Haines Island Park
Committee:
Gena Todia (Chair): Wetland Resources Environmental Consulting
Nancy Loewenstein: Auburn University
Haines Island Park is 480 acres of land located on the Alabama River in Monroe County and is owned and managed by the Army Corps of Engineers as part of the Alabama River Lakes water resources development project. The park is situated in the Southern Red Hills region of the East Gulf Coastal Plain and is home to some rare plant and animal species, including the Red Hills salamander, a federally-listed species. A few interesting plant species that occur in the park and general vicinity include Piedmont rhododendron (Rhododendron minus), bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora), mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), eastern greenviolet (Hybanthus concolor), northern spicebush (Lindera benzoin), cucumber-tree (Magnolia acuminata), and bigleaf magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla).
Unfortunately, invasive exotic plants are becoming established in some areas. The exotics are currently at a very manageable stage, so now is a good time to intervene and prevent the situation from becoming much worse. After coordination with the Corps Resource Manager for the park, a joint APCA/ALIPC (Alabama Invasive Plant Council) work day to kill invasive exotics was held on April 30, 2010. Although the group of participants was small, a lot of work was accomplished.
We have since had a couple morework days and have begun work on a flora for the site. Future efforts will target the kudzu that is beginning to invade, and continue our other control efforts and adding to the floristic inventory.
