AWF Opens Delta & Bay Conservation Center at 5 Rivers

By DAVID RAINER, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

After a year of upgrades, the Alabama Wildlife Federation's (AWF) Delta & Bay Conservation Center at 5 Rivers, the former 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center, was officially reopened last week with dignitaries and local and state officials hailing the new direction of the property.

AWF Executive Director Tim Gothard welcomed a large crowd to cut the ribbon on the 70-acre property located on the Battleship Parkway (Causeway) on the headwaters of Mobile Bay.

Gothard recalled the 20-year journey of ideas that included the building of the AWF Nature Center at Lanark near Millbrook to last week's festivities at the Delta & Bay Center.

"Our organization had really identified the importance of connecting youth with the outdoors in a very material way," Gothard said. "We realized, as many of you have, there is a lot more competition for their time. We felt like we were losing that fundamental connection to the outdoors."

After the great success of the AWF Nature Center, the AWF board was searching for ways to expand the conservation group's outreach to other areas of the state, especially south Alabama.

"I'm excited to see this many people here to help us celebrate the beginning of the second part of our journey with the AWF Delta & Bay Conservation Center at 5 Rivers," Gothard said.

Former Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson represented the Stimpson family, which played a pivotal role in the birth of the AWF. Fred T. Stimpson, Sandy's grandfather, was one of the founding members of AWF.

"What a privilege it is to be here today and see this crowd, because every one of you have a story about why you're here," Stimpson said. "Probably something, as a child, touched your heart either to protect the resources or be a hunter or fisherman and realizing you needed to be engaged in that process to make sure your children and grandchildren could also hunt and fish. I use the word privilege, but I also use the word obligation. As a third generation, our family feels the obligation to perpetuate the culture that we were so fortunate to participate in by sharing the things we have learned.

"I think there an awareness of so many people of how imperative it is that business, industry and nature co-exist. There's got to be a voice for wildlife conservation to balance the conversation."

Another family prominent in the growth and outreach of AWF and its numerous programs (www.alabamawildlife.org) is the Cooper family of Mobile, who was represented by Angus Cooper III, who served two terms as AWF President.

"Most conservation groups want to give back, and we saw a trend of young people not getting to experience all the things that we loved," Cooper said. "Taking that big step (Lanark) ended up being bigger than our wildest dreams with people coming through the doors when it opened. There are not many times in life when you get to be part of something special, and the AWF is special."

Cooper said AWF has chapters in every county in the state and has increased its outreach for outdoors programs accordingly. He said after Lanark turned out to be a success, they started looking at the different regions in the state, including the Mobile area.

"Our state is blessed with different regions with different geographics when it comes to wildlife and fisheries with different rivers and deltas," Cooper said. "We started this journey about 15 years ago to get to where we are today. Today is a special day, but truly the best is yet to come. Mobile is a special place, and the resources we have here are phenomenal. Being able to educate children about how lucky they are to be in this region and for us adults to be able to enjoy what we have. It's really a great day."