By Alabama Public Radio
Birmingham AL – Ruffner Mountain Nature Center is the biggest park in Birmingham ... now it plans to get even bigger by adding up to 700 acres, a treetop visitor center and after-school programs for children. Nature Center officials are changing the park's direction to help it better meet local needs. Census figures show 6-thousand children live in the area. Most of them are poor with working parents or grandparents. The new after school programs are targeting those young people. The programs are set to begin in fall 2007.