I went to the Forever Wild Board meeting in Spanish Fort today. After Commissioner Guy made some preliminary remarks, the floor was open to public comment. Several landowners spoke to the board requesting Forever Wild buy their land. There was no arm twisting by the board, these people specifically want to sell to Forever Wild.

Big Canoe Creek Preserve in Springville received supporting comments from their local State Representative, a St. Clair county commissioner, and the mayor of Springville. The Mayor said while some counties don't appreciate Forever Wild, St. Clair county and Springville have done the math and they understand the economic and conservation benefits and they are ready to go.

All of the procedures for land purchase were discussed at length. It was clear Forever Wild cannot pay more than appraised value, so they have no way to outbid anyone. Also, Forever Wild must set aside 15% of the appraised value in a stewardship fund for maintenance, so, yes, they did think of that.

There were 26 properties on the short list for consideration, but only $7.6 million available for this fiscal year. The properties are evaluated based on highest use and graded accordingly. The board is tasked with making final decisions regarding best use of the available money.

The experience was enlightening and well worth the time. It's clear the arguments often made against Forever Wild are simply untrue. Some special properties are being considered for addition to our public WMAs, which is great news considering our net loss of WMA land over the last few years. I would definitely recommend everyone attend one of these meetings.