Vantage - Columbia Theological Seminary

We have a great story to tell from Alabama and Sheppards and Lapsley Presbytery, and it includes many Columbia graduates. We are creating a new camp and conference center, Living River, on four miles of the Cahaba River, one of the most diverse streams in the world. We have been working closely with the Cahaba River Society and The Nature Conservancy to be good stewards of the river and the environment. Part of our stewardship, as we develop Living River, involved the removal of an old dam from the river.

For this work, Presbyterians for Restoring Creation presented the presbytery with one of two awards they gave last year at General Assembly, in Birmingham. The article below explains the project, and here are the Columbia graduates who have been involved with me in all of this:

• Rick Atkerson ’93, presbytery treasurer, Birmingham; treasurer for
Living Rivers Board

• Richard Brooks ’80, interim pastor, Eastminster Presbyterian Church, Birmingham; trustee of the presbytery

• Sid Burgess ’90, pastor, Edgewood Presbyterian Church, Birmingham; Living River Campaign Committee

• Frank Covington (D.Min. ’92), pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Auburn; Living River Campaign Committee

• Elizabeth Goodrich ’03, Gardendale Presbyterian Church; Living River Board

• Cary Speaker (D.Min.’76), pastor, Mountain Brook Presbyterian Church, Birmingham; Living River Campaign Committee

• Dan Stephens ’04, associate pastor, Shades Valley Presbyterian Church, Birmingham; Living River Board

• Ron Stone ’82, pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Selma;
Living River Campaign Committee

• Dana Waters ’58, past interim presbytery executive and retired from South Highland Presbyterian Church, Birmingham

As our Campaign for Living River spreads into congregations, these additional members of the Columbia “family” are working at the congregational level.

• Charlie Durham, Columbia trustee and pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Tuscaloosa

• Denny Read ’02, associate pastor, South Highland Presbyterian Church

• Noelle Read ’99, associate pastor, South Highland Presbyterian Church

• Rachel Winter ’00, associate pastor for campus ministry, First Presbyterian Church, Auburn

In 2001, the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley purchased 440 acres with four miles of river frontage on the Cahaba River, in Alabama. We immediately began working with the Cahaba River Society and The Nature Conservancy to remove a dam commonly called the Marvel Slab. For years, these conservation groups had been working to get the dam removed, but the presbytery was the first landowner willing to join them in the effort.

The Marvel Slab, in northern Bibb County, had been built by a coal company in the 1960s to allow trucks to cross the Cahaba easily as they transported coal to Birmingham from strip mines in that area. The slab was an obstruction to fish that needed to move upstream to feed, breed, and elude predators. For almost a half-mile upstream, the dammed-up water drowned riffles and shoals that should have been teaming with life.

Seven endangered fish and mollusks are found in this reach of the river. Surveys for fish found many types in great numbers crowded below the dam and much fewer above the barrier. Scientists had seen redhorse (bottom-feeding fish known for their stamina) banging their heads against the concrete barrier in futile efforts to get to their ancestral breeding grounds. Snails and mussels had been virtually eliminated from the river for some distance downstream while they thrived in the unaffected habitat upstream. The incredible Cahaba lily no longer populated the area around the Marvel Slab.

In 2004, the Marvel Slab was successfully removed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in partnership with the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley, The Nature Conservancy, the Cahaba River Society, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the Bibb County Commission.

To minimize harm to animals during the dam’s removal, experts snorkeled for three days removing mollusks within 10 feet of the dam. Scientists hand-picked and identified more than 12,000 snails and mussels, including more than 4,000 that were protected by the Endangered Species Act, then carried them a short distance out of harm’s way. Shortly thereafter, demolition began, and by the end of October 2004 the water flowed gently across bedrock shoals and boulders.

This extraordinary work, which protects interests of landowners, the state, and river conservationists, has been described by The Nature Conservancy as one of the most ambitious river restoration projects in the Southeast. Throughout this part of the country, thousands of abandoned small dams and diversions still exist on waterways. We hope the Marvel Slab removal sets a precedent.

We are grateful to numerous sources for information used in this article, including Presbyterians for Restoring Creation, Randy Haddock of the Cahaba River Society, The Birmingham News, and, especially, the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley.