Navy Week program sets sail for Montgomery
Though Montgomery is known as an Air Force city, the U.S. Navy is preparing to bring a Navy Week to the Capital City during the week of April 1-7. The Navy will bring 50 to 75 sailors from across the nation to volunteer throughout the community and discuss why the Navy matters to Montgomery. This will be the first Navy Week hosted by Montgomery and its surrounding communities.
The event will feature in-person demonstrations, performances and engagements all week, including:
- Senior Navy leaders with ties to the Montgomery area
- Namesake sailors who are serving on the USS Alabama, an Ohio-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, and the USS Montgomery, an Independence-class littoral combat ship
- The Navy Southeast Band
- Naval History and Heritage Command (educational presentations about the ties between Alabama and the Navy)
Since 2005, the Navy Week program has served as the Navy’s flagship outreach effort to regions without a significant Navy presence. Each year, the program reaches more than 150 million people, according to the Navy.
For more information, visit outreach.navy.mil.
Eagle statue unveiled at Lake Guntersville State Park
Lake Guntersville’s newest feature is a picturesque eagle statue located at the park’s lodge, which was officially unveiled in February.
The statue, created by artist Jenny Hendrix and inspired by a photo taken by noted Alabama nature photographer Beth Cowan Drake, showcases an American bald eagle with a fish clasped in its talons.
Funded by a grant from the Alabama Tourism Department, the statue is the result of a team effort – a two-year project including landscaping, lighting, signage and sidewalks that create opportunities for photos.
Landowners can fight cogongrass at no cost
For the third year, financial relief will be available to assist Alabama landowners adversely affected by cogongrass, a non-native noxious weed. The application period has begun, and the portal will remain open until 5 p.m. March 29, or until a threshold of 150 applications is reached.
Eligibility for the funding requires that applicants be private, non-industrial landowners. The landowner is not required to reside on the property or within the state; there is no minimum or maximum acreage ownership requirement.
The goals of the Cogongrass Mitigation Program are to reduce the number of infested acres, eliminate the damaging effects of cogongrass on existing ecosystems, and improve the productivity of sites impacted by the weed. Additional objectives include slowing the spread of the current establishments and preventing introductions into new areas of the state.
To apply or for more information, visit forestry.alabama.gov/Pages/Management/Cogongrass.aspx.
Whereville, AL
Identify and place this Alabama landmark and you could win $25! Winner is chosen at random from all correct entries. Multiple entries from the same person will be disqualified. Send your answer with your name, address and the name of your rural electric cooperative, if applicable. The winner and answer will be announced in the April issue.
Submit by email: whereville@alabamaliving.coop, or by mail: Whereville, P.O. Box 244014, Montgomery, AL 36124.
Contribute a photo you took for an upcoming issue! Send a photo of an interesting or unusual landmark in Alabama, which must be accessible to the public. A reader whose photo is chosen will also win $25.
February’s answer: Midland City, a town northwest of Dothan, commissioned this stone sculpture around 2016 on land that was given to the city for public enjoyment. It was built by Bill Jordan Construction and is on Hinton Waters Avenue; behind it is a small pavilion with a picnic table and seating. When this photo was taken, a fountain in the middle of the sculpture was not running, but the city expects the fountain to be running again in 2024. (Photo by Allison Law of Alabama Living) The randomly drawn correct guess winner is LeAnn Price of Pea River EC.
