Displaying items by tag: tenngreen land conservancy
TennGreen Land Conservancy expands Cumberland Trail
The cerulean warbler is among the bird species and others that will benefit from the latest land acquisition to expand the Cumberland Trail near the Emory River in Tennessee. Wikipedia Commons
Nature Conservancy partners on Emory River watershed protection
WARTBURG — TennGreen Land Conservancy acquired about 58 acres near Wartburg to expand the Justin P. Wilson Cumberland Trail State Park and the Cumberland Trail. This important acquisition strengthens the long-term vision of connecting Tennessee’s first linear park from the Morgan County Visitor Center to Frozen Head State Park.
“TennGreen has long been committed to advancing the vision of the Cumberland Trail, and this acquisition represents an important step in enhancing trail connectivity while protecting ecologically rich lands,” said Alice Hudson Pell, TennGreen’s Executive Director.
The newly acquired property lies within several significant conservation planning areas, including the Catoosa, Frozen Head, and Upper Cumberland Areas of Interest (as designated by the Heritage Conservation Trust Fund) and the Catoosa/Emory River Conservation Opportunity Area. It also provides vital habitat for high-priority species including green salamanders (Aneides aeneus) and cerulean warblers (Setophaga cerulea).
Conservation allies save Hatchie River watershed from auction block
The Hatchie River in McCrairy County, Tennessee is known for both its ecological value and its recreational value. TennGreen Land Conservancy
TennGreen secures protection for last unchanneled tributary of Mississippi River
Jon. D. Bumpus is TennGreen Land Conservancy communications director.
SELMER — TennGreen Land Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy in Tennessee, and The Conservation Fund joined forces to protect 1,273 acres of ecologically rich bottomland hardwood forest and wetlands along the Hatchie and Tuscumbia rivers in McNairy and Hardeman counties. The conservation of this land is a milestone achievement in one of Tennessee’s most treasured and threatened river systems.
Late in the fall of 2024, the Hatchie River Conservancy alerted TennGreen that the property was headed to auction in just two weeks. Time was of the essence. The tract, slated for sale in six parcels, each in separate auctions, was at risk of becoming permanently fragmented. TennGreen and partners negotiated a delay, secured an appraisal, made a direct offer, and successfully canceled the auction.
In 2025, the property was officially acquired, funded in part by the Heritage Conservation Trust Fund, and is now under the jurisdiction of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA). This landscape will become a publicly accessible Wildlife Management Area, providing not only critical habitat but also new opportunities for outdoor recreation in West Tennessee.
Flowing freely through the hills and bottomlands of six Tennessee counties, the Hatchie River is the last unchanneled, free-flowing tributary of the lower Mississippi River. Its 238 miles wind through dense forests, canebrakes, and swamps, supporting astonishing biodiversity.
February Green Drinks meetup highlights TennGreen
KNOXVILLE — Meet representatives of a budding land conservancy and raise a glass and network to support conservation.
This month’s installment of Green Drinks Knoxville, is set for 7-8 p.m. Feb. 12, 2025 at Albright Grove Brewing Company, 2924 Sutherland Ave.
This meetup Knoxville features TennGreen Land Conservancy Executive Director Alice Hudson Pell and Matthew McClanahan, East Tennessee Vice President. They will share updates on current projects and TennGreen’s 2024-2029 Strategic Plan.
Saving barrens full of life
Tennessee coneflower is seen in Couchville cedar glade, a prime example of cedar glade habitat that is a target of preservationists — such as the land acquired recently in Rutherford County by TennGreen Land Conservancy. The Couchville property is managed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. It is similar in nature to the TennGreen property in Rutherford County, and is part of a nexus of such glades around the Cumberland Plateau. According to TDEC: “Couchville supports one of the largest known and best quality populations of the Tennessee coneflower (Echinacea tennesseensis), which was delisted as a federally endangered species in September 2011. Couchville also provides one of the finest examples of a glade-barrens complex and protects many rare plant species. The glades are distributed where limestone outcropping and shallow soils limit growth of perennial plants and support annual species like leavenworthia, sporobolus, and sedum. The barrens species, that also includes Tennessee coneflower, occur where soils increase and grasses like little bluestem and side oats grama become dominant. The glades and barrens interface forming a complex.” Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
Cedar glade habitat protected in fast-growing Tennessee county
MURFREESBORO — To close out 2024, TennGreen Land Conservancy and Allen Patton protected 50 acres of globally unique cedar glade habitat in Middle Tennessee’s Rutherford County with a conservation easement.
Called Rockdale Cedar Glades and Woodlands, Patton’s land abuts TennGreen’s Lamar Cedar Glades & Woodlands Conservation Easement, increasing this connected corridor of protected land to an expansive 256 acres. Limestone cedar glades and barrens, which are incredibly diverse but under threat from development and pollution, are found on the protected properties. This additional 50-acre easement is also within the Spring Creek HUC 12 Watershed and the Stones River Upper HUC 12 Watershed, marking it as critical habitat.
(Hellbender Press has previously reported on the special nature and importance of cedar barrens, including one located in Oak Ridge, just on the cusp of the Cumberland Plateau, which is better known for its cedar glades).
Cedar gladecress (Leavenworthia stylosa) during a prescribed burn at Couchville State Natural Area; this wildflower is only found in the Central Basin of Tennessee. TDEC
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- tenngreen land conservancy
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- rutherford county land preservation
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- myotis grisescens
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- phlox bifida
- echinacea tennesseensis
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- tennessee state wildlife action plan
Preservation of Hamblen County property protects the seldom-seen Tennessee trillium
Tennessee trillium is among the beneficiaries of a partnership between the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the land conservancy TennGreen that protected the rare flower’s limited habitat in Hamblen County, Tenn. Photo illustration courtesy of TennGreen
60-acre Union Grove acquisition marks first protection of imperiled Tennessee trillium, unknown to scientists until only 2013
MORRISTOWN — In May 2023, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) alerted TennGreen Land Conservancy that a 60-acre swath of land nestled in the forests of Hamblen County known as Union Grove was for sale in East Tennessee. Most interestingly: The property contains some of the only known populations of a native trillium that were described for the first time only 20 years ago.
Union Grove’s owner first alerted University of Tennessee botanists and researchers to the unusual trillium in hopes of safeguarding both the wildflowers and the forests they live within. The botanists realized the trillium was nothing they nor other botanists had encountered and described it as “new to science” in 2013. To date, the Tennessee trillium (Trillium tennesseense) has only been found in the Bays Mountain formation areas in Hamblen and Hawkins counties.
Until this successful collaboration, Trillium tennesseense existed only in private, unprotected areas such as the project landowner’s property. The landowner was moving out of Tennessee, and wished to sell their property to an organization that would value it and seek to protect its incredible habitat. TennGreen Land Conservancy stepped in to quickly acquire the property.
TennGreen then transferred the property to TDEC in June 2024.
Down the river toward a distant creek
Launching a raft for the rapids on the Ocoee River to raise awareness for TennGreen’s effort to acquire land along Clear Creek in Morgan County. Ben Pounds/Hellbender Press
A raft trip on the Ocoee helped save faraway Clear Creek
DUCKTOWN — We threw our backs into paddling as the raft dipped and crested.
We were on the Ocoee River in southeastern Tennessee, but Clear Creek, 118 miles away in Morgan County, was the reason for the occasion.
I joined the group, some of whom were staying in nearby cabins overnight, for rafting and a cookout.
It was part of a TennGreen push to buy and preserve 180 acres of land along Clear Creek. It will then sell 23 of those acres, which includes a house. It will donate the rest to the Obed Wild and Scenic River, an adjoining federal conservation area.
Cool water deluged us, rapid after rapid. In one case we spun with momentum. We high-fived with our paddles when we hit clear spots after a successful run.
That evening, we unwound with hot dogs, burgers both vegetarian and meat, potato salad and s’mores among other treats at the Cabins at Copperhill.
TennGreen Deputy director Christie Henderson said buying the Clear Creek land would allow for a connected wilderness area in which plants and animals could have a safe corridor. It also would preserve the view of the night sky from potential light from new houses.
Big South Fork closes 60-acre donut hole
National Park Service
Land conservancy and estate of long-ago German immigrant expands protection of North White Oak Creek
Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area has grown inward by 60 acres.
The National Park Service announced this week that it officially acquired the donated acreage along North White Oak Creek within Big South Fork. It had previously been in private ownership.
The Allardt Land Company and the estate of Bruno Gernt (a remarkable individual in his own right) originally donated the approximately 60 acres within the boundaries of Big South Fork to TennGreen Land Conservancy. In December 2021, TennGreen transferred the property to the National Park Service.
“This tract provides essential protection for the south side of North White Oak Creek, a popular area in the southwest portion of the (125,000-acre park that straddles the Tennessee and Kentucky state lines in the Cumberlands).
“Park visitors will now forever be able to enjoy peaceful views across the creek of an oak-hickory and northern hardwood forest canopy,” Superintendent Niki Stephanie Nicholas said in a press release.
“We truly appreciate the Allardt Land Company, Estate of Bruno Gernt, and TennGreen for their generosity.”