Wolf Gardens Wildlife Center is located in the Foothills of Clay County, Alabama just South of Ashland.
A Large portion of Clay County is located in Talladega National Forest.
The Primary employment in the surrounding area is tree farming.
For generations the people in Clay and the surrounding counties have made their living by harvesting trees for pulp wood and for lumber.
Little thought has been given to conservation by most people.
Over the last 70 years the degree of tree farming has had distinctive negative impacts on the ecosystem of the forest, rivers and streams.
If you look at the area that is fully affected, then you also have to look at the several counties that surround our county as well since most are in the same condition. Clay, Coosa, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Randolph, Calhoun and Cleburne counties are all similarly situated and all have a high interest in the production of pulpwood and lumber. The combined areas of these counties are as follows;
Clay County 605.07 sq.miles
Cleburn County 560.21 sq.miles
Calhoun County 608.46 sq.miles
Coosa County 652.44 sq.miles
Randolph County 581.05 sq.miles
Talladega County 739.53 sq. miles
Tallapoosa County 717.93 sq.miles
Total Square Miles 4,464.69
Area in Acres 2,857,401.6
In order to change what is happening we have to have a very specific plan with several options.
When families have depended on tree harvesting for generations, you can't simply take that away from them. To change what they are doing, you have to provide a “Better Way” of making a living.
Our Nature and Wildlife Tourism Initiative will do just that.
By not harvesting our forests and working together through the state, county and private sectors we will be able to help people make the transitions from tree farming to tourism in a seamless process.
To make this transition it will be necessary to teach new skills, discover areas of interests and educate on how to interact with the tourists.
The knowledge that these people already have of the forests, streams and wildlife make them prime candidates for the Nature and Wildlife Tourism industry.
By developing advisory boards in each county that will work in tandem with the other Advisory Boards in the other counties, the full impact of development possibilities are beyond imagination.
Wolf Gardens Wildlife Center will be the proto-type for many other wildlife and nature tourism centers through out east central Alabama.
Of the total acreage of land in these areas only a little over 400,000 acres are in national Forest.
The remainder of the land is in private or county and city control.
By directing the efforts to tourism we will not only improve our conservation efforts, but will also bring the local focus on conservation through development of personal interest.
To be successful in our projects we will require a great deal of support of both the financial and intellectual natures.