On behalf of the state-wide conservation group Wild Alabama, WildLaw, a Montgomery non-profit law firm, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request today on Togo West, the Secretary of the Army. The FOIA request seeks to uncover the reasons behind this weekend's secretive lease of the publicly-owned Cooter's Pond Park to the Retirement Systems of Alabama for use in a planned Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail course.
Cooter's Pond was the last, best publicly-owned, old growth, bottomland hardwood forest in central Alabama. America has lost more than 80% of its bottomland hardwood forests, which serve as valuable resources providing us with wildlife, flood control, improved water quality, pollution removal, fisheries, scenic beauty and a host of other services. According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, Cooter's Pond in its natural condition had values "of national significance." The park had trees 200 years old and older and up to five feet in diameter; it was unequaled habitat for turkey and migratory song birds. Montgomery and Central Alabama have very few publicly-owned wildlands available for recreation, and Cooter's Pond was the best of them. After having virtually no public input on this project, the Army Corps decided to give Cooter's Pond away to be destroyed.
This past weekend, in an maneuver designed to avoid scrutiny from a federal court and the public, the Army signed a lease giving Cooter's Pond to the RSA for the princely sum of one dollar. Immediately thereafter, the RSA rolled in bulldozers to cut the very heart out of the best and most beautiful part of Cooter's Pond on Saturday and Sunday. By the time Monday and a chance to get an unbiased official, a federal judge, to review this scheme came about, the damage had already been done. As a wildland, Cooter's Pond was invaluable. Even as development property, its value was in the millions of dollars. But the taxpayers lost this irreplaceable place and got only one dollar in return. As stated by Wild Alabama Executive Director Lamar Marshall, "We are not opposed to building this golf course on private lands, but destroying a unique publicly-owned treasure and fleecing the taxpayers out of millions is another matter entirely. This is the most undemocratic and despicable thing I have ever seen."
In order to get to the bottom of this massive taxpayer rip-off and unconscionable corporate welfare land scheme, Wild Alabama demands full disclosure from the Army. Information that Alabama politicians and the RSA could have had undue political influence on Secretary West needs to be fully explored. Wild Alabama intends to investigate whether any state or federal ethics laws were violated and will hold accountable every public official who violated the public trust in this greedy exploitation of the public lands.
For more information, contact Ray Vaughan at WildLaw, 334/265-6529.
Scott Silver, Executive Director,
Wild Wilderness
248 NW Wilmington Avenue, Bend OR 97701
Phone (541) 385-5261 E-mail: ssilver@wildwilderness.org