more veterans. They want to do more Forest Bathing. They felt the power of our fundamental connectedness as beings. They felt the support of planetary forces such as gravity, and water, and air. They resonated with the trees, and the soil. I took notes. I made a promise to a young veteran in the summer of 2023. His name is Joel Cruz, and he participated in a Wild Alabama Forest Bathing program with Janice and me. He felt the healing power of the Forest Bathing practice, and he wanted more veterans to be able to experience the benefits. I decided then that I would find a way to start and to find funding for the Veteran Wellness Through Forest Bathing program. Six months later, we were setting up the first exploratory program through a VFW in Birmingham, and Joel was helping with the process. We know that this program will grow so that we can reach more veterans in Alabama. If you have any connections to funding sources or wish to support this effort to bring healing and well-being to veterans, please reach out to me! anne@markhambailey.com Want to learn more about our monthly Forest Bathing program? Want to donate to the work of Wild Alabama? Donate now.
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Sipsey Fork rapids ~ Photo credit: Tony Barber Click above to listen to this article. The quick answer is yes, most definitely! The Sipsey Fork is Alabama's only Wild and Scenic River, protected under the Wild and Scenic rivers act of 1968. It is part of the larger Black Warrior watershed. The headwaters of the Sipsey Fork undulate freely and without restraint off the Tennessee Valley Divide, a ridge line that runs generally east/west separating the Tennessee Valley and Black Warrior watersheds. For tens of thousands of years, indigeneous peoples, settlers and now locals have used this pathway for many reasons. It's continued high elevation allows for unobstructed travel without having to navigate the intricate canyons and precipitous slopes. These unique features provide outstanding opportunities for water to shed and filter through boulders and creek beds creating pristine clear waters that are necessary for the health of the ecosystems they support. Settlers began to populate the area in the early 1800s bringing with them farming and homesteading practices that would influence the quality of water. Non native plant and animal species such as privet and wild pigs have been introduced to the landscape. The headwaters of the Sipsey Fork have no specific upstream threats such as chicken houses or runoff from farms. The threats to the water quality are local on the landscape. Wild pigs and unburied solid dog and human waste can cause e-coli to be present in the water. When unfiltered water is consumed by recreationists it can cause gastrointestinal issues. Other threats to water quality include sedimentation due to runoff from unsustainable hiking trails and "user made" trails but that is an entirely different blog post. What are the best ways to treat water? The most traditional way to treat water is through boiling. This would involve resources such as a camp stove or fire to heat. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends boiling water for at least one minute with increased times at higher elevation. Further guidance can be found HERE. The disadvantage to this method is having to wait for it to cool down enough that you won't burn your mouth. If you are in a critical position where you are nearly dehydrated, this is not a feasible method. Another method of filtering water is to use a water filtration system that uses a carbon cartridge. Popular brands like Katadyn make several light weight models. The drawback to this method is trying to filter murky standing water. Pro tip: cover the prefilter with an additional prefilter, a paper coffee filter. Take extra according to how many you may need on your trip. Another consideration is they do freeze in winter which can crack the plastic or clog the tubes. One of the most effective methods are tablets. Some brands kill everything from viruses to bacteria. You put the recommended amount into a one liter Nalgene bottle and wait at least 20 minutes. Add more time if the water is cold. The disadvantage of this method is the wait time if you are in a pressing situation with dehydration. A final method of filtering water is through UV treatment. This method will also kill bacteria and viruses. It can be expensive but it takes the least amount of time among all of the methods of water treatment. The downside is the water MUST be free of debris so prefilter, prefilter, prefilter. There are other ways that I did not mention here like LifeStraws and more. Feel free to leave your water filtration advice in the comments. What can YOU do to help improve and sustain good water quality in the Bankhead National Forest?
Kim Waites is a Leave No Trace Level Two Instructor, Wilderness First Responder. She has over 15 years of hiking and backpacking experience and teaches courses on LNT, map reading, Ten Hiking Essentials and more. She can be contacted at kim@wildal.org I recently made a trip to Calera, Alabama to visit my dad and sister. As we always do, dad and I sat on the back porch in the morning shade listening to birds and watching the trees grow, we say. Dad planted three trees in honor of his late brother Larry and father Paul. Two are hickories and one is a red maple. Within a cramped suburban neighborhood there are traces of forest left in between property lines, enough to support an ample supply of biodiversity and keep my father and I entertained. A tenacious mockingbird came close enough to us that I got a decent photo with my smart phone. Beside the ubiquitous mockingbird we were delighted to hear a migratory summer tanager in the tree canopy on the outskirts of the west side of the lot. This morning though, we were perplexed by a sound we had never heard before. It sounded like a generator. With no power outage in the area we continued to ponder the possibilities and concluded on nothing. We let it go. The morning passed and I was on to my next stop of the day.
I drove to Talladega where my mom and stepdad have a house on Lake Logan Martin. I had planned this day to be a long journey from my home on the north end of the Bankhead National Forest to Calera to visit my sister and dad then on to Talladega to visit my mom and stepdad. The goal was to be home by dark. After a brief visit in the house we decided to go down to the gazebo by the dock to sit and enjoy the warm breeze wafting from the lake. Then I heard the distant humming noise again, the same noise I heard at dad's house. I asked my mom and she sated my curiosity. Cicadas, she said! I'm usually the nature nerd educating her about the ways of nature. There she was, schooling me about cicadas. Fast forward to today. Every year I participate in the annual bird count on the Bankhead National Forest. There are dozens of locations within the forest where data is collected. Species of birds are documented along with weather and other local conditions. The data reveals how birds are responding to forest management practices and possibly informs management decisions on the forest. We kick off the project with a 3 day "birding boot camp". Armed with the bits of knowledge my mother gave me, I understood what I was seeing and hearing in the forest. Cicadas were the back drop for all of the birds we heard and observed to the point I joked "there's that cicada warbler singing again". Spent cicada shells ornamented blooming milkweed and oak leaf hydrangeas. Swarms of cicadas circled the canopy. I mused to myself, "this is the year of the cicadas we will be talking about in years to come."
You are welcome! Kim Waites is the Wilderness Stewardship Coordinator for Wild Alabama . More about Kim HERE. Wild Alabama announces the First Ridgerunner Deployed to Pinhoti Trail in Alabama! October 17, 2023 Wild Alabama, with the support of the Talladega National Forest district ranger, is launching a Ridgerunner program for the Pinhoti Trail (PT) in Alabama. The first official PT Ridgerunner is David Lyons, a seasoned Wild Alabama volunteer and Volunteer Wilderness Ranger. The PT Ridgerunner program is adapted from the Appalachian Trail Ridgerunner program developed by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy which has been in use for over thirty years. Ridgerunners are trail ambassadors who help to engage trail users about Leave No Trace while helping to care for and protect the trail. This includes supporting the established Pinhoti Trail maintainer community by conducting routine trail maintenance such as brushing, lopping, and sawing small blowdowns. Ridgerunners also remove trash from the trail, trailheads, and primitive campsites. As more and more people are hiking the Pinhoti Trail, and its impact on Alabama’s overall economy continues to grow, there is a need to ensure consistent resource stewardship across the whole trail. Ridgerunners offer additional boots on the ground and act as eyes and ears for the Forest Service and other agencies and volunteer groups. The presence of Ridgerunners on the trail is good for trail users since they play an important ambassador role. “The Pinhoti Trail is unique as is the culture of the trail community that supports it. It was therefore important to us that we develop a program that fits the trail and the community” said David Lyons, the first Pinhoti Ridgerunner deployed to Section 12, a 16.2-mile section of the trail in Calhoun and Cleburne counties. Appalachian Trail Ridgerunners typically cover larger sections of the trail and require full-time seasonal commitments, often with multiple days sleeping on the trail. By deploying a dedicated Ridgerunner to each section of the Pinhoti Trail, the Pinhoti Ridgerunner is open to a broader base of people at different life stages who have a passion to serve the trail and their local community. Wild Alabama already trains and deploys a cadre of Volunteer Wilderness Rangers that work in the state’s three designated Wilderness Areas. Sections 6 and 11 of the Pinhoti Trail pass through the Cheaha Wilderness Area and the Dugger Mountain Wilderness Area respectively. Wild Alabama also trains and supports a Forest Ambassador program engaging visitors at the busy Cheaha Trailhead and trailheads across the Sipsey Wilderness Area. “With Wild Alabama’s existing expertise” said Maggie Johnston, Executive Director of Wild Alabama, “we took the best practices from various Appalachian Trail Ridgerunner programs and from our existing trail-focused programs to develop the concept of the Pinhoti Trail Ridgerunner.” David Lyons is a Wild Alabama volunteer and Volunteer Wilderness Ranger. He is a Wilderness First Responder and a Level 2 Leave No Trace Trainer. Retired from a career in pharmaceuticals and banking, he and his wife Julie recently moved from Birmingham to Piedmont, AL to be closer to the Pinhoti. He also serves as a trail chaplain. “The Pinhoti Trail was a liminal place for my personal and spiritual development. I am so blessed that Wild Alabama offers opportunities for me to give back to the Pinhoti Trail and the trail community.” Anyone interested in learning more about the Pinhoti Trail Ridgerunner Program, the Wilderness Ranger Program, or the Forest Ambassador Program should reach out to Jonathan Kelly, Outreach and Stewardship Coordinator for Wild Alabama in the Talladega National Forest area. jonathan@wildal.org Wild Alabama…. Enjoy…Value…Protect! www.wildal.org “The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” John Muir
“Be the change you want to see in the world.” Gandhi With that being said…. Our family enjoys rambling through the waters and woods. Anything outdoors. While talking with a neighbor about possibly hiking Bankhead, she shared with me about a podcast she enjoyed listening to. It was Anne Markham Bailey’s amazing podcast on Present Tense Media ‘The Fight for Alabama’s Last Wild Places.” Listening to Anne's interviews with the people that fought to protect and save the forest, gave me a deep admiration and appreciation for their courage to action. Our neighbor and hiking buddy, Vince Meleski shared with us maps, photos, videos and books on Bankhead and Sipsey and the Wild Alabama website. I emailed Janice about the Forest Bathing opportunity guided by her and Anne Bailey. Forest Bathing is a pull on your soul to get you to the peace and calm found in nature. Since then, I look forward to Wild Alabama monthly opportunities to get back into the wild places with the hiking community. John(my husband), children J. And Grace and myself love to go to Bankhead Sipsey Wilderness and explore the beauty and dynamic diversity of the forest. As a family, we feel the importance to give back and give forward. The courageous fight that saved wild places now calls us to “keep it” for generations to come to enjoy and learn about nature. Wild Alabama’s mission is to inspire people to enjoy, value, and protect the wild places of Alabama. The mission aligns with our family goals of “giving back and forward”. Wild Alabama offers so many ways to get involved and support wild places. WA board, staff and volunteers do an excellent job promoting, educating, stewarding and loving the dynamic diversity of wild places. Terri is a lifelong resident of north Alabama and has been visiting Bankhead National Forest since she was a toddler when her family would spend weekends camping at Brushy Lake and hiking the woods. When they weren't camping, her Daddy loved riding the forest's dirt roads in his Ford pickup and Terri was always there with him.
Len moved to Alabama in 1992 and met Terri when they both were hired by TVA. They have been hiking together ever since from Bankhead and Sipsey to the Smokies, Glacier NP, Olympic NP, Yellowstone NP, Alaska, and Canada to name a few of their favorite hiking spots. Terri and Len are both volunteer canine handlers for North Alabama Search Dog Association looking for lost/missing persons as well as deceased individuals. Terri joined the team in 2003 and Len followed in 2005. They have been deployed to Bankhead National forest for multiple searches. Len's "first find" was a missing hiker in the Gum Pond Cemetery area in 2012 who had been missing overnight. Len's SAR dog Rudy found the missing woman in less than 30 minutes. Len and Terri also serve on the Board of Directors for a national canine search and rescue group, Canine Search and Recovery. Terri has served as the secretary for several years and Len is a Board member. As Wild Alabama Volunteer Rangers, both are B level crosscut sawyers and have spent many hours helping clear trails in the Sipsey. Len and Terri also enjoy Ranger Patrols and interacting with hikers giving directions, suggesting places to visit, and sharing Leave No Trace principles. Both have participated in multiple trash pickups and campsite monitoring and cleanup. Terri likes to help out at the office when helping hands are needed for admin work, sticking labels and stuffing envelopes. Terri was named Wild Alabama Premier Volunteer in 2021, an honor she treasures. Terri also enjoys leading her photographer friends deep into the forest and the Sipsey to share with them her favorite locations, including the many beautiful waterfalls to be found there. A few other things Len and Terri like to do in their "spare" time: Len is finishing rebuilding and restoring his grandfather's 1948 Farmall Cub tractor. Len is also an avid gardener, specializing in heirloom tomatoes, and spends many hours canning and preserving the garden harvest. Terri is working on obtaining her drone pilot's license hoping to put that to use in future search and recovery efforts. Len and Terri travel often with their two German Shepherd Dogs in their RV, spending weeks at a time on the road, and if there is a lighthouse, they will climb it! |