The Cahaba River gurgles through the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains as it winds its way 
along on its 190 mile journey from its headwaters in St. Clair County to its confluence with the Alabama River in Dallas County. On its southwesterly journey, the river passes through parts of St. Clair, Jefferson, Shelby, Bibb, Tuscaloosa, Chilton, Perry, and Dallas counties. The Cahaba is one of the state's last free-flowing rivers (others have been dammed for hydro-electric power), and it drains an area of approximately 1,825 square miles.
The Cahaba is one of the most biologically rich rivers in the nation. Beneath its waters, the
Cahaba is home to 131 different species of fish -- more species per mile than any river of its size in the country. It also provides habitat for fresh-water mussels and aquatic insects found nowhere else in the world.
The watershed also harbors a high diversity of plant life. In the mid 1990’s botanist Jim Allison happened upon a “botanical lost world” on the banks of the river in Bibb County. More than 61 rare plants were discovered at the Bibb County Glades. Eight of the species are new to science.
Perhaps the most well known plant, found wedged in the crevices of limestone rock in the middle of the river, is the celebrated Cahaba Lily (photo at left courtesy of Beth Maynor Young). In May, the river puts on a private show when the rare, endangered Cahaba Lily blooms among the rocks and wild water.
The Cahaba River basin hosts more than 100 rare and imperiled species including many snails, mussels and fish. Mussels include the
Alabama orb and Alabama rainbow and critically imperiled snails found nowhere else in the world include painted rocksnail, and Cahaba pebblesnail.
