Displaying items by tag: conservation easement
A hidden prairie treasure comes to light in East Tennessee
Whorled rosinweed is among the many types of native grassland plants that emerged from a clearcut. The property in Meigs County near Georgetown is now protected in part by the Foothills Land Conservancy. Shelby Lyn Sanders
FLC biologist makes an unexpected discovery in Georgetown, Tenn.
Shelby Lyn Sanders is director of natural resources for the Blount County-based Foothills Land Conservancy.
GEORGETOWN — What started as a simple search for a peaceful retreat turned into an extraordinary ecological discovery.
When Mr. Owen purchased his land near Georgetown, he was looking for a place to hunt, hike and escape city life. Little did he know he’d become the guardian of one of Tennessee’s rare prairie gems.
The property’s true identity emerged when the Foothills Land Conservancy’s director of natural resources (the author of this piece) spotted something remarkable during her first visit — prairie dock, a telltale sign of native grassland heritage. This wasn’t just any piece of land; it was a lost prairie awakening from decades of forest cover, less than a half mile from the historic Gunstocker Glade along Highway 58.
The timing was perfect. A 2022 clearcut had inadvertently liberated this sleeping prairie, allowing it to breathe and bloom for the first time in generations. By its second year, the land burst into life, revealing an astonishing diversity that had laid dormant for years.
Here’s an aerial view of the Owen property in Meigs County northeast of Chattanooga on the eastern Cumberland Plateau escarpment. Native prairie plants emerged from the site of a clearcut, yielding a surprisingly vital piece of prairie. Shelby Lyn Sanders
Latest Foothills Land Conservancy easement preserves history, farm and forest
A view across the Holston River toward Sleeping Lady in the distance. Foothills Land Conservancy
Jefferson County views and values protected with Foothills Land Conservancy easement
Shelby Lyn Sanders is a field biologist with Foothills Land Conservancy.
JEFFERSON CITY — Can you see the Sleeping Lady?
We are standing on the back porch of the historic Isaac McBee House, built in 1850, and I follow Jack Kramer’s gaze across the back lawn, over McBee Island flanked by the cold March waters of the Holston River, and to the mountains in the distance.
“She’s easier to see this time of year,” he says, because those distant hills are unobscured by the foliage of trees still nakedly waiting for spring. Indeed, I can see her — she lies with her head to the west and her toes stretched out to the east, the hills forming the rise and fall of her body.
Foothills Land Conservancy saved some green in 2021
Maryville-based FLC is finalizing this year’s remaining land preservation projects
131 acres in Jefferson County, TN, now preserved!
Left: Outstanding views atop this recently preserved property with cosmos blooms in foreground.
Middle: Spring-fed pond on the property.
Right: Mature forest on the west side of the property. Touch here for additional images
To date in 2021, FLC has worked with landowners to assist in the conservation of over 1,300 acres. It anticipates a few thousand more acres protected by year's end.
Highlights from the past year
Glenn and Katie Savage are two of FLC’s newest friends and partners in land conservation.
They recently placed a conservation easement on their 131-acre property, affectionately named Dancing Winds Wildlife Sanctuary and Arboretum, which is “dedicated to the preservation and protection of God’s glorious creations — plants and animals.”
Glenn has cultivated over 400 different types of trees which are planted across the property and lovingly tends his home garden full of a variety of beautiful and unique flowers.
The Savages have several fields planted in corn/grain sorghum as well as a variety of oaks and other mast-producing trees to supplement the diet of the countless white-tailed deer and turkeys that call their property home.
Glen and Katie are also avid birdwatchers and provide many types of feeders for their winged backyard visitors. The Savages say that protecting their beloved property and knowing that it will forever remain a safe haven for wildlife has given them peace of mind, and Glenn hopes in the future to convince some of his neighbors to partner with FLC to protect their land, too.
Tap here for additional images
Preserving our heritage: Foothills Land Conservancy reaches 135,000-acre milestone
A view of some of the land preserved by Foothills Land Conservancy on the Cumberland Plateau. Courtesy Foothills Land Conservancy
Foothills Land Conservancy preserves land and multiple habitats across seven states
Foothills Land Conservancy rang in the new year with the preservation of 250 undeveloped acres along the Little Pigeon River in a rapidly growing area of Sevier County in East Tennessee.
The deal was finalized in late 2020 — a fitting end to the Blount County conservancy’s 35th year.
Foothills Land Conservancy has protected about 135,000 acres in seven states, including 95,000 acres in East Tennessee, since its inception in 1985. For comparison’s sake, that’s nearly a third of the protected land that encompass the 500,000-acre Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Most of that land has been acquired since 2006, when former state Sen. Bill Clabough became executive director.
“We’ve been really growing and expanding,” Clabough said late last year from the conservancy headquarters on the century-old Harris family farm in Rockford.
The farm itself is under a conservation easement, one of several ways the conservancy preserves and protects natural and agricultural lands.
“When you do good work you don’t have to do a lot of advertising,” said Clabough, 69, a likable former country store owner and Wildwood native whose political public service came to an end in 2005 when the moderate Republican incumbent was defeated by a firebrand conservative in the Senate GOP primary.
“It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Clabough said of his primary defeat.