Seven Springs EcoScape

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Seven Springs Ecoscape is a park in development on a spring feeding Nabors Branch, a stream that flows by Faith Apostolic Church in Powderly and empties into Valley Creek. The park is designed to help preserve the endangered watercress darter. It includes a meditation garden featuring native plants and flowers and winding paths lined with limestone boulders.

The darter was discovered in the stream in the early 2000s by Samford University biologists Mike Howell, who co-discovered the fish in 1965, and Larry Davenport. In 2005, Faith Apostolic and the Freshwater Land Trust reached an agreement to permanently protect the darter and the stream. The following year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Samford University's Biology Department, and the Southern Environmental Center joined the agreement.

The ceremonial groundbreaking for the park was held January 11, 2008. The first phase, costing $45,000, included the removal of invasive plants, their replacement with native species, and the removal of a nearby vacant house. Donations of $25,000 were raised, while the other $20,000 came from a grant. The first phase opened on April 13. Horticulture students from Lawson State Community College are providing grounds maintenance, plus using it as a training ground for appropriate use of native landscape materials.

The second phase, which is not yet scheduled, is to include an education center and is expected to cost $1 million. In July 2008, the Freshwater Land Trust received a Five Star Restoration Program grant to help expand the Ecoscape. In April 2009 the church's actions to protect the species were praised by sociobiologist E. O. Wilson during a talk at the annual meeting of the Association of Southeastern Biologists at the BJCC.

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