Waterfall at Sipsey Wilderness area in Alabama.

Our Impact News & Insights Sipsey at 50: The Final Piece Secured in a Wilderness That Changed Everything

May 05, 2025

Sipsey at 50: The Final Piece Secured in a Wilderness That Changed Everything

One of Alabama’s most treasured natural places, the Sipsey Wilderness, marks its 50th anniversary this year. The Conservation Fund is thrilled to help make the anniversary special by adding the last missing puzzle piece to this incredible wilderness area. The Conservation Fund, with support from the federally funded Land and Water Conservation Fund, just acquired a key 40-acre parcel — finally completing this wilderness area after a half-century of effort.

A two-hour drive northwest of Birmingham and into the Bankhead National Forest, the Sipsey Wilderness preserves a spectacular landscape spanning nearly 30,000 acres. The wilderness, nicknamed the “Land of 1,000 Waterfalls,” begins where multiple creeks converge at the Sipsey Fork, Alabama’s only designated National Wild and Scenic River. The river flows through a deep canyon with bluffs rising up to 100 feet and dense forest that includes some of the most diverse ecology and wildlife in the state, as well as some of the last strands of virgin timber.

With its scenic beauty and extensive network of trails, Sipsey is a magnet to hikers, climbers, campers and nature lovers of all kinds. Local hikers on the Thompson Creek Trail have traversed the newly conserved 40-acre parcel for decades under private ownership. But despite the handshake agreement that allowed hikers to access the property, it could have been closed to the public without notice. The parcel is also directly on Thompson Creek, a tributary of the Sipsey Fork National and Scenic River.

This purchase ensures that the property is now safeguarded as a permanent part of the Sipsey Wilderness, under management by the U.S. Forest Service.

Serene view from Sipsey Wilderness area in Alabama.

Building on Alabama’s Conservation Legacy

Sipsey’s golden anniversary and its newest addition are reason enough to celebrate. But the wilderness and its creation have a much bigger legacy that extends far beyond Alabama.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the wilderness was threatened with clear cutting that would destroy some of the region’s last publicly owned wild forest. A grassroots movement to save this incredible southern resource led to national legislation to create the Sipsey Wilderness. After 13 attempts, Congress finally passed the Eastern Wilderness Act of 1975. President Gerald Ford’s signature made Sipsey’s designation and protection official.

A Lasting Conservation Win

The movement to protect Sipsey had a profound impact on conservation. “The Eastern Wilderness Act changed perspectives on what counts as wilderness,” says The Conservation Fund’s own Mike Leonard, who helped lead the effort to expand Sipsey in the 1980s. “Before the Act only pristine wild places essentially untouched by human activity were considered true wilderness. After 1975, the definition was much broader.”

By allowing wilderness areas to be designated in the eastern U.S., the law creating Sipsey Wilderness opened the door for more than 100 new wilderness areas over the last 50 years. The successful effort to preserve Sipsey a half century ago paved the way for protecting countless wild places—from sprawling forests and towering Lake Michigan dunes to the vast Everglades, home to alligators and flamingos.

Alabama’s Sipsey Wilderness is a reminder that conservation transcends partisan politics, helping red, blue and purple states around the country thrive.