Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve

Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve
The Quarry at Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve
Location	Birmingham, Alabama
Coordinates
Area	1,011 acres (4 km2)
Website	ruffnermountain.org

Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve is a 1,038 acres (4 km²) nature preserve located in the eastern portions of Jefferson County, Alabama near Birmingham's suburb, Irondale. The preserve includes a visitor center containing native Alabama animals including raptors, snakes, turtles and owls. The Ruffner Mountain area was home to iron ore mines and stone quarries, supplying the area's steel mills.

The preserve contains 12 miles (19 km) of hiking trails.

History

In 1883, William Henry Ruffner, a geologist at Washington & Lee University, completed a survey of physical resources along the route of the Georgia Pacific Railroad, from Atlanta to the Mississippi River through the Birmingham District.... It attracted the interest of Georgia Pacific directors in acquiring mineral lands and furnace works in the Birmingham District. In 1887, company president John W. Johnston acquired control of the Sloss Furnace Company, including its limestone quarry at Gate City and the soft ore mines that opened at Irondale that year. Daily output of the Irondale mines in 1887 was 135 tons.... After the turn of the century those mines were renamed Ruffner.... The mines closed June 1, 1953.... The Ruffner Mountain Nature Center, a nonprofit organization formed in 1977, presently leases 28 acres of the former mining site from the City of Birmingham. The land includes the abandoned limestone quarry in which the fossil remains of ancient sealife (bryozoans, brachipods and corals) are well-exposed. The old mining roads now serve as nature trails and the house at 1214 81st Street South on the northern slop of Red Mountain serves as headquarters for a nature center, wildlife reclamation activities and natural history exhibits.

— The Birmingham District: An Industrial History and Guide, Marjorie Longnecker White, 1981, Birmingham Historical Society

When the mines played out in the 1950s, nature reclaimed the area. In 1977 a nonprofit was formed that leased 28 acres of land belonging to the City of Birmingham for use in public recreation. The Trust for Public Land added over 500 acres (2.0 km²) to the park from 1983-1985, and an additional 400 acres (1.6 km²) in 2000.

In 2006 Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve announced plans to expand the park by 500 to 700 acres (2.8 km²) at a cost of around $11 million. The addition would make Ruffner Mountain's nature preserve one of America's largest urban nature preserves at around 1,511 to 1,711 acres (7 km²).

In 2010, construction was completed on RMNC's state-of-the-art LEED certified Treetop Visitor's Center and Education Pavilion. The new 6,000-square-foot (560 m²) nature center replaced the organization's old administrative office building, visitor's center, and pavilion. The contractor, Stewart Perry, Inc., and architect, KPS Group, designed a building using sustainable architecture and materials ranging from a rainwater collection system to a myriad of recycled building materials and furnishings.

External links

• Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve's Website
• Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve's YouTube Channel
• An Article about Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve in the Encyclopedia of Alabama