Many see Red Mountain Park as the opportunity for a generation in Birmingham: a green space bigger than some of the nation’s most famous urban parks, public land on the crest of a mountain that has traditionally divided the population.
And it’s all potential, waiting for the right people to lay their plan upon it.
David Dionne is looking forward to being one of those people.
He will come to the park next month from Annapolis, Md., where he was chief of trails and natural areas for Anne Arundel County. At 51, he will retire and start from scratch as executive director at Red Mountain Park.
“It’s the chance to start a program really from the ground up,” Dionne said. “It’s a beautiful piece of land, and it’s just saturated with all kind of historical and architecturally interesting mine portals and structures and all the things that really helped put Birmingham on the map.”
Beginning such a huge park, 1,108 acres, is the sort of opportunity that rarely arrives in anyone’s career, Dionne said.
“I am very grateful to have gotten this chance,” he said. “I think Red Mountain is a phenomenal opportunity for the city and for me professionally.”
Dionne said he looks forward to people from all over the Birmingham area – he has bought a house in Hoover – volunteering to help build the trails and paths and amenities that the park will need.
The park’s governing board is planning to pay professionals to build parking lots, bathrooms and other structures. But board members also are hoping for plenty of help from the public, scything paths, pulling out privet and other invasive plants, and leading tours of the park.
“Americans love to volunteer,” Dionne said. “Once our immediate needs are met we’re very willing to work for the community needs.”
He said he has seen people from other countries amazed at how much Americans will volunteer for a public space.
“Parks are sacred places in the American psyche,” he said. “It’s a common ground where everyone can go and interact with each other; they can interact with nature.”
Dionne said he is enthusiastic about the opportunities for the Red Mountain plan to include trails to other parks.
Ultimately, he said, Birmingham has the land available to link the entire metro area without roads or vehicles. It requires only that leaders plan and find the money when the time is right.
The Red Mountain Park plan actually began from a group devoted to greenways, the Freshwater Land Trust, which continues to work to connect Birmingham’s parks and trails. As a result, several local cities have begun cooperative greenway efforts.
After 26 years running Anne Arundel’s parks and trails, Dionne has the experience needed for a new park, said Steve Jones, chairman of the Red Mountain Park and Greenway Commission. “It’s all just second nature to him.”
But first, the board and Dionne will have to build the park and its trails.
“We’ve got one chance to build it right,” Dionne said. “We have to make sure we go at a measured pace, thoroughly funded and thoroughly vetted. We have to listen to those groups that want to weave Red Mountain and the Red Mountain experience into their lives.”
