The Fund and its partners have protected more than 12,000 acres in Alabama, including Civil War battlefield sites, blufflands for a national preserve, and a long-anticipated trail connecting Alabama to the Appalachian Trail.
In 2009, our Racing for Wildlife program helped to protect the eight-mile crest of Rebecca Mountain, a major ridge in the Appalachian Mountains. Located just a short drive from Talladega Superspeedway within the Talladega National Forest, the protection of this land allows the U.S. Forest Service to complete a portion of the Pinhoti Trail, which connects Rebecca Mountain to the popular Appalachian National Scenic Trail in Georgia. The property will be open to visitors for hiking, camping and recreation.
Racing for Wildlife unites the sports community with passionate land and water conservationists across the country. The Conservation Fund and the Ryan Newman Foundation launched the program in 2007 to begin building an American land legacy for generations of sports enthusiasts who share Newman’s love of the outdoors.
Some of the South’s biggest trees grow in one of Alabama’s smallest counties. Here, at Brasher Woods Preserve, songbirds nest in the branches of towering hickories, oaks and maples. In 2008, we worked closely with the property’s longtime owners, the Brasher family, and The Nature Conservancy to preserve 40 acres adjacent to Brasher Woods—capping a three-year effort to protect 170 acres buffering this old-growth forest. Support from Fred and Alice Stanback Jr. and a Doris Duke Charitable Foundation grant made this acquisition possible.
The Conservation Fund's Civil War Battlefield Campaign works in partnerships to protect our nation's hallowed ground, to provide comprehensive information on the 384 principal Civil War battlefields, designated by the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission, and to honor those that fought and died in the war. The Campaign has, with its partners, protected historic sites in 73 projects in 13 states, protecting more than 8,100 acres.
Alabama Battlefield Conservation Projects: Day's Gap Battlefield
The Conservation Fund acquired 82 acres on the Day's Gap battlefield in Morgan and Cullman Counties in Alabama, site of a critical Civil War battle.
In April of 1863 US Colonel Abel D. Streight and his 1,500-man brigade were sent on a cavalry raid to destroy the Western & Atlantic Railroad in western Georgia and to divert CS Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his cavalry while US Major General Ulysses S. Grant moved his forces down the Mississippi River. On April 30 at Day's Gap on Sand Mountain, Streight ambushed one of Forrest's columns and captured two of his guns. On May 3 Forrest bluffed the exhausted U. S. force into surrendering, but Streight's raid was successful in keeping Forrest away from the Mississippi River while Grant landed his forces on the east bank of the Mississippi River and launched his Vicksburg Campaign.
Today, the location remains much as it did 141 years ago and still holds significant natural value in addition to its historic importance.
Established in 1992, the Little River Canyon National Preserve features one of the nation's longest mountaintop rivers, the Little River, which flows on top of Lookout Mountain for nearly all of its length. The Fund worked with private landowners to protect blufflands for addition to this unique preserve.
At the Fund we help save wild havens: large, natural spaces for wildlife to be exactly that—wild. Your gift ensures that wildlife, like this bear cub, has the habitat it needs to thrive.
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Powered by: Phase2 TechnologyThe Conservation Fund National Office
1655 N. Fort Myer Drive, Suite 1300
Arlington, Virginia 22209-2156
Phone: 703-525-6300
Fax: 703-525-4610
Email: postmaster@conservationfund.org
