Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation

Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation is a non-profit land trust, established in 1998 to protect natural and scenic land in Tennessee.[1] It is accredited by the Land Trust Alliance's Land Trust Accreditation Commission.[2][3] The foundation is supported by membership donations, individual philanthropy, and gifts of land from private landowners.

The foundation's mission is to conserve natural monuments such as waterfalls, bluffs and caves. Conservation of such features usually creates relatively small reserves that are not environmentally sustainable in isolation, so the foundation also aims to create corridors of conserved land to link these features and larger reserves (such as national parks and state parks), which are also called greenways.[4]

Acquisitions

Stillhouse Hollow Falls, a 90 acres (36 ha) tract including a 75 foot (23 m) waterfall, was acquired by the foundation in 2006 for $130,000 (equivalent to $164,871 in 2019). The tract was sold to the State of Tennessee for $97,500 (equivalent to $123,653 in 2019) for perpetual preservation as a natural reserve.[5][6]

Randolph Park Historic Park was established by the foundation in 2008 from the $378,000 (equivalent to $448,868 in 2019) purchase of 19 acres (7.7 ha) of the second Chickasaw Bluff by the Mississippi River.[7] The intention was to expand this to 1,000 acres (400 ha) along the Mississippi River through further acquisitions financed by gifts and government grants.[8]

In 2010, the foundation established Cummins Falls State Park, a day-use park of 211 acres (85 ha) including a 75 foot (23 m) waterfall popular for its natural swimming hole.[9][10] The natural pool was named by Travel + Leisure as one of America's best swimming holes.[11]

In 2017, the foundation entered into a conservation easement with Swan Conservation Trust to permanently preserve 1,358 acres (550 ha) of forest known as the Big Swan Headwaters Preserve, adjacent to The Farm in Lewis County, Tennessee.[12] The same year, the foundation purchased 1,000 acres of Grassy Cove, one of North America's largest sinkholes.[13] A portion of the Grassy Cove, known as Karst Area, was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1973, and the foundation raised $2.2 million to preserve the area.[13]

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References
  1. "TennGreen - Land Trust - Protecting Tennessee's natural treasures". tenngreen.org. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  2. "Nearly Three Dozen More Land Trusts Achieve Accreditation". landtrustalliance.org. 5 August 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  3. "Accredited Land Trusts" (PDF). Land Trust Accreditation Commission. 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  4. Williams, Kathleen (24 May 2016). "Tennessee needs greater emphasis on conservation". The Tennessean. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  5. Paine, Anne (14 January 2007). "Treasured land is protected" (PDF). The Tennessean. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  6. "Stillhouse Hollow Falls Class I Scenic-Recreational State Natural Area". tennessee.gov. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  7. Drake Silence, Sherri (20 November 2008). "Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation dedicates Randolph Bluff Historic Park in Tipton County : Millington Tipton". Memphis Commercial Appeal. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  8. Charlier, Tom (25 July 2010). "Good looks: Conservation efforts making a scene of Mississippi's bluff-top vistas". Memphis Commercial Appeal. Archived from the original on 28 July 2010. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  9. Wilson, Jessica (31 August 2010). "Southern Wanderings". southernwanderings.com. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  10. "Cummins Falls State Park". Tennessee State Parks. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  11. Bruneau, Alice. "Cummins Falls, Cookeville, TN". Travel + Leisure. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  12. "Big Swan Headwaters conserved for future generations". Herald Chronicle. Summertown, TN: Lakeway Publishers, Inc. 31 May 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  13. Nelson, Gary. "TennGreen protects 956 acres of Grassy Cove". Crossville Chronicle. Retrieved 2020-03-31.
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