GULF SHORES, Ala. — Gulf State Park is doing just fine, thank you. Yes, this is the same park you heard so much about over the last several weeks. There was a hard-to-fight wildfire in part of the park that scorched more than 1,000 acres of the 6,150-acre park at the end of June and early July 2011.

Visitors will have the chance to see nature healing itself. According to Kelly Reetz, the park’s naturalist, “It was one of the best things that has happened to the park. Two weeks after the fire, we could see green shoots coming up.”

Reetz noted that the fire did not touch the cabins and facilities built after Hurricane Ivan devastated the park, and except for the Alligator Trail, all the park’s trails and other amenities, like the longest fishing pier in the area and about five miles of sugar-white beach, are open.

“The Alligator Trail is so hot right now, your sneakers would melt,” she said.

Reetz hopes Sandhill cranes, a type of bird that does not like woody areas, will now take up residence in the park during their migration. The birds are gray with a wingspan of six to seven feet.

The best part, Reetz says, is that nobody has to do anything to attract the birds to the park.

“They will just see it (the burned area),” said Reetz, smiling in anticipation. She pointed out the fire was in an area where for years park managers had been hoping to set “controlled burns,” but could not do so because of weather conditions.

Park aside, the Nature Center is one of the coast’s hidden gems. Visitors will find stuffed and mounted examples of the region’s fauna inside the center, including gopher tortoises rescued after the fire.

The tortoises are only temporary visitors, however, while park staff makes sure they are well, and there is a place for them to reenter the wild.

There are a number of permanent guests at the center, including a cat found in the park after Hurricane Ivan, some additional tortoises that lumber on the floor to the delight of visiting children and Archimedes, a 2-year-old female gray-phase screech owl, who lost an eye when she flew into a car in the park. She is well now, but probably would not be able to hunt for herself with just one eye. So, she serves an important function — teaching people about the animals in the park.

“She makes sounds sometime when children come up to her cage,” said Reetz.

There are also tanks at the center containing other hard-shell creatures, including the red-bellied turtle (Alabama’s state reptile).

Even baby alligators from Summerdale call the Nature Center home. Reetz says it is easier to obtain the baby gators from the Alligator Alley attraction than it is traveling to nests and gathering them on her own. Safer, too.

Reetz says the bigger animals, especially the mammals, are out at dawn and dusk and hide from people. Coming to the center enables folks to learn about the animals, large and small, who share the park with humans.

Reetz noted the Nature Center has a number of educational programs every week. They range from video presentations to nature walks and demonstrations. The best way to find out what’s up is to go to the park’s website, www.alapark.com/gulfstate and click on the “Nature Programs & Events” link on the left side of the page.

“We are balancing conservation and human use, recreation,” said Reetz. “We want people to use the park and enjoy it, but still protect the animals and habitat.”

The park is open Monday-Saturday, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. It is closed during regularly scheduled offsite programs such as guided tours of the park.

To get there, head down Alabama 59 and turn left onto Alabama 182. A few miles down the road is Gulf State Park. Follow State Road 2 to the large blue water tower (there’s a large brown sign along 182 to help guide you). You’ll be in the middle of Gulf State Park.

Just a short distance down the road is the Nature Center. Admission is $1 per carload.

For more information, call 251-948-7275 (Ext. 124) or email gulfnaturecenter.statepark@dcnr.alabama.gov.