The Alabama Rivers Alliance has been building, supporting and leading an Alliance of community and watershed-based organizations across Alabama for nearly thirty years. Today, our Alliance stands strong with more than 100 partner organizations!
But believe or not, there are still areas of the state where we need more partners at the community and watershed level to be the eyes and ears for our waterways and help support the Alliance be robust enough to protect ALL of Alabama’s 132,000 miles of rivers or streams.
That is why our staff has been strategically focusing efforts in areas where we can grow our movement and build capacity for small, all volunteer efforts in underrepresented areas of the state. Check out our exciting successes in three major urban areas of the state:
For the past five years, ARA has been working with partners and community members in the Huntsville area, including the Flint River Conservation Association, the Land Trust of North Alabama and more, to build a more collective voice for the environment in the fastest growing and now largest populated city in Alabama. Initially funded by REI Huntsville, the group has met regularly – even through the pandemic – to build connections and set shared goals. Their efforts led the Mayor to establish a Sustainability Plan and a Commission, which now includes one of the members of this group!
With that success, they formally organized as the Huntsville Environmental Coalition with 501(c)(3) status, and the group continues to grow, with ARA advising and supporting their organizational and program development.
The Alabama Rivers Alliance has worked for the past couple of years to help galvanize enough interest in the Montgomery area to form a new Friends of the Alabama River group. Through this work, we have developed a great relationship with the Montgomery City Council and they awarded ARA some funding to hire a new community outreach position for our team in Montgomery. This position will work with the City to assess the community’s interest in the Alabama River and make some recommendations for how the City can provide more access and opportunities around the river as an asset to their community. We are excited for ARA to have an even stronger presence in Montgomery in 2025 and to continue helping build the Friends of the Alabama River to protect this important river system in the heart of our state!
ARA is bringing together partners and individuals all up and down the Tallapoosa Watershed from Wedowee to Auburn to discuss the important needs of the watershed across communities and organizations. Providing opportunities for building partnerships and assessing resources is a key strategy of the Alabama Rivers Alliance. This work is building the groundwork for when larger collective action is needed to protect all of Alabama’s rivers and streams.
We recently hosted a Town Hall with Representative Bob Fincher, Senator Randy Price, local government officials and the community of Randolph County last night in Wedowee to discuss rivers and streams in the Tallapoosa watershed and to hear concerns about threats to waterways in the area from local landowners. We also shared the history of the Alabama Water Plan and advocated to revive the Permanent Joint Legislative Committee on Water Policy and Management. We are super excited looking toward 2025 and all the ways we can #DefendRivers with our elected officials across the state!
In addition to creating new coalitions and community groups to fill any gaps in our strong movement, the Alabama Rivers Alliance is also making it a priority to reach out to existing organizations in parts of the state where we would like to build more partnerships and where we know groups are working on issues that align with our water advocacy work.
We are excited to have built new relationships and partnerships this year with Black Belt Women United, Capacity Collaborative and the Southern Poverty Law Center around water infrastructure funding for communities. We also are proud of new relationships developed through our award-winning Southern Exposure Films program with inspiring groups like We Matter Community Association, the Native Habitat Project and the Alabama College Republicans.
And, of course, the picture of our Alliance would not be complete without our tried and true partnerships with groups that we’ve been working alongside for many years to protect our rivers and advocate with for clean water in Alabama. We are forever grateful for our continued partnerships with our Friends of the river/creek groups, Waterkeeper groups, Southern Environmental Law Center, Alabama Water Watch, and many other statewide partners that make up this important river advocacy movement!