FAIRHOPE, Alabama — The South Alabama Land Trust (SALT), a regional land conservation nonprofit, scored another conservation victory for coastal Alabama with its acquisition of a 52-acre preserve in Silverhill, Alabama. Protecting this land forever supports clean air, clean water, native plant and animal species, and the outdoor lifestyle of coastal Alabama’s residents and visitors.
The land consists of forested uplands with longleaf pines and hardwood trees. Over half the property consists of wetlands that run along either side of Perone Branch, a tributary of Fish River. Along with other land that SALT has protected in the Fish River watershed, this nature preserve helps to maintain good water quality for residents and visitors to enjoy.
SALT wanted to protect this property in part because of its value in protecting water quality. Paul Marcinko, president of the SALT Board of Directors, observed that, “It’s no secret that Silverhill and the entire Fish River watershed are under tremendous development pressure, and this parcel had been targeted for development. We’re lucky to have secured this one before it was gone, and the community will benefit from that.”
The seller of the Silverhill parcel, Paul Lyrene, had a strong interest in seeing this land preserved. He and his brothers, George and Steve, grew up on their family farm in Silverhill that dates back to the early 1900s. Their father bought the nature preserve tract in the 1950s -- $100 per acre at the time.
According to Steve, he and his brothers loved the farm, and they loved the land. “We spent hours exploring in the woods!” He recalled the excitement of finding a big, old pine log that had long been buried in Perone Branch. “Many decades before, the loggers would float the logs down the creek to the lumber mill, but if a log got stuck in the streambed, it would be buried by sediment over time. Those logs had to be 100 years old by the time we found them.”
The Lyrene brothers put in some hard work planting pine trees on the Silverhill tract when they were kids. George recalled long days of planting pines on the coldest days of the year when the trees had the greatest chance of surviving.
Paul went on to spend his career among plants, including breeding well-known varieties of blueberries and teaching botany at the University of Florida. According to Paul, “The Silverhill tract has many species native to the south, including mountain laurel, Grancy Graybeard (a fringe tree) and witch hazel. That tract is the southernmost occurrence of mountain laurel.” Paul was pleased to have been able to protect the land forever. “It was important to save this land from development and to maintain these habitats, so I am glad to see it in good hands with SALT.”
SALT, a nationally accredited land trust, has been conserving land in south Alabama since it was founded in 1990. To date, SALT has protected over 12,000 acres of land across Baldwin and Mobile Counties, conserving critical plant and animal habitat, coastal lands, the edges along creeks, rivers and bays, clean water and the scenic beauty that defines coastal Alabama.
