West Fork of the Sipsey River

This is the only Wild and Scenic River in Alabama. It flows through the Sipsey Wilderness area in the Bankhead National Forest. I have always wondered what a river would be like without the heavy hand of man compromising it - the beauty of the West Fork of the Sipsey is a living testament, with huge trees that have tall canopies along the banks drarwfing the huge boulders in the river. The Sipsey Fork River is Alabama's only National Wild and Scenic River System. Sixty-one miles of its west fork above Smith Lake are permanently protected. This section of river is entirely in the boundaries of the William B. Bankhead National Forest. (USGS) The tributaries of the the Bankhead National Forest, the Sipsey, Clifty and Brushy Forks provide a vital refuge for many important fish and mussel species threatened in less protected habitats of the Black Warrior. 78 species of fish were documented in the Sipsey Fork in 1974, an incredibly high number for such a small watershed area (Metee et al. 1989). Sipsi is the Chickasaw-Choctaw name of the poplar or cottonwood tree. Fish diversity in Sisey Fork tributaries demonstrates 49 species in the mainstem, 23 in Clear Creek, 40 in Clifty Fork, 13 in Brushy Creek and 19 in Crooked Creek. Alabama Power Company completed a hydropower generation dam on the Sipsey Fork in September 1961 creating a 21,200 acre impoundment known as Smith Lake. The Sipsey Fork upstream of the reservoir is one of Alabama’s healthiest and most biologically diverse Cumberland Plateau streams. (For more information, please visit Rivers of Alabama)