The Locust Fork of the Black Warrior is one of America’s greatest free-flowing rivers. The Locust Fork provides some of the region’s most popular whitewater as it flows through beautiful sandstone canyons in scenic Blount County. As the river approaches Jefferson County, it widens and becomes gentler, providing a more relaxing float trip for those who prefer a meditative canoe ride to an adrenaline-pump kayak trip down waterfalls and through rapids.

Flowing free for over one hundred and fifty miles, the river itself is a treasure trove of biological diversity, providing a home to threatened and endangered fish, turtles, mussels and snails. The forests that fill the Locust’s sandstone canyons also provide a haven for resident wildlife and a critical highway for migrating song birds that linger along the Locust as they make their annual pilgrimage from northern temperate forests to rainforests and back again.

And now to let you in on a secret…. Anglers possess a peculiar addiction that makes us loathe to share our favorite fishing spots. But when the choice is “reveal it or lose it” the equation is suddenly changed. With that said, the Locust Fork is indeed without rival as a southern river fishing destination.

For all of these reasons, the Alabama Rivers Alliance strongly opposes any construction of any dam on the main stem of the Locust Fork River. In recent meetings with the Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB), we have made this position crystal clear, meanwhile extending the hand of friendship and cooperation to the BWWB in seeking alternatives to a proposed dam on the Locust Fork.

The proposal to dam the Locust Fork dates back about ten years. At that time, the BWWB was working aggressively to build the dam with an estimated price tag of a half a billion dollars. Over time, opposition to the dam led by the Friends of the Locust Fork River resulted in the project being placed on the “back burner.” In fact, up to a year ago the project took a back seat to a proposal to pump water from the Coosa and a proposal to build a small impoundment on a tributary of the Locust Fork called Crooked Creek.

Today, the BWWB views the Coosa pipeline and Crooked Creek projects as unlikely to move forward. Thus, they are looking toward more water from the Black Warrior and a possible pipeline from the Tennessee River as the best sources of additional water supply. The BWWB is also committed to water conservation, which we consider to be the best solution to our long term water supply challenges.

How imminent is the threat of a dam on the Locust Fork? Our conversations with the Birmingham Water Works Board confirm that the project is not an immediate threat to the river, but it is a very real threat to the river looking out twenty years or more. The Alabama Rivers Alliance will work with the Birmingham Water Works Board and other partners to invest heavily in water conservation as the best method for making certain that the Locust Fork continues to flow freely for future generations to enjoy.

I strongly believe that how well we succeed in the stewardship of our water over the next ten years will determine whether the Locust Fork dam is constructed or not. We must fight to protect our existing sources of drinking water, such as the upper Cahaba River, from the impacts of development. We must invest heavily in conservation to decrease per capita human demands on our water resources.

If we do these things, hopefully we will never have to battle the Birmingham Water Works Board to keep the Locust Fork free flowing. However, if we have no choice, we will join with the Friends of the Locust Fork River to fight to keep the Locust Fork flowing free.

For more information, contact the Alabama Rivers Alliance or the Friends of Locust Fork

Brad McLane
Executive Director
Alabama Rivers Alliance
The Bradford Building
2027 2nd Avenue North, Suite A
Birmingham, Alabama 35203
Phone: (205) 322-6395
Toll Free: 1-877-862-5260
Fax: (205) 322-6397
www.alabamarivers.org

This page last updated: January 06, 2003

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