Long Live the Cahaba Lily Cahaba River Society Aim to Protect its Local Flower

BY KAYLYN ALEXANDER

Birmingham, Alabama — Delicate, white flowers blossoming three inches wide begin

covering the shoals of the Cahaba River starting mid-May to early June. The

Hymenocallis coronaria, better locally known as the Cahaba Lily, flower once a year

only in the Southeastern United States. Since the 1980's the lilies have been slowly

dying out, yet the species is not listed on the Endangered Species Act and enjoys no

protection at the federal level.

The Cahaba Lily is a type of spider lily in the amaryllis family with specialized habitat

requirements. The aquatic perennials can only bloom if the bulb is successfully lodged

between rocks of a free-flowing river's streambed. The lilies favor areas underneath

open tree canopies with plentiful access to direct sunlight. The Cahaba River harbors

the largest population of the flowers in the world.

The Cahaba River Society (CRS), a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and

preserving the Cahaba River and its wildlife, recognized the Cahaba Lily's decline in the

early 1990's. Ever since the organization has been working to protect the species from

extinction through legislation, policy, growth solutions and low-impact development.

 

"The Cahaba Lilies are one of the main focuses of this group," said Randall Haddock,

CRS Field Director. "We work in municipalities with legislators to propose legislation that

protects the flowers. The CRS also promotes good water quality and policies for people

downstream."

The lilies are most abundant in areas where the Cahaba flows through Bibb County, six

miles from West Blocton, AL. A little less than four miles of the river was established as

the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge in 2002. One of the purposes of the refuge

was to protect and manage the lilies.

The West Blocton community organized a lily festival in 1999 in effort to protect the rare

flower. The event is now known as the Cahaba Lily Festival and is organized by the

West Blocton Improvement Committee. The CRS became a partner of the Cahaba Lily

Festival to provide opportunities for attendants to see the flowers up close. The

organization offers group canoe trips and $20 canoe rentals for anyone interested in

canoeing among the flowers.

Although the Cahaba Lilies have gained widespread support from environmental and

 wildlife conservation groups across Alabama, there are still numerous threats to the lily.

""One of the biggest problems I think the lilies have is that when you have a high water

event, trees can wash down stream and crash into a clump of lilies, dislodging them,"

said Haddock. "What's going on with Birmingham with all the building, paving and

development activities, a greater volume of water goes down river, causes bank erosion

and trees crash into the lilies."

In 1998 the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service commissioned a botanist to gather information

on the Cahaba Lilies' species, distribution, habitat needs, flowering and fruiting seasons

and potential threats. Lawrence Davenport, Ph.D., botanist and Professor of Biological

and Environmental Sciences, volunteered. His research on the flower has been

published in Southern Lepidopterist's Society's newsletter, Flower Magazine and Nature

Journal.

“I began to study the Cahaba lily in 1989 as a candidate species for a threatened or

endangered listing with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” says Davenport. “What

eventually happened was that I expanded the known lily populations in Alabama,

Georgia, and South Carolina from an initial 10 to 70,” said Davenport.

 The past 25 years the festival has occurred, Dr. Davenport has been invited to be the

keynote speaker. His enthusiasm for the Cahaba Lily is evident year after year as he

discusses the lily and its biology. Davenport comments that in the past years the

Cahaba Lilies' flowering season has been successful.

"The lily has good years and bad years, depending largely on whether or not flooding of

their shoals occurs when they are in flower. They have been flowering earlier lately,

causing the shifting forward of the annual Cahaba Lily Festival to the third Saturday in

May," said Davenport.

Haddock affirms that flooding during the previous year can diminish the flowering the

next. A problem also exists if water is not able to soak into the ground. Haddock

expressed the need for hydrologic readjustment in order to fix this problem.

"Storm drains instantly go into river. The result is that the water flows higher and the

volume is greater than is used to be. Those factors are causing the bank to erode and

trees to crash into the stream," said Haddock.

A number of organizations in Alabama are actively working to safeguard the Cahaba

Lily including the CRS, Bibb County Wildflower Society, Nature Conservancy and Living

 River.

"I think the lily’s future looks bright. Over the past 25 years, we have raised public

awareness of this plant—it has become a 'poster child' or symbol for the wild,

undammed rivers of the Southeast," said Davenport. "Three festivals—West Blocton,

Landsford Canal and Columbia (both in SC)—celebrate it. And folks now realize that to

protect this species, you must protect its habitat. The setting aside of 3,500 acres of

prime lily habitat in 2002, now protected forever as the Cahaba River National Wildlife

Refuge, is a prime example of such an effort."

The Cahaba Lily Festival will take place May 17, 2013, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Cahaba

River National Wildlife Refuge. Lunch is provided and vendors will offer t-shirts, caps,

artwork and various nature-related crafts. Admission is free and donations are

encouraged.

For more information on the Cahaba Lilies or to make a donation towards their

preservation, visit http://www.cahabariversociety.org/recreation/the-lilies/.