Cawaco has supported the Five Mile Creek Greenway Partnership from the beginning in 2003 as one of 10 partners. In March 2010 the Five Mile Creek Greenway District was formed to acquire, manage and develop greenways in the Five Mile Creek Watershed. For more information www.fivemilecreekgreenwaydistrict.org
Brief History of the Five Mile Creek Greenway Partnership
Five Mile Creek has had a dismal image throughout most of its mining and industrial history. The Five Mile Creek watershed in north Jefferson County has been impacted both environmentally and socio-economically by industrial development and subsequent decline of the coal mining and coke-processing industries of the early 20th century. The stream was known to be one of the most polluted waterways in the state. Five Mile Creek was given the unfortunate nickname of “Creosote Creek” due to its former chemical odor and slick sheen on the water’s surface, despite the fact that creosote was probably not the actual culprit. Although traces of creosote may have been present, a concoction of iron oxide precipitates from acid mine drainage along with other industrial pollutants were most likely what was commonly observed and believed to be creosote. Like many other American waterways, Five Mile Creek was essentially unprotected from the external costs of pollution during a time of rapid industrial development and resource extraction.
The history of the Five Mile Creek Greenway Partnership (Partnership) has its beginnings in the City of Tarrant, a working class suburb northeast of downtown Birmingham. A flash flood event in March of 2000 damaged property and threatened the lives of residents living in Mobile Home Estates on the northern edge of Tarrant’s corporate limits. It was not the first nor would it be the last time flooding would impact citizens living along the creek. In the summer of 2000 Tarrant officials utilized flood mitigation funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to purchase the 16-acre site along Five Mile Creek and Pinson Valley Parkway (SR 79), which would a few years later become a city park named in honor of its local advocate, Fire Chief William “Billy” Hewitt.
Meanwhile, Wendy Jackson, Executive Director of the Freshwater Land Trust (formerly the Black Warrior Cahaba Rivers Land Trust), was looking to acquire an adjacent 588 acres of land then owned by the Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB). Located immediately upstream from Hewitt Park, the property was eventually acquired in 2005 as part of the Jefferson County Greenways Program. Planning officials with the City of Birmingham and the Jefferson County Department of Land Development also had other flood mitigation projects underway to acquire property and/or remove structures along the flood-prone areas of the creek. Jim Lehe of Lehe Planning, Inc. had worked on several of the flood mitigation projects along the corridor including the Tarrant site where he recommended that the City commission a conceptual plan for a future park. During a chance meeting, Hewitt and Jackson envisioned how their adjacent projects might one day become connected as part of a larger regional network of greenways along Five Mile Creek. Hewitt, Jackson, and Lehe asked Tom Maxwell, Environmental Planner with the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham (RPCGB), to convene the first informal stakeholder meeting at Tarrant City Hall on April 19, 2002.
The meeting was essentially a roundtable discussion between a few local government officials, consultants, and other local agencies. The focus was on “who is doing what” along the waterway, and how to coordinate projects as part of a longer range plan for greenways. Jim Lehe of Lehe Planning discussed the flood mitigation projects he had worked on including a plan for the Town of Brookside where several homes were also destroyed during the severe thunderstorm in March of 2000. Hewitt presented Tarrant’s plans for the new city park and other possible greenspace preservation opportunities in the community. Jackson described the role of the Land Trust in implementing the Jefferson County Greenways Program and shared a county-wide map of acquired parcels and priority stream segments including those along Five Mile Creek. Kellie Johnston with the CAWACO Resource Conservation and Development Council (CAWACO) revealed her role as the Black Warrior Basin Clean Water Partnership Facilitator and proposed drafting a restoration plan for Five Mile Creek. The group decided to reconvene a second meeting one month later and to invite additional stakeholders identified during the session. Maxwell defined his role and responsibilities at the RPCGB, which includes greenway and open space planning and project development across the agency’s six-county region of member governments.
A second meeting was held on May 6, 2002 with a larger and more diverse group of interests in Five Mile Creek. The group discussed the details of other projects along the corridor and it became clear that opportunities to leverage grant funding and coordinate projects was desperately needed. Participants embraced the idea of coordinating and implementing projects through a new partnership that held regular meetings. Partnership meetings have been held on a periodic basis ever since. A few days after the May 6th Partnership meeting another catastrophic storm hit north Jefferson County, this time flooding much of Tarrant and destroying all of Brookside’s historic town center including city hall, the post office, a newly renovated youth center, and dozens of homes. Several homes in Fultondale along Black Creek, a tributary of Five Mile Creek, were also destroyed. This marked the second major flood event in the watershed over the course of a three year period. Immediate actions at the local level focused on moving residents and structures out of the flood zone. Alabama EMA and FEMA officials even hosted a stakeholder meeting at a local church in Brookside to discuss the needs of the Brookside community which was most severely impacted by the flood.
Despite the surrounding devastation, the Partnership never lost site of the fact that longer range solutions were needed to address the interrelated problems of flooding, pollution, and litter. For example, floods have dispersed all kinds of highly visible trash and debris along the creek. Partnership meetings have provided a forum for information exchange and the coordination of all sorts of on-the-ground activities including cleanup events, stream restoration projects, and greenway development. In June of 2002, Maxwell drafted an intergovernmental agreement formalizing the membership and mission of the Partnership. The mayors of Center Point, Tarrant, Fultondale, Birmingham, Brookside, and Graysville along with the president of the Jefferson County Commission have all since signed the agreement. Representatives of the Freshwater Land Trust, CAWACO, and RPCGB also signed on as partnering organizations. See the MOA Intergovernmental Agreement-Final
Countless other public and private organizations have continued to support and participate in Partnership activities. Alabama Power Company, Vulcan Materials Company, Thompson Tractor Company, Sloss Industries, and other small businesses have cosponsored events with the Partnership. Some have even donated materials and human resources to specific projects. Several partners have even received accolades and bipartisan support from Representatives Spencer Bachus (R) and Artur Davis (D), as well as Senators Richard Shelby (R) and Jeff Sessions (R). The media has also supported the effort by promoting Partnership events and activities.
The execution of an intergovernmental agreement and the broad-based partner support have certainly been key factors in the success and sustainability of the Partnership, but equally important has been the ongoing leadership of a project facilitator to serve as the group’s point person, facilitates meetings, and coordinates events & activities. After the Partnership was formed in 2002 the group was informally facilitated by its founding members for the first two years. Maxwell of RPCGB handled all group correspondence including calling periodic meetings. Hilary Aten, a VISTA Intern with CAWACO, began serving a two year term as the full time facilitator in February 2004. Upon the completion of Aten’s VISTA internship, many Partnership members expressed the need for finding a replacement. CAWACO obtained grant funding from the Hugh Kaul Foundation and hired Francesca Gross in August 2006.
Excerpt from Five Mile Creek Trail Location Study, April 2008