Star Branch Headwaters
In July 2022, TennGreen Land Conservancy partnered with Swan Conservation Trust (SCT) to protect 141 acres of land known as “Star Branch Headwaters” with a conservation easement. This primarily forested wetland property is located in Lewis County near Summertown, Tennessee, and is adjacent to Big Swan Headwaters Preserve, a 1,358-acre treasure protected by the two partners in 2017. Conservation of Star Branch Headwaters enlarges the Preserve and ensures its woods, wetlands, and the rare plants that call it home will survive and thrive forever.
When Star Branch Headwaters became available for sale in 2020, SCT approached TennGreen for assistance in purchasing and conserving the land. In early 2021, Mary Lynn Dobson, a long-time Board member and generous supporter of TennGreen, actively responded to the call by acquiring the tract and taking it off the market, allowing SCT to have the crucial time it needed to fundraise and secure grant funding for the land acquisition.
During that time, SCT secured a $75,000 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) Small Grants Program. In April 2022, the NAWCA funds were put toward the acquisition of Star Branch Headwaters from Ms. Dobson. As part of the grant deliverables, SCT and TennGreen worked together to place a conservation easement on the land, protecting its woods, waters, and wetlands in perpetuity. As the easement will remain with the property forever, TennGreen staff will visit the land annually to ensure the agreement’s terms are upheld.
Star Branch Headwaters gets its name from the Star Branch stream, which flows through the property for more than three-quarters of a mile. Waters on the land continue downstream into the protected Big Swan Headwaters Preserve, part of the Lower Duck River watershed. In addition to the streams, Star Branch Headwaters contains nearly an acre of a calcareous seep wetland. Waters from Star Branch Headwaters flow toward Highland Rim Parnassia Seepage fens—a wetland community known to provide habitat for Large-leaved Grass-of-Parnassus (Parnassia grandifolia), two species of sedges (Carex leptalea and C. lurida), and the small-headed rush (Juncus brachycephalus).
Star Branch Headwaters is also close to The Farm—an intentional community established in the 1970s. Another property protected by TennGreen and SCT, known as “Rockdale Trace,” is also close by. Star Branch Headwaters, along with these other protected properties, falls within numerous areas of conservation importance, including the Western Highland Rim Forests—a Conservation Opportunity Area designated by the Tennessee State Wildlife Action Plan—and a Climate Corridor Focal Area that TennGreen has identified as a priority in its Strategic Land Conservation Plan, created in partnership with The Nature Conservancy in 2019. In addition, this entire headwaters area has been explored and monitored by birders for over thirty years, finding that the high-quality forest and grassland habitats support 13 forest and grassland Priority Birds, as listed by Partners in Flight and the Joint Venture for the Central Hardwoods Bird Conservation Area.
If you’re interested in conserving your land, trust TennGreen’s proven environmental stewards to guide you through your options. To learn more about conservation easements, click here.