FOLEY – With the addition of more than 80 acres to Foley’s Graham Creek Nature Preserve and plans to add more property, the facility has become one of the largest municipal nature preserves in Alabama, city officials said.
Foley Mayor Ralph Hellmich said the city has used a $3-million grant through the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, known as GOMESA, to buy property on the west side of the reserve on Wolf Bay Drive.
“We added approximately 82 acres to the western border, which places us up to over 560 acres, plus or minus now,” Hellmich said. “It is a strategic addition to our park in that it protects our western border.”
The $3 million grant was announced in 2020. In 2021, Gov. Kay Ivey announced that Foley would receive an additional $2.5 million in GOMESA funds.
Leslie Gahagan, Foley environmental and nature parks director, said the new money will be used to buy more property. She said one possible addition would be the purchase of wetland property to the south of the facility.
She said the amount of land purchased will depend on the final price, but the expected addition of at least 40 acres would put the total size of the reserve as more than 600 acres, making it one of the largest nature facilities in Alabama owned and operated by a city.
Hellmich said the park has been recognized as one of the outstanding nature facilities in Alabama. The mayor said members of Design Alabama recently brought a park official from Uganda to Graham Creek to demonstrate the operation of a nature facility and the benefits of ecotourism.
“He was amazed by the ecotourism ability of how we protected the property but still used it in a passive manner,” Hellmich said. “In fact, the guy is talking about it in such a way that he actually took some of the lessons they’ve learned back to Uganda and trying to apply them for ecotourism in a sustainable way without damaging the environment.”
The city and Riviera Utilities, the city-owned utilities company, bought the first 484 acres that became the reserve for $5.6 million in 2004, according to reports at the time.
The park includes a variety of natural habitats including pine savannas, bottomland wetlands, mixed forests and tidal marshes. Vegetation on the site include rare carnivorous plants and wildflowers, according to city reports.
The facility also includes a canoe and kayak launch where visitors can paddle to Wolf Bay about 2.5 miles away, a 5-mile hiking trail, 7.5-mile bicycling trail and 3-mile cross country trail. The park also has disc golf courses, picnic areas and an interpretive center.
