Displaying items by tag: tenngreen land conservancy
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 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 share updates on current projects and the 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
- land conservation in tennessee
- tenngreen land conservancy
- cedar barren
- cedar barrens in tennessee
- cumberland plateau
- allen patton
- rockdale cedar glades and woodlands
- rutherford county land preservation
- leavenworthia stylosa
- grey bat
- myotis grisescens
- phemeranthus calcaricus
- phlox bifida
- echinacea tennesseensis
- astragalus tennesseensis
- 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.”