BUTLER/CUNNINGHAM

This page provides some background history to the environment in Alabama.

This site will change from time to time. Basic organization will remain constant.

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ENVIRONMENT FACTS:

BACKGROUND

Selection of Similar Pages

Some Environmental History

Please see our pages on US agriculture and Alabama agriculture for the relevant geographical and historical background.

A brief history of Alabama forests might put some of the environmental and social issues into perspective. For a variety of reasons, Native Americans in Alabama, even before the coming of Whites and Blacks, burned and cut the forests. After Whites and Blacks came, Native American population dwindled and Whites took the land. Some of the land was converted to farms and plantations, but much of it also reverted to forest. Forest cover in Alabama probably reached its greatest extent around 1850, when much of the forest here was composed of relatively mature "second growth" trees. After 1850, forest cover again began to recede as the populations of the farmers, plantation owners and slaves increased, and as people claimed more land mostly for smaller farms. Forest cover receded to its lowest point since 1850 at around 1950, when farm land was at its greatest extent and many small farms still operated. It is not clear if Alabama had less forest cover under original Native American population or in 1950. In any case, after 1950 as farm land in Alabama dwindled, forest cover again expanded to replace the lost farm land, so that Alabama now is about 70% forested. However, much of the present day forest is not "wild", and not composed of trees that are relatively mature "second growth". Rather, it is in tree farms with a variety of tree types and sizes, but mostly fairly young (20 years old), small trees.

The forest cover profoundly affects the water, air and other aspects of the environment, so that the environment in Alabama was different under each of those historical forest regimes (Native American pre-1800; recovered forest 1800-1900; many farms 1900-1960; tree farming now). It is not clear under which regime the general environment was healthier. Nor is it clear under which regime the residents would have been better off. The environment needs to be understood in context, and as comprehensively as posssible. Often we do not even have standards by which to clearly answer questions of environmental health and human welfare.

As with everwhere now, Alabama has issues that stem from use of the environment. But, in many ways, the Alabama environment has actually improved as a result of recent economic change and of change in where people reside. Alabama may have an unusual opportunity to deal with its environment in ways that allow for a sustainable and healthy future.

For example, Alabama has been predominantly agricultural for most of its history. While farms are "natural" and green, even traditional "old fashioned" farms can also lead to some environmental stress. Row crops such as cotton and corn prevailed until about 1980. Row crops usually require plowing, which can cause substantial erosion (at least until the widespread adoption of no-till methods), which in turn can foul streams and lakes. After World War II, the use of chemicals made farms green and successful. Yet the bad effects of lingering pesticides are well known. Fertlizers can cause excessive growth in streams and lakes ("eutrophication"), actually making them less healthy. Since the decline of row crops and small farms in Alabama, these problems have diminished. The tree farms that replaced the row crop farms do use pesticides and fertilizers, and they do cause erosion during planting and harvest. It is not clear if the extent of ersosion and chemical use under tree farming is less than that under row crop farming but very likely that is so. With the decline in row crops and the return of trees, some animal species, such as deer and turkey, have made needed comebacks. Deer probably now provide more hunting and recreation than they have since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Manufacturing and mining in Alabama was centered around Birmingham because of the mineral deposits in the hills of northern Alabama. Mining and manufacturing probably peaked around the 1950s, about the same time that farming was at its greatest extent. As well as bringing considerable prosperity, manufacturing and mining placed considerable stress on the environment of northern Alabama, largely because they were unregulated at the time (for a history of mining in northern Alabama, including many environmentally relevant facts, see button at left). Chemicals were released into the waters and airs, or deposited in the ground. Many streams are still polluted from previous discharge or from continuing discharge out of old underground deposits. Large areas were cleared and remain poorly covered to this day (so called "brownfields"). The already poor soil was eroded not just by mining but also by the dense settlements that sprung up around mining and manufacturing.

In the 1960s and 1970s four changes happened concurrently:

First, as already noted, typical row crop farming declined in Alabama in general (although they intensified in other parts of the US).

Second, manufacturing and mining declined in northern Alabama (although they continued or intensified in other parts of the US).

Third, manufacturing, mining and farming became more technically efficient, able to carry on with less deleterious effects on the environment.

Fourth, the US government passed legislation governing clean water and air.

Since that time, with some important exceptions to be considered below, the general quality of water, air and soil in Alabama has improved, as it has in the rest of the US. It is not possible to decide how much credit for improvement should go to which of these factors but likely all four contributed and should be credited.

Since the 1980s, new forms of agriculture have arisen in Alabama, such as the forestry that has already been described but also aquaculture and animal feedlot operations (AFOs and CAFOs, see below). Birmingham replaced manufacturing and mining with financial industries such as banking and insurance; thus its population continued to increase. Financial industries grew larger in Montgomery, and some forms of industrial assembly came to Alabama such as automobile factories. Alabama population has not increased as rapidly as the rest of the US and so Alabama can seem relatively underopulated, yet its population density is actually above the national average. Alabama has some of the lowest electrical rates in the US, made possible by the continued operation of nuclear generataing facilities and large coal fired generating plants.

These changes have given rise to particular environmental issues that can be described separately on other pages (use the "Back" function of your browser or the "similar pages" list above).