Environment

Alabama continues monitoring for chronic wasting disease

Submitted by Donna Wallace-King, Community Web Producer

Friday, December 16th, 2011, 9:22am

Alabama continues monitoring for chronic wasting disease

To date, deer in Alabama have avoided chronic wasting disease, and state wildlife officials want to keep it that way. To do this, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) is taking several measures to help prevent the disease from reaching the state.

Diagnostics to confirm the presence of CWD require collecting the skull and neck vertebra from adult age class hunter harvested white-tailed deer. WFF staff work with local clubs and deer processors to collect the necessary samples for CWD monitoring. A minimum of 300 samples have been collected annually statewide for the past 10 years. WFF staff expect to complete this hunting season’s collection and monitoring by Christmas. Collected samples are sent to the State Department of Agriculture diagnostic labs for testing and analysis.

CWD is a fatal disease affecting the central nervous system of deer and elk.

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Traffic signal scheduled for removal

Submitted by Donna Wallace-King, Community Web Producer

Friday, December 9th, 2011, 12:21pm

The City of Dothan is advising motorists that, as the result of a recently completed engineering traffic study, the traffic signal located at the intersection of Selma Street and Foster Street is scheduled for removal.

To assist motorists and alert them of the planned removal of this device, the traffic signal will be set to “flash” operation beginning on Monday, December 12, 2011. After a period of ninety (90) days, the traffic signal will be removed. Motorists are asked to drive with extreme caution when traveling in and around this area.

Source: City of Dothan and Dothan Police Department

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Charles Barkley to speak at Defining Future Leadership Conference

Submitted by Donna Wallace-King, Community Web Producer

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011, 12:49pm

Charles Barkley to speak at Defining Future Leadership Conference

Former National Basketball Association star Charles Barkley is the luncheon keynote speaker at the Defining the Future Leadership Conference Oct. 5 in Montgomery. The conference, which is hosted by the Alabama Community Leadership Network and the Alabama Communities of Excellence, is at the Renaissance Hotel and Spa at the Convention Center Oct. 5-6.

Barkley established himself as one of the National Basketball Association's most dominating power forwards. He was selected to the All-NBA First Team five times, the All-NBA Second Team five times and once to the All-NBA Third Team. He earned 11 NBA All-NBA appearances and was named the All-Star Most Valuable Player in 1991.

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Vilsac declares drought disaster in 21 south Alabama counties

Submitted by Donna Wallace-King, Community Web Producer

Friday, September 23rd, 2011, 10:49am

Vilsac declares drought disaster in 21 south Alabama counties

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has declared a drought disaster in 21 counties in South Alabama, enabling farmers there to apply for low interest federal loans and grants.

"Thanks to Secretary Vilsack and Gov. Robert Bentley for coming to the aid of farmers who suffered significant losses due to this summer's record drought," Commissioner John McMillan said.

On June 30, Bentley requested drought disaster aid as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Drought Monitor reported exceptional drought had developed in much of the southern half of Alabama.

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Twenty-one Alabama Trails Receive National Honor

Submitted by JoBeth Davis, Community Web Producer

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011, 4:17pm

Twenty-one Alabama Trails Receive National Honor

MONTGOMERY— For the second year in a row, Alabama has surpassed all other states in the number of hiking and other trails honored with a National Recreation Trail designation.

Twenty-one Alabama trails are included in a group of 41 selected for designation this year. The official announcement comes Thursday in Chicago as U.S. Department of Interior officials kick off celebration of National Trails Day.

The latest designations bring to 30 the number of Alabama trails to be recognized within the past two years. The National Recreation Trails Program recognizes exemplary trails of regional significance to encourage the use and care of existing trails and stimulate the development of new trails.

Each trail receives special markers indicating its designation and it is promoted as part of America’s national system of trails.

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Arbor Day Celebration and Tree Give-A-Way

Submitted by JoBeth Davis, Community Web Producer

Monday, February 21st, 2011, 6:27pm

The 2011 Arbor Day Celebration will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, February 24th at the Veterans Memorial Park on East Main Street. The guest speakers for this year’s annual celebration will be Pat Pritchard, President of the Department of Alabama’s Ladies Auxiliary to Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Tracy Lawrence from the Alabama Forestry Commission. Dan Williams, Horticulturist for the City of Dothan, will present the River Birch tree to be planted in honor of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).

In the event of rain, the celebration will be held in the second floor lobby area of the Dothan Civic Center. This year’s celebration is sponsored by the City of Dothan, Alabama Cooperative Extension, and the Alabama Forestry Department. As part of the Arbor Day Celebration, a tree give-a-way will be held at the Northside Walmart Garden Center on Friday, February 25, 2011 beginning at 9:00 a.m.

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Close encounters with coyotes in Alabama are on the rise

Submitted by Marianne Hudson, Naturalist & Wildlife Educator

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011, 1:18pm

Close encounters with coyotes in Alabama are on the rise

If you see a coyote on or near your property or in a location where you have never seen one before – don’t be surprised! Such a sighting does not require reporting and should not be cause for concern or panic. In fact, coyotes are found all over Alabama – including in urban areas - and frequent neighborhoods more often than you may realize. Just as humans tend to congregate, settle and reproduce in areas where our needs for resources are met, coyotes can become abundant in areas where they find their survival requirements satisfied.

Since the coyote’s insulating coat protects it from the harshest of Alabama winters, food procurement is its primary hardship. Our state’s coyotes usually have little problem gleaning provisions from the healthy populations of its prey items. Its diet is exceptionally varied and includes furred items such as rats, mice and voles in addition to larger mammals such as rabbits and fawns.

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