KIRKWOOD URBAN FOREST PRESERVE
Kirkwood Urban Forest (KUF) Preserve is not a park. It is an URBAN forest preserve whose inception in 2004-2006 stemmed from policy goals by both the State of Georgia Forestry Commission and City of Atlanta Department of Parks to capture forested urban parcels before they were lost to the intense development pressures of that time. It was created through an assemblage of landlocked parcels, subdivision of extremely long residential lots, and incorporation of protected stream buffers from it’s initial size that has since grown through additional acquisitions, donation, and utilization of undeveloped rights of way as greenspace.
The lion’s share of KUF Preserve’s caretaking is done by the Friends of KUF Preserve and the Environmental Committee of the Kirkwood Neighbor’s Organization (KNO). Their partners are non-profits Trees Atlanta and Park Pride as well as City of Atlanta Department of Parks.
The Preserve’s care is based on the following core practices: - no impervious installations - no vehicular amenities - no plantings other than native non-invasive species - retention and re-use of all plant and compostable materials on site - minimization of herbicide use, typically to address encroaching invasive plants from adjoining properties - no pesticide use
Kirkwood Urban Forest Preserve (KUF)
Acreage | 8+ acres
Address | 1807 Dixie Street SE, 30317
Maintained by | Friends of Kirkwood Urban Forest Park, kuf@historickirkwood.org
GET INVOLVED
Friends of KUF Preserve
Facebook Group
Amenities
- Community garden
- Network of walking trails
- Picnic shelter
- Sandbox
- Spring fed stream
- Pedestrian bridge
- Approximately 300 hardwood trees augmented by hundreds of native non- invasive plantings. Many are flowering and fruit or berry producing species. - Pedestrian focus
KUF Preserve Metrics Park
Lands
Dearborn Parcel 48,900 sq. ft.
Core Forest 158,361 sq. ft.
Dixie Parcel 51,987 sq. ft.
Rogers Parcel 7,966 sq. ft.
Total 267,214 sq. ft. or 6.14 acres
Associated Rights of Way
Bixby Street 31,905 sq. ft.
Dixie Street 25,971 sq. ft.
Dearborn Street 3,952 sq.
Rogers Street SE 4,153 sq. ft.
Total 65,981 sq. ft. or 1.52 acres
Trails (Included in above totals)
Dixie - 486' (entrance to bottom of hill)
Flood Plain - 659'
Bixby - 562' (entrance to bottom of hill)
Rogers - 123' (end of Rogers Street to floodplain trail)
Total - 1830 linear feet - 7320 sq. ft. (based on standard 48" trail width)
Hardee Creek
Total Length 1.3 miles (from spring origin to Sugar Creek)
KUF Park Segment 526' Flows consistently at 4-8” depth even during severe droughts.
Plateau (Included in Park Lands Totals)
27,255 square feet GIS estimated. Does not include area of rubble down slope. Required 850+ cubic yards of woodchips to cover to a depth of 6-8”.