Red Mountain Park is a 1,500-acre public

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to resi ...

that encloses a 4.5-mile-long section of Red Mountain, a prominent ridge that passes through

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

.Bhamwiki: Red Mountain Park
/ref> The woodland park contains closed mines and other artifacts of the city's industrial history. The park is one of the largest urban parks in the United States - about 78% larger than

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

History

The park is located on land formerly owned by

U.S. Steel United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in severa ...

and devoted to ore mines. The last mine closed in 1971. Planning for a park on the site began by 2004. In 2005, the Freshwater Land Trust announced a campaign to raise funds to purchase and develop the park, and an organization called the Friends of Red Mountain Park was formed. The initial site was 1,200 acres in size. In 2006, the

Alabama Legislature The Alabama Legislature is the legislative branch of the state government of Alabama. It is a bicameral body composed of the House of Representatives and Senate. It is one of the few state legislatures in which members of both chambers serv ...

designated the unfinished project as part of the Alabama state parks system and created the Red Mountain Greenway and Recreational Commission "to own, preserve, restore, maintain and promote the park." In 2007, the legislature designated the commission a state agency with exclusive control over the park and responsibility for its planning and development. The park's master plan received an award from the American Society of Landscape Architects in 2012. The park opened to the public in 2012. By 2016, the park grew from 1,200 to 1,500 acres and added features including a 6-acre off-leash dog park. Using automated traffic counting equipment, the park staff estimated that the park received about 11,000 visitors per month in 2015.Red Mountain Park: About the Park
/ref> In 2015, the park briefly employed a herd of goats to help eliminate

kudzu Kudzu (; also called Japanese arrowroot or Chinese arrowroot) is a group of climbing, coiling, and trailing deciduous perennial vines native to much of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and some Pacific islands, but invasive species, invasive in many ...

, Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense), and other invasive plants.AL.com, 2015 Oct 21
/ref>

References

External links

Red Mountain Park
{{coord, 33.450, -86.864, type:landmark_region:US-AL_dim:3000, display=title Parks in Birmingham, Alabama