TennGreen Land Conservancy, formerly the Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation,[1] is a non-profit land trust, established in 1998 to protect natural and scenic land in Tennessee.[2] It is accredited by the Land Trust Alliance's Land Trust Accreditation Commission.[3][4] The foundation is supported by membership donations, individual philanthropy, and gifts of land from private landowners.
| Formation | 1998 |
|---|---|
| Type | Nonprofit |
| 62-1557574 | |
| Legal status | 501(c)(3) |
| Headquarters | Nashville, Tennessee |
Board President | Mark Peacock |
Executive Director | Alice Hudson Pell |
| Mark Peacock; Bob Sarratt; Charles Askew; Anne Davis; Matthew J. Mcclanahan; Ryan Bailey; Marcya A Carter-Sheats; Scott Bowman; Green Faircloth; John Fenderson; Jim Garages; Laurel Graefe; Christopher C. Haigler; Jacqueline Harp; Les Mcdonald; Christy Moberly; Nick Nunn; Alice Hudson Pell; Terrell Pickett; Bob Sarratt; Alan Webb; Melinda Welton; | |
| Website | https://tenngreen.org/ |
Formerly called | Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation |
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.[5]
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 $196,481 in 2023). The tract was sold to the State of Tennessee for $97,500 (equivalent to $147,361 in 2023) for perpetual preservation as a natural reserve.[6][7]
Randolph Park Historic Park was established by the foundation in 2008 from the $378,000 (equivalent to $534,926 in 2023) purchase of 19 acres (7.7 ha) of the second Chickasaw Bluff by the Mississippi River.[8] 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.[9]
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.[10][11] The natural pool was named by Travel + Leisure as one of America's best swimming holes.[12]
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.[13] The same year, the foundation purchased 1,000 acres of Grassy Cove, one of North America's largest sinkholes.[14] 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.[14]