Hale County Site Developed for Land Conservation Program at UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A 480-acre tract of forested property near Akron, and owned by The University of Alabama, is being enhanced with an outdoor classroom area designed to teach students how to manage family, corporate and public lands as a renewable natural resource.

A ribbon cutting ceremony and reception will be held June 7 at 4 p.m. at the site, known as the J. Nicholene Bishop Biological Station, to dedicate a newly completed $500,000 Outdoor Learning Pavilion and Support Facility. The buildings were constructed with funds provided by UA and several Alabama conservation organizations.

The structures provide an all-weather launching point for students to study and conduct research at the heavily forested property. The Learning Pavilion, Support Facility and surrounding acres of rolling pine uplands and hardwood creek bottoms are at the center of the natural resources management minor, designed to give students real-world training in forest, wildlife, recreation and aesthetics management.

“The natural resources management minor and the development of the Bishop Biological Station as a field education site is the product of an enjoyable and productive partnership between The University of Alabama and area friends and organizations dedicated to the good stewardship of our land,” said Dr. Robert F. Olin, dean of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, which directs the program.

“Alabama is known for its timber and natural resources and for its beauty. The outdoor classroom will teach the next generation of Alabama land managers best practices in protecting wildlife habitat and the environment while meeting the demand for wood products, clean water, outdoor recreation and scenic beauty. It represents learning in service to an important need in our state, and we look forward to it benefiting landowners throughout Alabama.”

Supporters of the Learning Pavilion and Support Facility construction and other developments at the Bishop Biological Station include the Ben May Charitable Trust of Mobile, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Alabama Conservation and Natural Resources Foundation, the Alabama Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation and Riley Boykin Smith of Tensaw Land and Timber Company Inc.

The new Learning Pavilion features a combination lab and kitchen including a covered outdoor meeting area with a stone fireplace that will be used as a classroom before field study, a site for guest seminars and a place for cataloging and analyzing samples collected in the surrounding woodlands.The Support Facility is the staging area for field instruction and for learning to use, maintain and house land management equipment, including supply storage.

The site, a former family homestead known as “Tanglewood” and bequeathed to The University of Alabama in 1949 by Alma Bishop Williams, has served as a UA field station for decades, managed by UA’s department of biological sciences. As the focus of the natural resources minor, access roads, field planting sites and study stations also have been added to the property.

The natural resources management minor is available to students enrolled in either the College of Arts and Sciences or in the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration. It was created from existing courses in biology, geological sciences and geography, along with advanced courses focused on water, wildlife, timber, landforms and ecological relationships.

Students who complete the minor will be prepared for professional opportunities in environmental monitoring, such as endangered species and wetland delineation, restoration of disturbed land, and forest and wildlife management decision making. Graduates may work for land management and planning agencies at the federal, state or local level; for nongovernmental organizations or legislative bodies concerned with land use policies and laws; or for private land owners.

UA’s College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.