On Tuesday, April 23, the U.S. Forest Service International Programs and Environment for the Americas honored the Tennessee Parks & Greenways Foundation (TennGreen), the Open Space Institute (OSI), the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), and the U.S. Forest Service Southeast Division (USFS) with a Wings Across the Americas (WATA) Habitat Conservation Partnership Award!
This federal award, presented at the 2019 WATA Award Ceremony in Washington, D.C., recognizes the diverse group of conservation organizations for its collaborative effort to protect the Karst Forest at Grassy Cove. This land acquisition project, spearheaded in 2014 by TennGreen’s founder and former Executive Director, Kathleen Williams, protects 956 acres of karst forests on the Cumberland Plateau—one of the most biologically rich regions on Earth.
TennGreen transferred this property to TDEC in 2017 and, now under state management, it serves as a valuable addition to Justin P. Wilson Cumberland Trail State Park (“Cumberland Trail”).
Natural features of the land range from dramatic bluffs and boulder fields, to eight caves including the scenic Lost Waterfall, Spouting Dome, and Bear Den Mountain Caves. Prior to protection, the property was at serious risk of mineral extraction that would have destroyed habitat and impacted water quality.
Eighteen of Tennessee’s Species of Greatest Conservation Need are found there, including several species of bats that desperately need protected habitat due to population decline from the white-nose syndrome. The Cerulean Warbler, the fastest declining eastern songbird, is also found there, along with other priority species like the Wood Thrush, Kentucky Warbler, and Hooded Warbler.
In order to secure this important property, TennGreen launched a capital campaign that included various funding partners such as the Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service—who ranked this eighth in conservation priority in the U.S. to receive funding through a grant from the Forest Legacy Program.
Receiving the funds from the Forest Legacy Program allowed TennGreen to advance its effort through an additional grant of $600,000 from OSI. TennGreen’s Grassy Cove project was supported through OSI’s Resilient Landscapes Initiative and Southern Cumberland Protection Fund, which are made possible with funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Lyndhurst Foundation, Benwood Foundation and Merck Family Fund. These initiatives seek to build capacity of land trusts working to respond to climate change. Additionally, significant private funding was generously contributed to this effort, including a generous challenge gift by the late Shirley Caldwell-Patterson of Nashville, Tennessee.
The WATA awards recognize the achievements of Forest Service employees and their partners in bird, bat, butterfly and dragonfly conservation. The work is critical because of the unique ecological roles that many migratory species play.
2019 WATA Awardees include:
- Michael Murphy, Forest Legacy Program Coordinator, US Forest Service
- Tennessee Parks & Greenways Foundation (TennGreen)
- Open Space Institute (OSI)
- Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC)
- Tennessee Department of Agriculture – Division of Forestry (TDF)
- Shirley Caldwell-Patterson (posthumously)
- Kathleen Williams
Additional awardees include Lucius E. Burch Jr. Wildlife Habitat Fund, Levonn Hubbard, Tucker Foundation/Summerfield K Johnston Jr., Mary Lynn Dobson, Louise Gorenflo and Dennis Gregg, Cumberland Trails Conference, Tommy Kemmer and family, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, and the Honorable Lamar Alexander, U.S. Senate.
“We are proud to have led the way in this significant conservation initiative,” said TennGreen Executive Director, Steve Law. “Grassy Cove is a Tennessee treasure, and the opportunity to experience its natural beauty is a gift for generations.”
More photos from the 2019 WATA Awards ceremony can be found HERE.
To learn more about the Grassy Cove project, click here now.