Big Canoe Creek Preserve

The beauty is forever yours

Story by Roxann Edsall
Photos by Mackenzie Free
and Roxann Edsall

John Liechty and Richard Edwards chat about old times as they turn along a switchback on Slab Creek Trail at Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve in Springville. The two have spent countless hours hiking together over their nearly three decades of friendship.

Edwards got Liechty hooked on hiking when the two worked at the same company in Columbia, South Carolina. The friendship grew when the two moved their families to Birmingham to open a new office for that company.

Liechty has since moved back to Tennessee, where he was born, but hiking, and their passion for it, continues to be the thing that brings them back together.

The Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve has been open less than two months, but the word is out about this hidden gem.

Doug Morrison, the driving force behind it all

Liechty and Edwards heard about it in a newsletter update from the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Recourses. “We’ve done a lot of hiking, lots of backcountry stuff,” says Liechty. “The trails here are great with the elevation, the rise and fall. It’s all good. Y’all have a good thing here.”

The 422-acre Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve is a Forever Wild Land Trust property, owned by the state of Alabama and managed by the City of Springville. It boasts four hiking trails, for a total of 7.3 miles of trails. Creek Loop Trail is designated solely for hiking. Fallen Oak Trail and Slab Creek Trail are open to biking also, while hikers on Easy Rider Trail share the space with horseback riders. Benches along the trails offer a place to rest or to bird watch, with picnic tables and portable restrooms available in the parking area. While you can canoe or kayak the creek, there is currently not a put in or take out point on the property. Plans include adding pavilions for outdoor education.

Preserve Manager Doug Morrison says environmental education is a top priority at the preserve. “Personally, I’d like to make 70% of our mission about education,” he says. “The recreation is going to happen. There are so many things to enjoy here. But if you can somehow get the message out that you can enjoy nature and not love it to death, that’s a good goal.”

Morrison’s personal motto is “explore and discover,” and it’s what he hopes people will do at the preserve. “I love to see kids outside learning and discovering things as they run around this place. There’s a lot to learn in nature. We had a home-school group out here yesterday, and they had a great time.”

With a little research, a visitor might learn that the area provides critical habitat for many aquatic creatures. One might discover that clean, moving water is necessary for mussels to thrive, and that the existence of several species of mussels in the Big Canoe Creek watershed is a testament to its cleanliness. One might further note that 18 miles of Big Canoe Creek has been listed as a “critical habitat” under the Endangered Species Act.

John Liechty and Richard Edwards

After moving to the area in 1999, Morrison began kayaking the creek and learned about the environmental importance of Big Canoe Creek. He helped to form the group “The Friends of Big Canoe Creek,” which at the time was mostly neighbors who loved the creek.

They learned about the critical habitat that is provided by the Big Canoe Creek watershed and about the threatened and endangered species that make their homes there, including the threatened Trispot Darter and the endangered Canoe Creek Clubshell mussel, found only in the Big Canoe Creek watershed.

The 50-plus-mile-long Big Canoe Creek, runs through the nature preserve and is touted as the “Alabama’s crown jewel in biodiversity.” More than 50 fish species can be found in Big Canoe Creek.

In 2010, and again in 2018, this exemplary biological diversity was explored and documented during what scientists call a “BioBlitz,” a 24-hour-long period where experts from various environmental fields survey and catalog all forms of life found in the specified area. Finding such biodiversity and both threatened and endangered species is what helped in the efforts, spearheaded by The Friends of Big Canoe Creek, to preserve and protect the land for future generations.

 Had Morrison and The Friends of Big Canoe Creek not stepped in as advocates, the area might look very different today. When they learned of a developer’s plans to build a subdivision on the property, the The Friends of Big Canoe Creek petitioned the developers to make changes to ensure the creek would be protected.

When the economy took a downturn in 2008, the planned development stalled and gave members of The Friends of Big Canoe Creek a chance to talk to the landowners about nominating the land for purchase by the Forever Wild Land Trust.

Established in 1992, Alabama’s Forever Wild Land Trust purchases lands to expand the number of public-use natural areas to ensure they will be available to use freely forever. It took nine years to get the initial 382-acre parcel and another 40 adjacent acres approved for purchase, but by 2019, the combined tract officially became Forever Wild property.

“In conjunction with the Economic Development Council of St. Clair County, Freshwater Land Trust nominated Big Canoe Creek to be acquired by the Forever Wild Land Trust,” said Liz Sims, Land Conservation Director of Freshwater Land Trust. “We are elated to see such a large portion of the Canoe Creek watershed and its biodiversity protected, including the threatened trispot darter fish habitat.”

Horse trails are a highlight

Since that time, Morrison, along with the The Friends of Big Canoe Creek, has worked with the City of Springville, the St. Clair County Economic Development Council and the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to develop plans for the property.

In 2022, Morrison was hired by the City of Springville to officially manage the project. After 15 years of work to protect and preserve the land and creek, Morrison is finally seeing the joy it is bringing to visitors. He is seeing crowds of at least a hundred on weekdays, with weekends and holidays swelling to nearly twice that number.

Vicki and Kevin Folse heard about the preserve on Facebook and came out to hike. “It is absolutely beautiful,” says Vicki. “We took some time to sit on a bench on the trail and had some quiet time with God.” She thanked Morrison and all those who worked on the project for the opportunity to enjoy the property.

Jeff Goodwin lives just four miles from the preserve. “I come a couple times a week,” he says. “I’m a big hiker, so having this land to hike on this close is a huge benefit. And it’s way more interesting than walking through the neighborhood. I’m hoping they add some longer trails.”

While the trails are not the longest they’ve ever hiked, Richard Edwards and John Liechty agree they are well planned. Edwards, who grew up just minutes from a section of the Appalachian Trail, has spent countless hours hiking trails around the country. His longest hike was 160 miles on the John Muir Trail in California.

Six years ago his sight began to deteriorate due to a condition called nonarteritic anterior ischemic optical neuropathy. “I’m almost blind,” explains Edwards, “so rocks and roots are hard on me. These trails are really a dream.”

Even so, Liechty walks in front of his friend to alert him to any potential hazards. “We’ve kind of had a role reversal,” laughs Liechty. “He led me to hiking, but now I’m leading the hikes.” They agree that time spent together enjoying nature is good therapy.

Good therapy in the form of outdoor recreation can be enjoyed at Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve Wednesday through Sunday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. now through October, with closing time shifting to 5 p.m. from November to February. Admission is free.

If you go in the afternoon, take a good look at the metal fish on the left side of the entry gate. The color of the Trispot Darter changes as you move to the left and right. It’s just another thing that’s unique to this beautiful piece of paradise. And it’s forever protected, forever yours to enjoy.

Editor’s note: Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve is located at 1700 Murphree’s Valley Road in Springville. If you would like to help support the preserve, you can make a tax-deductible donation online at bigcanoecreekpreserve.org.

EDC: St. Clair Economic Development Council

A spark illuminates a 25-year path forward

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by David Smith
Discover Archives photos

It’s called a tipping point – that moment when an idea catches a spark and spreads – much like the momentum of a wildfire.

It is exactly that point where St. Clair County found itself 25 years ago with nothing more than an idea of how economic development could work for the future. This was the crossroads question: Do it the way it’s always been done or venture outside the box and bring an entire county together toward a common goal?

At Saks signing, from left, seated: Steele Mayor Alfred Lackey; Chairman Stan Batemon; Walter Scott, Saks Inc. Standing, Wendy Cornett, Saks attorney; Charles Robinson, Steele attorney; Pat Coffee, Steele clerk; Kenny Coleman, Metropolitan Development Board; John Wilcox, Steele IDB chairman; Warren Matthews, Saks attorney; Bill Weathington, county attorney; Lyman Lovejoy, owner; Ed Gardner Sr., EDC director; Tommy Bowers, EDC chairman; Elwyn Thomas, owner.

Lucky for St. Clair County, officials chose the latter, it took hold, and it’s been spreading like wildfire ever since.

You might say it was luck when the St. Clair Economic Development Council was created, but those who were there at those historic crossroads know differently. Those groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings that have become virtually a weekly routine around these parts today did not happen by accident.

Like laying a foundation brick by brick, a group of visionaries carefully transformed an idea into what St. Clair Countians may take for granted these days. But it was all part of a strategically laid plan.

For years, Pell City Realtor Ed Ash assumed responsibility for economic development and by all accounts is owed a debt of gratitude. Many of the early industries were recruited and the projects landed because of Ash’s efforts.

In about 1998, he decided to retire from industry recruiting, and officials faced a decision. What do we do next?

“We figured we needed a full-time recruiter,” said Bob Barnett, who serves as chairman of the Pell City Industrial Development Board, a post he still holds. But they wanted to take it a step further – make that several steps – and develop it as a countywide effort. “It was an idea that just started taking wings. Everyone saw the need.”

Barnett and then commission chairman, the late Roy Banks, are credited with giving the idea those wings early on.

They enlisted the counsel of Circuit Judge Bill Weathington, who was county attorney and Moody city attorney at the time, and he skillfully set up the framework of what would become the EDC. Municipalities came on board, and the idea was in motion.

“One thing we realized was in order to get economic projects, we needed to incentivize differently to compete with surrounding counties and larger municipalities,” Weathington said. “We determined that together, we could compete.”

“Together” is a recurring theme throughout this 25-year success story. Up to that time, municipalities operated from their own silos, sometimes competing with each other.

Former Gov. Don Siegelman and EDC Executive Director Ed Gardner Sr. with Yachiyo executives at groundbreaking

The new concept meant they could compete effectively with others outside the county rather than battling among themselves.  What was good for one was good for all.

“We could do things we could not do individually, and if we helped each other, we could help the county have a better chance of landing some of these things,” Weathington said.

With over 8,000 new jobs and $1.7 billion in new investments to its credit since that time, Weathington concluded, “it turned out pretty well for us.”

Banks was a driving force early in the planning, urging Weathington to structure it so that it would be “fair for everybody,” he said. As history would have it, Banks was defeated that year for the chairmanship by Stan Batemon.

But Batemon, recognizing the importance of the effort, not only kept it going in his administration, he and the commission appointed Banks as a member of the first EDC Board of Directors. The structure of the board was critical to the ‘together’ plan. Representation on the five-member board was spread around the county, and no elected official was allowed to serve, a move aimed at keeping politics out of the process.

The charter board was Tommy Bowers, Pell City, chairman; Terry Stewart, Ashville; Joe Kelly, Moody; Lyman Lovejoy, Odenville; and Banks, Pell City. The county commission gave the first $100,000 to fund it, and each municipality invested based on a percentage of their population.

The structure of the board has remained the same. “It still functions like it was set up,” Weathington said. “It speaks well” that the boards, mayors, council and county worked together across administrations to ensure the continuity of mission. “You don’t find that everywhere,” he said.

Weathington noted that Barnett was involved in bringing the idea to the table and played an instrumental role in “making this happen.” Banks, he said, guided the process. And Batemon was the “salesman, made us look good and sold a lot of people on St. Clair County.”

Sibling rivalry thwarted

The biggest fear at the beginning was that the first major project would go to Pell City rather than another municipality and endanger the concept of working together. But it went to the tiny town of Steele in the northern tip of St. Clair County, which landed a Saks Fifth Avenue distribution center.

In fact, the second project went to Steele, too – Yachiyo, an automotive supplier.

Former Pell City Mayor Guin Robinson followed the late Mayor Mack Abercrombie into office in the early goings of the EDC. Recognizing that locating the first industry outside Pell City would actually help the overall, long-term success, he recalled telling former Executive Director Ed Gardner Sr. that it would not hurt his feelings if the first project landed elsewhere.

When the second project went to Steele, he told Gardner in jest, “Hey, Ed, I didn’t mean they all had to be outside Pell City.”

Robinson’s tenure eventually saw plenty of growth. The expansive Walmart development, Jefferson State Community College and a host of other industrial, commercial and institutional projects dotted the landscape.

Chairman Batemon at the podium

Now Dean of Economic Development at Jefferson State Community College, Robinson has a rare vantage point as councilman, mayor and college official. The EDC is headquartered on the third floor of Jefferson State. “At that time, the community recognized the importance of the future of the EDC, and Jeff State recognized that as well.”

During the late Jefferson State President Judy Merritt’s term, the college expressed its desire to locate EDC there if space was available. “Judy Merritt and her team, which included current President Keith Brown, embraced the idea. Making that decision before the building was even built says a lot about the importance of EDC and its future.”

Robinson referred to the college’s mission of economic development and workforce development as a “natural fit” with EDC’s own mission and what would become a solid partnership.

Other areas of the county found natural fits, too, because of the strong foundation EDC was building. Moody saw Red Diamond, a global coffee and tea manufacturer pull up its 100 year-old roots in Jefferson County and head to St. Clair County, building a stunning facility there and making sizable initial and subsequent investments in expansions and generating significant job growth.

In its 25 years, every area of the county has benefited from new or expanding industry investment as well as commercial ventures, a testament to their working together philosophy.

First hire

The EDC Board’s first decision set the course. Maybe the stars were aligned just right, as they say, or more probably, it was the vision shared by those who made it happen.

Ed Gardner Sr. was serving as head of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs in Gov. Fob James’ administration and was leaving office. He previously served as assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development in Washington D.C.

His contacts and relationships in business and government circles were legendary. “If we could get him,” Lovejoy recalled, it would make all the difference. They hired him, and it did make all the difference.

When Gardner was honored by EDC in 2018 with its Chairman’s Award, Robinson remarked, “You can have all the necessary things for success, but it takes a leader. And it takes someone who can put all the ingredients together. You can call him an architect. You can call him a builder, but Ed put it together. … We all knew we had those things, but we needed someone to put it together. I’m forever thankful and forever grateful that that person was Ed Gardner.”

“Boy, did we hit a homerun,” Lovejoy said. Gardner had a working relationship with Metropolitan Development Board in Birmingham. He knew people to contact, not just in the state but around the country. He made the wheels turn. We were at a running gallop right off.”

Directors lineage

That gallop never seemed to let up. When Gardner retired, the board hired his son, Ed Gardner Jr., who was deputy director for economic development for the City of Auburn. At the time, Auburn was viewed by many as the pinnacle of economic development in the state.

He stepped into the role, and more successes followed. The first German industry – Eissmann Automotive put its first North American plant in Pell City. That led to VST Keller Oerlikon. Gardner, Jason Goodgame of Goodgame Company and Batemon traveled to Germany to help swing the deal. That led to WKW locating in Pell City as well. Today, Eissmann and WKW are St. Clair County’s largest employers.

Before he left, the wheels were in motion for the other two components of a trifecta for institutional growth in Pell City – Ascension St. Vincent’s St. Clair and Col. Robert L. Howard Veterans Home joined Jefferson State Community College – on the sprawling site fronting Interstate 20.

Gardner would oversee tremendous growth in the county over his five-and-a-half-year tenure.

During those years, he guided a fundraising campaign that saw the EDC budget grow from $200,000 a year to $2.5 million over five years. He hired an assistant director, Don Smith, and a retail specialist, Candice Hill, so that EDC could focus fully on all facets of economic development.

Smith was a former colleague from Auburn. When Gardner left the City of Auburn, he said he told Smith, “Hang out here and learn a little bit, and I’ll come back and get you.”

Fortunately for him and St. Clair County, he did. Smith became assistant director for the EDC and later executive director. Gardner Jr. left in 2010 for the Birmingham Business Alliance and later Power South, and Smith ascended to the role he has held ever since.

“It was the best decision of my career,” Smith said. At EDC, he worked as assistant with Gardner Jr. for one and a half years and then served as interim director for six months before being named executive director.

Groundbreakings for the hospital and the veterans home came at the beginning of his taking the helm. Scores of industrial and commercial developments have followed, and they show no signs of slowing.

His innovative and strategic thinking have given birth to new initiatives – Tourism, led by Coordinator Blair Goodgame, and Leadership St. Clair County and a newly created Grant Resource Center, led by Candice Hill, director of Grants and Leadership. He named Jason Roberts director of Industry and Workforce Development.

“Don is forward thinking,” said former EDC Chairman Tommy Bowers. “He has a great team.”

Looking to the future from the lofty position of $233 million in new annual wages announced to date, Smith and his team are poised to announce 1,200 new jobs and $350 million in new investment over the next five years. It is a target they are already on track to exceed.

Lovejoy’s assessment was right. EDC hit a home run indeed.

Equine Aid

New Springville barn uses horses to heal peoples’ bodies and souls

Story by Joe Whitten
Photos by Mackenzie Free
and submitted Photos

“There’s something about the outside of a horse that’s good for the inside of a man.”

While that quote has been wrongly attributed to several famous people, including Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan, research indicates it probably dates back centuries before they were born.

Nevertheless, the sentiment expresses in a nutshell what Nicole Whitehead Tucker has in mind for Canoe Creek Stables in Springville.

“Canoe Creek Stables is home to Light Of The World Adaptive Horsemanship, a faith-based nonprofit with the mission of helping others heal and grow while enjoying one of God’s greatest gifts, horses,” she says, quoting her mission statement. “We use adaptive horsemanship to provide both physical and emotional benefits to those in need.”

Jake and Nicole Tucker

Adaptive Horsemanship is recreational horseback riding and horsemanship lessons adapted for each individual’s needs, goals and abilities. It utilizes mounted and unmounted activities to provide both physical and emotional benefits.

Potential students include autistic children, children suffering from emotional and physical trauma, those with crippling diseases such as cystic fibrosis and veterans suffering from PTSD. Nicole wants to use horses to help these folks and more. That’s why she is working on her certification from CECTH, the Council for Education and Certification in Therapeutic Horsemanship.

Nicole has had horses all of her life. But her dream to use them to help others mentally and physically began when she was a teenager.“My younger brother, Kyle, was born with cystic fibrosis,” she says. “I watched him grow up battling this disease. He inspired me because he never gave up. He died in May of 2019, when he was 29, but he never lost his spirit. I owe a lot of my personal and spiritual growth to him.”

Her husband, Jake, also comes from a horsey family. He lost his brother the year before Nicole lost hers, and it helped Jake develop the same passion she has. “I also want to take horses to places like Children’s Hospital, church events and nursing homes,” Jake says.

“My brother and I talked about doing this for about a month before Kyle passed away,” Nicole says. “I told him about my dream, too, and he said, ‘That’s awesome, Sis.’”

The Tuckers broke ground on a 100 x 100-foot barn on April 1, 2023, after Jake had sketched the design. They contracted to have the outer shell erected, and they finished the inside themselves. “What a journey,” she says. “Jake even built the wooden fence, and he has never done that before. He has no training in carpentry. He was a fuel truck driver for McPherson Oil for 10 years, and now he’s maintenance man at the new Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve, which is next door to our property.”

Ella and her horse Shady

One side of the barn measures 30 x 100 feet and has 15 stalls. The arena is 50 x 80 feet and covered with sand, while the other side is 20 x 100 feet and has space for seven more stalls. Ten skylights and a chandelier in the center of the arena light up the premises. “I ordered the chandelier via Amazon, and Jake built a crank system so we can lower and raise it,” Nicole says. When he asked her why she needed a chandelier in the middle of a riding arena, she replied, “For barn dances and fundraisers.”

The structure is bathed in Scripture, literally. Several posts and internal walls are covered in Bible verses because Jake and Nicole invited people to write their favorites on them. Some wrote the Scripture reference, while others scribbled entire verses.

 “If you take out the wall panels of the social room, for example, you’ll find the internal walls covered with verses,” Nicole says. “Friends, family members, even the Alabama Power crew and concrete contractor wrote them on studs, posts and the plywood under the paneling there.”

To handle the $250,000 price tag of the barn, the couple dipped into their savings account and took out a loan that comes with $1,400-a-month payments.

Lessons are one hour long, and include riding, grooming, lunging, tacking up, learning the parts of a saddle and building a relationship with the horse. They cost $65 per hour. However, low-income persons can be sponsored through donations and fundraising.

“This barn has been a Band-aid for me,” says Nicole. “In the past few weeks, I’ve had conversations with families about what they are going through, including a couple of people who were autistic, and a couple with sensory disorders. They found me via Facebook.”

She started a Facebook page in October, before the barn was even finished. As of Feb. 29, she had 5,500 followers, but her goal is 10,000. “Imagine if 5,500 people said a prayer for our program,” she says.

The barn houses nine horses and three ponies, with five of those used for equine assisted activities. The others are personal ones. Two activity horses include a white horse and a pony from a woman in Mississippi who learned about Nicole’s mission via mutual friends on Facebook and contacted her. “She drove them over the next day, along with some hay and feed,” Nicole says. “That’s a four-hour trip one way.”

Other donations have included two Haflingers, a brother and sister named Candy and Cane. “These are our two main buggy horses, but we use them in our adaptive horsemanship program, too,” Nicole says. “They were given to the program by the family of my great-uncle in Tennessee, who died in the summer of 2022. We got them that November.”

Open house was a great time to meet the animals

A more recent equine donation was the return of her “heart horse,” which she had sold when her brother was ill. “As my brother got worse, I started riding less, because I was just too emotional to enjoy it,” she explains. “So, I sold Handsome to a sweet lady in Georgia. I stayed in touch with his new mom for five years, and she’d update me on him from time to time. Then in February she gave him back to me because she wanted him to be part of something special. I still can’t believe it!”

Handsome is a 16-year-old Tennessee Walker with a lot of personality. “We used to compete in local horse shows in Western and English gaited classes,” Nicole says. “I feel like I got a HUGE piece of my heart back. My brother would be so happy!”

Other in-kind donations include the bathroom, three carriages and the sound system for the barn. The donation of the three carriages came as the indirect result of fulfilling another lifelong dream, that of becoming an airline pilot.

“I had wanted to be a pilot since I was 6-years-old,” says Nicole, who is 43. “My grandmother lived near the Birmingham airport, and I grew up lying in her yard and watching the planes go over. I’m stubborn, and I had no back-up plan.”

She got her pilot’s license at 19, started her aviation career as a flight instructor, then did corporate flying to get jet experience. Later, she was a commercial pilot for ExpressJet, a regional airline, for five years. She quit to start a family. “I’ve gone back to corporate aviation so I can control my schedule,” she says.

During the Springville Christmas Parade of 2022, she saw people like the homecoming queen riding in cars, and joked to her husband about how great it would be to have a carriage so she could auction a seat in it and donate the proceeds to a charity. The next day while she was co-piloting a corporate client to a meeting in Texas, he came into the cockpit and struck up a conversation.

“I showed him pictures of our horses and told him about my dream, and when we landed back in Birmingham later that day, he asked if he could talk to me. He said he had three carriages he wanted to donate, and he did. He paid for the delivery of the first one, and we picked up the other two.”

And that’s why an additional side of the barn was added to the original plans. The carriages include a Purple Princess that has hydraulic brakes and battery-operated lights, an Amish buggy and a covered wagon.

Other animals besides horses are being added to the mix. “We were given a five-day-old lamb whose mother rejected her, and we are working on adding more little critters to the barn, including a mini cow,” she says.

“We will also be taking over the petting zoo at Homestead Hollow this year. I’ll be working the May events with Anne Sargent, who has run it for 10 years. She’s going to show me the ropes, and then I’ll take over for future Homestead Hollow weekends. The petting zoo will be a big part of our barn, as it will bring lots of smiles to children. I’m so excited!”

And what about those “dream crushers,” the people who said she and Jake can’t do it, it won’t happen, they need deep pockets to make this dream come true? Nicole says phooey! “Think of what would not be accomplished except through deep faith.”