The Shelby County Chamber hosted “An Update on Oak Mountain State Park” with district naturalist Scottie Jackson and park naturalist Lauren Massey.
During the program, held March 30 at the Pelham Civic Complex, Massey gave a brief history of the park, which began with a 940-acre plot of land in 1927 that began around the Peavine Falls area that spread to what is now Lake Tranquility.
In the early 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps Company 487 began working on the park project, but were later called away to build Yosemite National Park.
While OMSP was originally intended to be a national park, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, much of the funding went to the war effort. The Works Progress Administration later came in to assist with the completion of the park.
In 1943, the National Park Service deeded 8,000 acres to what is now OMSP, which now totals 11,584 acres, making it the largest park in the state. With the expansion of 1,644 acres at the end of 2021, Massey said they are now able to protect over 1,000 acres of really important endangered species and beautiful habitat.
“OMSP has amazing natural resources and our biodiversity (different life) is phenomenal,” Massey said. “Alabama ranks #4 in biodiversity in the US and #1 east of the Mississippi. We have so much life in one given area, we are actually considered America’s Amazon. We have scientists from all over come to Alabama to study our natural resources, as we are so incredibly biodiverse.”
Located 17 miles from downtown Birmingham, OMSP offers a plethora of activities, including fishing, camping, horseback riding, beaches, an archery park, a demonstration farm, boating, hiking, golf course, geocaching, mountain biking, birding and more. Annual events include Fire on the Water, a harvest festival in the fall and an Easter egg hunt in the spring.
OMSP is also home to the Interpretive Center and the Alabama Wildlife Center. Educational opportunities at the park include field trips, animal encounters and educational workshops.
During The World Games 2022 in July, OMSP will host canoeing, orienteering and waterskiing
We are excited to be a part of that. It’s going to bring a lot of revenue to the area so we’re really excited to be one of the hosts for the games.
For more information or to donate to the Alabama State Parks Foundation, visit asparksfoundation.org.
