Ducks Unlimited Park
In 2018, TennGreen Land Conservancy Board member Nick Nunn approached TennGreen’s leadership with a radical idea that he and some lifelong Memphians had been dreaming up for a while: acquiring, restoring, and protecting 1,500 acres of land directly across from downtown Memphis to create a new park.
The group envisioned a world-class passive park serving people across the Mid-South, with hiking and cycling trails, restored wetlands, and interpretive signage educating visitors about the park’s unique habitats. TennGreen recognized the incredible opportunity this potential park could bring to the area’s more than two million residents and quickly took action to make this dream a reality.
The first step in creating Ducks Unlimited Park—originally called Big River Park—was establishing Big River Park Conservancy (BRPC). BRPC is the nonprofit entity that will manage the land long-term. Chris Ware, TennGreen’s former general counsel and project manager, and Dow McVean, BRPC’s Chair, established BRPC and assembled its Board of Directors. BRPC’s Board includes representatives from TennGreen and others with a shared passion for the effort.
As TennGreen and BRPC made headway, two properties essential to the park vision went into foreclosure. TennGreen sprung into action, utilizing its Revolving Land Fund to acquire the properties, one of which enables future guests to enter the park from Big River Crossing—the longest public pedestrian bridge across the Mississippi. Outside of these two critical acquisitions, TennGreen staff continued negotiating with landowners to put additional properties under contract with BRPC. They also set the stage for this massive fundraising initiative, visiting with donors in the early phases of the campaign and preparing materials and shared language.
When word got out in the community about this tremendous undertaking, Ducks Unlimited (DU) joined the effort! As a global nonprofit headquartered in Memphis, DU understood the unlimited potential of the landscape. DU has long-standing relationships with many key funders in the Memphis area and significantly bolstered the fundraising effort for this project. In addition, DU donated $1 million to BRPC for the future park, an astounding gift from a nonprofit.
This partnership has been instrumental in all aspects of this endeavor. Now, the next stage of the process begins. With the park plans nearly complete, restoration work—which includes a comprehensive wetlands conservation effort to restore the land to its natural habitat—will start soon.