More than 3,000 miles of sanitary sewer lines serve 480,000 people in Jefferson County. This vital function makes it possible for customers to rise in the morning, get ready for work or school, and not have to think about what happens to their waste water after showering, brushing teeth, or flushing! One challenge to the operation of the sanitary sewer system is the buildup of fats, oils, and grease – FOG – in the sewer lines. Over time, these substances can create clogs and result in backups that cause sewage to overflow into homes, yards, streets, and waterways. Not only are these events costly to repair, they also can be a health hazard. One main source of FOG in the sewer system is households.
No matter what you cook or how you cook it, there usually is some fat, oil or grease involved in the process. When the holiday meals are over and it’s time to wash the stack of plates, pots, pans, and casserole dishes piled in the sink, take a few minutes to make sure that FOG doesn’t wash down the kitchen drain. Even if you have a garbage disposal or use hot water and detergent, it will not prevent FOG buildup in your plumbing or the sewer system. If you are connected to a septic system, a similar scenario applies – FOG can build up and cause your septic system to malfunction.
The good news is that the solution is easy! Discard in the trash unwanted food scraps from plates and cookware. Any remaining FOG can be cooled and poured or scraped into a plastic or metal container with a lid and taken to the nearest Jefferson County cooking oil recycling station. New recycling containers are available to you for free at all recycling stations. Preventing FOG from going down the drain can go a long way toward reducing plumbing emergencies and unhealthy sewer overflows.
Lyn DiClemente
Jefferson County Department of Storm Water Management
The Turkey Creek Nature Preserve would like to thank everyone that came out on Saturday, February 8th, 2014, the Turkey Creek Nature Preserve to support our first ever Tree Giveaway for the community of Pinson. This very special event was part of a statewide effort, lead by the Alabama Forestry Commission and the Arbor Day Foundation, to help communities impacted by the 2011 tornadoes. During our tree-age (triage, get it?) 1,500 trees were given away by the Friends of Turkey Creek volunteer group. Also, on-hand to answer any tree care questions during the event, were horticulture experts from the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and the Jefferson County Storm Water Authority.
Trees provide many very important ecological services for our society, such as clean air, clean water, erosion control, and of course general beautification. Unfortunately, sever weather, and development contributes to the loss of many trees and the services they provide us, every year. We hope that these trees will help make our community a cleaner, greener place.
There are still a few trees left, if you are interested in one of these trees or have any questions about caring for your trees, please feel free to email TCNP at cyeager@bsc.edu or call us at 205.680.4116.
This event would not have been possible without the help of volunteers from the Friends of Turkey Creek that worked hard all morning to label and pass out trees. If you would like to learn more about how you can support the Friends of Turkey Creek, please visit their Facebook page!
By now, it’s probably becoming impossible to ignore all those leaves falling in your yard. If you tried mulching leaves last year, you probably found that you saved yourself some serious time and money by using your mower to mulch leaves into your lawn (free nutrients) and by re-purposing excess leaves (free mulch) to provide cover for your landscaped areas.
If you’ve never tried these techniques, maybe this is the time to move on from hours of blowing and bagging, the cost of buying mulch and fertilizer, and the effort involved in loading and bringing all these materials home – to that solution that just fell into your yard! It’s best to mulch leaves into your lawn every week or so to make the volume of leaves more manageable for you and utilized more efficiently by your lawn.
Try using your lawnmower with the bag attachment on to shred and collect leaves prior to spreading on landscaped areas. Shredding before spreading reduces matting and creates a more uniform appearance. If you simply can’t let go of the more manicured look that commercially produced mulch gives your landscape, try spreading a thin layer of purchased mulch over a layer of shredded leaves.
Birmingham E-cycle Day October 23 – Don’t doom your old gadgets to a landfill! Bring them to Short 20th Street North for recycling. http://www.aeconline.org/blog
I continue rolling, eventually surpassing the shadows cast by the Birmingham skyline. A short stretch on the interstate then take a left and go through the industrial district then through one of the poorer areas within the metro perimeter. Turn left at the Jet-Pep with the bathrooms connected to the car wash and another few hundred feet and I’m by the creek. I piece together the 5-weight and string my line through the guides, tie on some 5x. Some bugs are coming off so I peruse through my box until I find it. Something small, dark and can float. Not too small, size 14, maybe 12. I can never tell.
I’m not a very good caster, or fisherman, but the majority of my casts fall within the banks, which (in theory) greatly increase my odds. So I fling the fly around, and it sometimes lands in the water. It takes a few drifts until something darts from the shadows and smashes the dry, taking it deep beneath the surface in one vicious exhibition of murderous intent. The line tightens and sings and the rod bends and a few seconds later I lift the quarter-pound exterminator out of the water. Blood red eyes and a fluorescent turquoise gill plate, some of the loudest colors I’ve seen on a fish. And not a trout fish. A bass fish. A redeye bass.
The first time I heard the expression “Bama Brookie”, I was immediately disgusted. Here in the heart of Dixie, when we slap our regional brand on an existing item it usually involves either making it accessible to the illiterate or deep frying it. Maybe both. My observations have shown there is a large overlap between people who are non-readers and people who like fried stuff.
“Bama Brookie”seemed to equivocate a small bass with something that really is special, like the native brook trout that abound in Southern Appalachia. The term brought to mind images of rednecks yanking half pounders out of a pond and considering their experience paramount to those who stalk fish high in the mountains of Tennessee.
I kept this notion until the first time I waded into this creek, the 65 degree current pushing past my knees. I could still see my toes. I ducked beneath overhanging limbs and branches of oak and pine and honeysuckle. I think I tied on some yellow popper or something similar, something that I often use to catch dumb fish. I began to cast and I watched multiple refusals so I began the countless iterations of explorations into the box and downsizing of tippets. 4x then 5x then smaller poppers and crawfish patterns and then a dry and then a dropper. In some final attempt brought on by desperation I tossed a small foam hopper and dropped a stone fly on some tiny strand of tippet. I made a tolerable cast upstream and mended up and then down, a driftless drag, and suddenly I saw the piece of foam jerk underwater and begin fleeing upstream. When I finally pulled him out of the water I found a 4 inch fish hung on my size 8 stonefly. I found some tiny, peacock colored bass who thought he was a trout in some river which thought it belonged in some other state, in some higher elevation. I found something that felt very different than what I expected.
Until recently, only one species has been recognized as the Redeye bass, but biological studies have shown that there are actually species-level variations that result in multiple different species comprising the “Redeye Bass” family. The colors of each species vary from bright blue lateral lines to deep greens, from rich crimson eyes to stark and startling reds. My first encounter was nearly frightening, staring into the hemorrhaging eyes of some small predator that seemed hell bent on escaping my grasp. The colors and beauty only extend so far. Underneath it is a slight reflection of the natives of this state: they can be fooled, repeatedly even, but they are never any less angry about it.
I spent some brief time with a local biologist who tried (God bless his soul) to explain the diet of these fish. This resulted mostly in confusion and nausea on my part, but I managed to extract “hellgrammite” and “some other surface bugs” from the conversation. Basically, these are small, beautifully colored fish that subsist primarily on insects with a propensity for looking up and thriving in cool flowing rivers. Which kinda sounds similar to another highly sought after fish that thrives in cool mountain streams. But these are, you know, in Alabama…
For years I have been jealous of another city located about 200 miles east of where I live and work. There is a large, cold flowing river that runs through it and rainbow and brown trout and shoal bass and striper thrive and are caught regularly. The citizens post pictures of rose-cheeked fish and fish with dark spots surrounded by rings of bright red. And I was always jealous of those anglers and what great opportunity they had. To stop by after a day at the office to see what beautiful creatures they could conjure out of the water by using small flies and small tippets and complicated drifts. But there are days when I sneak out of the office and drive down the interstate, past the Jet-Pep with the bathrooms connected to the car wash, and I stand in the cool waters and toss small patterns to skittish fish who view 4x like it’s rope. And sometimes I catch them and look at their bright blue sides and angry red eyes and I’m not really jealous of anyone.
Story By: J.T. Armstrong
Photos By: C.B. Crumpler
Editor’s Note: This piece was provided courtesy of Revive Fly Fishing Magazine. Please visit http://reviveflyfishing.com for more beautiful photo-essays and stories like this one.
Before your next visit to Turkey Creek Nature Preserve, please be sure you are aware of our Fishing Regulations.
Thank you so much Revive for sharing your piece on Turkey Creek, we hope to see you at the creek again soon!
At the end of the last post about S.T.A.R.T. (Society To Advance the Resources of Turkey Creek), the grassroots organization and the community of Pinson had successfully prevented a prison from being built at Turkey Creek, but S.T.A.R.T. was left to decide, What can we do for Turkey Creek now?
S.T.A.R.T. formed not only to relocate the prison, but also with the goal of protecting the beautiful area around Turkey Creek for future generations. The members of S.T.A.R.T. came to the conclusion that the best way to reach this goal would be to create a nature preserve, where people would have a clean, safe place to relax, walk, swim, and enjoy this beautiful part of Pinson. S.T.A.R.T. had the support of the area’s commissioner, Bettye Fine Collins, who created the Turkey Creek Watershed Committee as a starting point for creating the preserve.
S.T.A.R.T. was not only interested in protecting the land for the benefit of people, but also in knowing what animals could be protected by a nature preserve. With S.T.A.R.T.’s support, the Department of Fish and Wildlife began surveying Turkey Creek. Turkey Creek is home to three unique and rare darters—the vermillion, watercress, and rush darters. After much surveying, the vermillion darter, found only in Turkey Creek’s drainage and tributaries, was designated as an endangered species in 2003. S.T.A.R.T. now had a commitment to create a preserve not only for the enjoyment of Pinson citizens, but also to protect the habitat of Turkey Creek’s irreplaceable endangered fish.
Vermillion Darter (Center)
After much discussion, S.T.A.R.T. and the Turkey Creek Watershed Committee decided that the best course of action would be to nominate the Turkey Creek land to Alabama’s Forever Wild Land Trust as a preserve. While S.T.A.R.T. nominated the area to Forever Wild in 2000, the area was not selected because multiple land owners owned the property. S.T.A.R.T. took this setback in stride and began to find a way to consolidate the land ownership for the Turkey Creek property.
This was not a task S.T.A.R.T. could handle on their own, so the group partnered with the Freshwater Land Trust in 2001. After many meetings and discussions between S.T.A.R.T., the Freshwater Land Trust, and local property owners, the land for Turkey Creek Nature Preserve was acquired by the Freshwater Land Trust. S.T.A.R.T. could now go back to Forever Wild and propose the preserve with a single landowner. Forever Wild unanimously approved the creation of Turkey Creek Nature Preserve in 2003. When accepting the preserve, Forever Wild specifically acknowledged and admired S.T.A.R.T.’s hard work and years of dedication towards creating the preserve.
With the land now protected from any future development, the newly developed partnership between S.T.A.R.T., the Freshwater Land Trust, and Forever Wild reached out to Birmingham-Southern College’s Southern Environmental Center to provide onsite management and environmental education. Today, Birmingham-Southern College continues to provide some of the best opportunities for hands on, environmental education to thousands of students annually. Additionally, this partnership has lead to the further enhancement of the preserve’s recreational opportunities and overall safety.
Educational Programing: Aquatic Ecology Class
It is due to the dedication of the Pinson community and S.T.A.R.T. that we have the amazing Turkey Creek Nature Preserve. This area is unique, beautiful, and used by people from all over the Southeastern United States. But just like the commitment to the area didn’t end once the prison plans were cancelled, the commitment continues past the creation of the preserve. Turkey Creek Nature Preserve depends on the support of dedicated volunteers who help keep the preserve clean and enjoyable for all. Without support and commitment from the Pinson community, Turkey Creek Nature Preserve would not exist.
Please keep this story in mind, on your next visit to TCNP. It has, and continuous to take a lot of work to keep TCNP clean and beautiful. Make sure that you leave the preserve as you found it, or better! Also, please consider supporting TCNP either through volunteering or financial contributions. It will go along way towards ensuring it’s continued success in the future.
This post was written by Sarah Gilkerson.
Sarah is interning at Turkey Creek Nature Preserve this summer. She is from Atlanta and attends Birmingham-Southern College where she is studying biology. Outside of work, Sarah enjoys canoeing and comic books.
Not many friendships could stand the test of time like the relationship between people and their pets. Archaeologists have found evidence that humans began domesticating dogs 16,000 years ago to help with hunting, herding, and protection.
Throughout the ages, people also have kept dogs as companions. No wonder we refer to dogs as ’man’s best friend’. According to the Humane Society, Americans own 78 million dogs. And not to leave out feline fanciers, cats were domesticated 8,000 years ago when people noticed their usefulness in keeping rats and other vermin away from harvested grain. Today in the United States, more than 86 million cats allow humans to own them.
We love our pets and want to keep them healthy and safe. One important step is picking up and properly disposing of pet waste. An average sized dog produces about 1/2 pound of waste per day. Multiply that by the 150,000 dogs owned by Jefferson County residents, and we are talking about nearly 38 tons of dog waste! If you’ve ever stepped into one of those lovely piles, you know how annoying that can be.
But pet waste is more than just a nuisance – it is a health hazard. The average pile of dog waste contains 2.5 billion fecal coliform bacteria as well as viruses and parasites. These pathogens can live in both soil and water, and people and pets are at risk of illness if they are exposed to them. That’s why pet waste should never be added to compost or used as fertilizer – and should always be kept out of storm drains! As with anything else left on the ground, stormwater can wash pet waste into the nearest waterway.
So what is the most environmentally friendly solution to disposing of your pet’s waste? It’s as easy as: 1- Always pick it up. 2 – Bag it. 3 – Trash it.
What’s Happening?
Turning Trash into Treasure with Backyard Composting – July 17.
Learn how to turn your yard and kitchen waste into free soil. Birmingham Botanical Gardens, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Cost is $10. Contact the Alabama Cooperative Extension System at 205.879.6964 x10 by July 15 to register.
Big Ideas for Small Spaces – July 24.
Container gardening and composting with worms (yes, worms) are ideal for cramped locations. Instructor: Vasha Rosenblum. Free Lunch and Learn Seminar Series, 11:30 – 12:30, Birmingham Botanical Gardens Auditorium. Light refreshments served.
Lyn DiClemente
Jefferson County Department of Storm Water Management
Years ago, I had a boss who used to remind the staff that the word ‘assume’ tells the story of what happens when you think people understand what you’re trying to communicate, but you don’t take the time to make sure. I won’t go into details, but you probably get the idea. While many of the Turkey Creek Nature Preserve’s blog readers have a good understanding of stormwater, polluted runoff, and pollution prevention, it’s sometimes a good thing to go back to the basics – and not assume!
Here in Jefferson County, we have more than 4,200 miles of waterways. Even though that seems like a lot, water doesn’t remain in one place – it constantly goes through cycles of precipitation, infiltration, evaporation, and condensation. And as it goes through these cycles, it winds up in oceans, rivers, creeks, streams, polar icecaps, underground aquifers, clouds, and living things (about 60% of an average adult is water). No matter where it is located, the total amount of water on earth – about 326 million trillion gallons – never changes. But only about 1% of that total is easily accessible fresh water. In the meantime, the world’s population of 7.087 billion continues to grow and place greater demands on water resources. That’s why it is in our best interest to conserve and protect the water that we do have.
Here’s where stormwater comes in. Stormwater is another name for rain and other types of precipitation. Stormwater is valuable and essential because it recharges ground water and feeds surface waterways. But as our population and developed areas have increased, so has the potential for stormwater to become polluted.
Most pollution found in surface waterways comes from people going about their everyday activities. Activities like that bag of weed and feed you spread on your lawn right before it rained. That little oil drip from your car that you keep meaning to get fixed. The ‘presents’ Fido leaves in your yard that you never seem to get around to removing. These are just a few examples, but all of these little potential pollutants can really add up when you consider that there are about 660,000 people living in Jefferson County.
Stormwater picks up these common substances from the ground, paved areas, and other surfaces, and carries them into the storm drainage system. The storm drainage system is a series of inlets, pipes, gutters and ditches which carry water – and anything mixed with or carried by it – away from streets and other paved areas. This system empties untreated stormwater into the nearest creek or stream. Stormwater that carries pollution is called polluted runoff.
The good news is that we could reduce the amount of polluted runoff in Jefferson County if each of us would make a few changes to prevent its causes.
JeffCo H2O will not assume! We will keep bringing you helpful information, ideas, resources and opportunities with the goal that we each will commit to doing our part to improve water quality here in Jefferson County.
Mark Your Calendar!
June
National Rivers Month
Celebrate our water resources by cleaning up a waterway near you!
June 5
World Environment Day
This year’s theme is Think Eat Save to encourage people to reduce food waste and food loss. It is estimated that 30% of food purchased in the US is thrown away. Consequently, half of the water used to produce food that is discarded also goes to waste.
June 8
World Oceans DayThe emphasis for 2013 is Together We Have the Power to Protect the Ocean. Even though we live a few hours away from the coast, all of our waterways eventually drain into the Gulf of Mexico. Something to think about when you are fishing or swimming in the Gulf!
June 26
Mild to Wild in < 24 Hours!
Lunch & Learn Seminar, 11:30 – 12:30, Birmingham Botanical Gardens
Find out how to travel with sustainability in mind to some of Alabama’s most beautiful destinations. Jay Grantland, Alabama Eco Adventures. Free. Refreshments will be served.
Lyn DiClemente
Jefferson County Department of Storm Water Management
