Halley Cotton is a poet, naturalist, and English instructor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Raised in central Alabama, her first experience with the Cahaba was through the Shane Hulsey C.L.E.A.N. program. A 2022 Alabama State Council on the Arts poetry fellow, she used the grant to fund The Cahaba Project: a solo, 180-mile, 11-day poetry and photojournalistic exploration of the Cahaba River. Details of this journey can be found at TheCahabaProject.substack.com. Her work with the river leads to collaboration with UAB students and the Cahaba River Society.