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FEATURES
EcoScapes:
Greening
Birmingham’s
urbanenvironment
Of all the Southern Environmental
Center’s many programs, one is leaving
the biggest mark on the metro area: the
EcoScapes. Since the first one launched
on the BSC campus in 1996, an additional
13 parks have emerged—with more
in the planning stage each year. The
program has gained national recognition
from Neighborhoods USA and other
organizations.
In the earliest days, says SEC Director
Roald Hazelhoff, the program was designed
to turn vacant lots into tiny urban parks.
Today, the EcoScapes range in mission, from
showcasing drought-friendly gardening to
offering therapy for patients at Princeton
Baptist Medical Center to protecting a tiny
spring that houses an endangered fish.
They’re always filled with natural beauty
and local artwork, and they’re always
designed in cooperation with the local
community or other stakeholders to meet
specific needs.
“The unifying theme is that EcoScapes
solve a problem,” Hazelhoff said. “You
take an area that has been vacant or abused
and you transform them from blight into
something that serves as an anchor for
revitalization.”
Arlington-West End EcoScape
Corner of Cotton Ave.
and 9th Street SW
Designed for passive recreation, this
pocket park creates a neighborhood
green complete with flowerbeds, seating
areas, and panoramic vistas. Local
schoolchildren designed mosaic pavers
and park benches, and a flower sculpture
made from recycled roofing material is
the center of the garden.
Brown Springs EcoScape
73rd Street and Oporto Ave.
Built on a vacant lot owned by the city,
this garden surrounds a natural spring
that historically served this community
at the foot of Ruffner Mountain. Future
plans call for replanting an orchard for
use by neighbors.
College Hills EcoScape
8th Ave. West and Arkadelphia Road
(behind McCoy United Methodist
Church)
Located just outside the BSC campus, this
community park and outdoor classroom
incorporates one of the original gateways
to Birmingham-Southern. Camp
NorthStar’s Youth Ministries uses the
raised vegetable and herb gardens. The
SEC has also planted more than 50
trees along 9th Avenue, created a native
plant bed at the entrance to the College
Hills neighborhood, and installed a
stone bench at the bus stop opposite the
campus’ main entrance.
Hugh Kaul EcoScape
Birmingham-Southern campus
The four-acre outdoor classroom that
started it all, the Hugh Kaul EcoScape
was at one time a training site for the
National Guard. Gardeners and local
artists turned it into a miniature version
of Alabama, complete with a Mobile Bay
Basin wetland and Appalachian Trail.
Visitors and the BSC community alike
are drawn to the fragrant and medicinal
gardens, metal and stone sculptures, and
two-story tree house.