Southern by the Grace of God: Wilderness Framing in the Heart of Dixie Bryan K. Walton Abstract—Wilderness advocacy in Alabama is as unique as the issues. Bliss (1994) polled the public in the South about cultural flavor of the South. This paper documents how the most forest issues. He found that citizens of Alabama maintain recent wave of wilderness activism in Alabama, embodied in the strong concerns about the forests of the state. For example, Alabama Wilderness Alliance, Wild Alabama, and WildLaw, have he found that when dealing with public lands such as sought to place themselves within the cultural roots and heritage of national forests, 86% of the respondents felt that clear- the American South. In this paper, the efforts and impacts of these cutting should not be allowed (Bliss 1994). He says, “For over organizations are examined. The author concludes that by separat- two decades of polling there has been this trend of growing ing themselves from the larger environmental movement, these environmentalism. If anybody in the ‘90s still thinks that groups have staked out their own course of action, with their own Alabamians have been left behind in the environmental emphases, successfully framing the preservation of wild places as a movement, that just isn’t true” (Bouma 1994:9). cherished Southern tradition, as central to daily life as college Alabama has a colorful legacy of independent-minded football and prayer meetings. populism. One of the most interesting examples of this occurred during the American Civil War. Winston County is a hill county in the northwestern corner of the state. Con- taining the majority of what is now the Bankhead National So it is with the National Forests in Alabama, our wild Forest, it was a county with a high concentration of whites, rivers, our hunting lands. They are all in jeopardy. We call and between 90% and 100% of them favored continued on every red-blooded son and daughter of the Southland to cooperation with the Union (Flynt 1989). A meeting on July stand up and defend your heritage. Defy the Evil Shadow 4, 1861, attended by more than 2,500 people, passed three that is growing in lengths as the Cold Winter of Corporate resolutions that led to “The Free State of Winston.” The Enslavement slips over the world (Marshall 1996). central issue was reluctance on the part of hill farmers to The framing efforts of three prominent environmental fight for the right of large farmers in the lowlands to organizations in Alabama are examined in this paper. The maintain a workforce of slaves (Weaver 1960). The conflict- Alabama Wilderness Alliance (AWA), Wild Alabama, and ing interests of “the common man” and wealthy plantation WildLaw focus on efforts to preserve Alabama’s remaining owners, or their contemporary counterparts, are a constant wild places. This paper examines their efforts to promote refrain in Alabama politics. wilderness preservation through a variety of methods, some Alabama is one of the most biologically diverse states in the of which might be considered atypical. Rather than pursuing United States. The Appalachian Mountain chain terminates a more traditional approach to preservation, using scientific in the Talladega National Forest. Along with this, there are arguments, these organizations pursue a strategy built the Tuskegee, Conecuh and William B. Bankhead National around the region’s biological and cultural heritage. Fur- Forests. Roughly 68% of the state is forested land. However, thermore, they have distanced themselves from the stereo- only 5% of this, equal to about 643,000 acres (260,208 ha) is typical notion of wilderness preservation as a hobby of the owned by the public. There are only three federally protected rich, eco-liberals or other privileged elite groups. By utiliz- wilderness areas in the state. The Sipsey and Cheaha Wilder- ing a powerful legacy of Southern populism, combined with ness areas combined equal 33,231 acres (13,448). The Dugger rich cultural histories, these activists have created a concept Mountain Wilderness area, 9,200 acres (3,723 ha), was desig- of wilderness linked to cherished Southern traditions, as nated by Congress in December of 1999. The presence of an central to daily life as college football and prayer meetings. emerging ecological conscience, when combined with the cultural richness of the region and the small amount of public lands in the state, has led to a growing concern over how the Background ____________________ national forests in Alabama are managed. In a state with such few public lands, many people feel that it is undesirable to Citizens in Alabama have consistently shown that they manage these forests for timber. Many practices considered are concerned about environmental quality. Bailey and unhealthy and unnecessary in the eyes of the public, such as others (1989) surveyed citizen attitudes and found that the clearcutting and herbicide spraying, have been used on public public had high levels of concern over most environmental lands and are considered detrimental to wilderness preserva- tion and forest-based recreation. In: McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference— Volume 2: Wilderness within the context of larger systems; 1999 May 23–27; Central Actors __________________ Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-2. Ogden, UT: U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. Bryan K. Walton is Graduate Student of Sociology, Department of Agricul- This atmosphere of public concern provides the context for tural Economics and Rural Sociology, Auburn University, AL 36849 U.S.A., the emergence of the three groups that are the central focus e-mail: [email protected] USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-2. 2000 273 of this paper: the AWA, Wild Alabama and WildLaw. Lamar attacks. Fundamental issues are at stake, regarding whether Marshall, an engineer by training, had a past that involved the public forests in the state will continue to be primarily designing paper mills and nuclear power plants. A longtime seen as sources of timber, or whether the new emphasis upon resident of the area housing the Bankhead National Forest, preservation and recreation will supplant it in the future. Lamar Marshall grew tired of his favorite places being This emphasis upon preservation and recreation is a clearcut. In 1991, the USDA Forest Service (USFS) outraged growing force to be reckoned with in Alabama and is re- many local residents when it clearcut Indian Tomb Hollow, flected in the growing popularity and success of the wilder- a sacred Native American site in the Bankhead National ness advocates. The Bankhead Monitor has grown from a Forest. Together with members of the Blue Clan of the small grassroots organization in 1991, to one that now has Echota Cherokee, Lamar Marshall formed a grassroots more than 1000 members and a glossy magazine printing forest-watch organization called The Bankhead Monitor. about 10,000 copies with each new issue (Marshall 1999). Simultaneously, the AWA and WildLaw were in their This growth in circulation is occurring rapidly, with a 43% early stages of development. The lead attorney for WildLaw, increase in the past 10 months. The organization has a 1999 Ray Vaughan, was beginning his environmental law prac- budget of $300,000, a 100% increase in the last five years. In tice in Alabama. A former assistant state attorney general 1997, The Bankhead Monitor changed the name of both the for Alabama, Vaughan converted his private practice in organization and its similarly named publication to Wild 1997 into a nonprofit law firm known as WildLaw. In 1991, Alabama to reflect not only its growth and statewide pres- Vaughan represented the Alabama Conservancy in a suit ence, but its emphasis upon the importance of wild places seeking to reduce the dioxin flowing into state rivers from and a wild Alabama. Lamar Marshall has also evolved from pulp and paper mills. It was during this suit that he met Ned being an angry redneck woodsman (Wapner 1996) to a Mudd. participant at the 1998 National Wilderness Conference in Mudd, the creative energy behind the AWA and also the Seattle. He was a keynote speaker at the conference of 450 Chair of the Board of the Biodiversity Legal Foundation, was people sponsored by such groups as The Wilderness Society, representing a single plaintiff in that dioxin suit. They Sierra Club, National Audubon Society and the World Wild- decided to pool their talents and have been working together life Fund. since. Originally, Mudd practiced family law in Birming- WildLaw also has flourished in recent years, reflecting the ham. But in his spare time, he was producing a video of a success of this group in the courtroom as a not-for-profit legal baby gorilla at the Birmingham Zoo. Believing that the firm. WildLaw brought in $80,020 in 1997. In its second Birmingham Zoo was mistreating the gorilla, he waged a year, 1998, the firm brought in $278,142, a 348% percent media campaign for better treatment for it, and this led him increase (WildLaw, 1999). This growth in support has al- into the environmental arena. lowed for recent expansion and an increase in the number of Within a year, the three individuals had joined forces and cases handled by the firm. It has added two attorneys in its have since emerged as three of the most active environmen- main office, and in the fall of 1999, it opened branches in talists in Alabama, and arguably in the region. These wilder- North Carolina and Minnesota. WildLaw has also attracted ness advocates, along with their respective organizations, prominent national wilderness advocates to sit on the have turned the management of Alabama’s public lands WildLaw board, including Dave Foreman, founder of Earth upside down.