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Trail officials pick locations for bird trail

By Laura Johnson | Alex City Outlook

Published Thursday, June 18, 2009

Organizers for the Piedmont Plateau Birding Trail have submitted sites for the proposed nine-county trail, which includes Tallapoosa County, to a biologist for approval after months of researching the potential sites.

Of the 45 proposed sites, about a dozen are within Tallapoosa County. They include locations at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, Central Alabama Community College, Wind Creek State Park, D.A.R.E. Power Park and the Charles E. Bailey Sportplex.

“We have completed the nomination process with input from all of the counties,” said Marvin Wagoner, the Alexander City Chamber of Commerce president who is also serving as a regional coordinator for the project.

To be nominated, each site had to be known as a habitat for native birds and had to be easily accessible to the public. The organizers only designated areas they believed fulfilled the requirements, but the biologist will ensure that the sites actually fit the criteria before they are approved and selected to be part of the trail.

“You don’t want to put a site on the trail where there is no wildlife,” Wagoner said.

Based on the analysis provided by the biologist the sites will ether be approved or removed from the list.

The trail will be composed of several individual sites which will be marked by signs at the sites, designated in a brochure and on a yet-to-be developed Web site. The trail will be part of a larger birding trail system, which is being organized by the Alabama Tourism Department.

The department has already established trails in the northern and coastal regions of Alabama and continues to develop similar trails throughout the state.

Organizers began developing the project in October 2008 and anticipate that it will take at least one more year to complete the trails.

“This is big and there is a lot that has to be done,” Wagoner said. “There are a lot of sites to visit.

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