The South Alabama Land Trust has acquired and protected a 52-acre property in Silverhill, adding to conservation efforts in the Fish River watershed as development continues across parts of Baldwin County.

The nonprofit land conservation organization said the property includes forested uplands with longleaf pines and hardwood trees, along with wetlands that run along both sides of Perone Branch, a tributary of Fish River. The group said protecting the land helps support water quality in the watershed.

Paul Marcinko, president of the organization's board of directors, said the property had been targeted for development.

"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," Marcinko said. "We're lucky to have secured this one before it was gone, and the community will benefit from that."

The land was sold by Paul Lyrene, whose family has long ties to the area. Lyrene and his brothers, George and Steve, grew up on a family farm in Silverhill that dates back to the early 1900s. Their father purchased the tract that is now the preserve in the 1950s for about $100 per acre.

Steve Lyrene said he and his brothers spent much of their childhood exploring the property.

"We spent hours exploring in the woods!" he said.

He recalled finding an old pine log buried in Perone Branch, which he said likely dated back to earlier logging operations in the area.

"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," he said. "Those logs had to be 100 years old by the time we found them."

George Lyrene said he and his brothers also helped plant pine trees on the property when they were young, working during colder months when the trees had a better chance of surviving.

Paul Lyrene later built a career working with plants, including breeding varieties of blueberries and teaching botany at the University of Florida. He said the Silverhill property contains several native species.

"The Silverhill tract has many species native to the south, including mountain laurel, Grancy Graybeard (a fringe tree) and witch hazel," he said. "That tract is the southernmost occurrence of mountain laurel."

Lyrene said protecting the property from development was important to him.

"It was important to save this land from development and to maintain these habitats, so I am glad to see it in good hands," he said.

The South Alabama Land Trust, founded in 1990, works to conserve land across coastal Alabama. The organization said it has protected more than 12,000 acres in Baldwin and Mobile counties, including habitat areas and land along creeks, rivers and bays.

Gabriella Chavez is a Report for America corps member who writes about growth and development in Baldwin County and our natural spaces for Gulf Coast Media. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://tinyurl.com/yaf8yf5n.