Beginning on Monday, September 11, through October 1, the campgrounds and cabin areas at Roland Cooper State Park will temporarily close for maintenance as park management transitions back from a concessionaire contract back to the State Parks Division of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR). Existing overnight reservations will be honored during the maintenance period.
In 2015, Roland Cooper was temporarily closed due to cost-cutting measures ordered by then-Governor Robert Bentley (R). The park reopened in 2016 under a concessionaire contract with an Arizona-based management company, Vista Recreation, taking over the management.
Greg Lein is the Director of ADCNR’s State Parks Division.
“We are grateful for the partnership with Vista Recreation over the last seven years,” said Director Lein. “Going forward, we are excited to have our park personnel once again operating the park and working with the City of Camden, Wilcox County, and local tourism professionals to promote the region and all that Roland Cooper State Park has to offer.”
Roland Cooper State Park is 6 miles north of Camden in Wilcox County.
Lein said that Roland Cooper State Park is the perfect base camp to enjoy various outdoor recreation in Alabama’s Black Belt, including boating, fishing, hunting, birding, wildlife watching, hiking, camping, and more.
Chris Blankenship is the Commissioner of ADCNR.
“For decades, Alabama’s Black Belt region was overlooked as a vacation destination,” said Commissioner Blankenship. “An increased interest in outdoor recreation has started to change that. We encourage Alabamians and out-of-state visitors to explore the many recreational opportunities at Roland Cooper and in the surrounding areas.”
One of the main attractions at Roland Cooper is its access to boating and fishing on Dannelly Reservoir, also known as Millers Ferry. The lake is known for its abundance of game fish.
The park also boasts a recently constructed pier that significantly expanded the available docking space for recreational boaters and anglers. The new T-shaped pier measures 160 feet long by 128 feet wide and is Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant. Fishing tournaments can be hosted at the park throughout the year.
In addition to excellent boating and fishing access, Roland Cooper State Park offers several overnight accommodations, including 47 improved and 13 primitive campsites, six tiny house-style cabins, and five two-bedroom cabins. Hunters and anglers who have trips planned to the various nearby ADCNR Wildlife Management Areas, Special Opportunity Areas, and State Owned Public Fishing lakes are encouraged to make reservations to stay at Roland Cooper during the upcoming hunting and fishing seasons.
The park also has hiking trails, a rental pavilion, a bathhouse, and boat rentals.
Roland Cooper is also a stop on the Alabama Birding Trail, and bald eagles and ospreys can be spotted at the park throughout the year.
The park is convenient to Montgomery, Mobile, and Selma, with all three being within a two-hour drive,
The Bentley Administration closed five state parks: Bladon Springs, Chickasaw, Paul Grist, Roland Cooper, and Florala as part of the governor’s cost-cutting plan. The closings, which disproportionately affected the Black Belt Counties, were criticized at the time because the cuts, like the cuts at the time of 31 driver’s license offices by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), targeted the government infrastructure closest to the people rather than management and redundant administration and staff in Montgomery.
Gov. Kay Ivey has made a point of reversing many of her predecessor’s more controversial policies. State Revenues have more than doubled since 2015. Four of the five have reopened as State Parks. Florala is now owned and operated by the City of Florala, who took over the park after the state cut the park.
To plan your next adventure at Roland Cooper State Park or to make reservations, visit www.alapark.com.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
