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To learn more about TWRA’s Private Lands Conservation Programs, visit tn.gov/twra/article/private-lands-conservation-programs.
Four years ago, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and Land Trust for Tennessee first noticed a 2,600-acre parcel of private land that could connect nearly 60,000 acres of already protected land.
Now that acreage, located in the midst of the Scott's Gulf canyon area of the Cumberland Plateau, is safe as well.
Preserved through a land sale and now managed by TWRA, the land isn't coveted simply for its connections, but for the endangered species that live within - such as the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis), the gray bat (Myotis grisescens) and the bluemask darter fish (Etheostoma akatulo) - and its crucial usage as a wildlife corridor for the creatures who call the land home.
Tim Churchill, chief of the agency's real estate division, called it a "high-priority preservation."
TWRA does not do much in the ways of land development for trail building and other activities, but Churchill says maintaining existing trails and providing opportunities for fishing and hunting is important.
"Our lands are just much more raw in character," he explains.
However, those 2,600 acres connect to lands that are renowned for both their natural beauty and amenities: Fall Creek Falls State Park, Virgin Falls State Natural Area, Bridgestone-Firestone Centennial Wilderness Wildlife Management Area, Lost Creek State Natural Area, Caney Fork River Gorge and more.
"This project helps to ensure the integrity of large, intact forests and safeguards the many benefits for wildlife and people they provide," says Peter Howell, executive vice president of the Open Space Institute, a national land preservation organization which contributed to the land parcel purchase. "It's a big coup for conservation."
The purchase was possible thanks to the interest of the landowners, Bobby and Joy Cunningham, who inherited the land and wanted to preserve it in memory of Bobby's father, but choosing the specific location was no happenstance, assures Emily Parish, senior conservation director for Land Trust for Tennessee.
"We literally had a map out looking at all the Cunningham land parcels and this one immediately popped out," Parish says, recalling the day the trust found out the couple was interested in donating some of their newly inherited land.