Allen McCallie will be honored for his outstanding service and extraordinary commitment to conserving land for people across America.Chattanooga offers so many wonderful and well-used greenways and urban parks that it’s easy to forget how they came about. The time warp is understandable. An outdoor culture was always ours, even if natural areas were not always readily available and nurtured in our core urban areas.
The reality, however, is that it has taken countless volunteers and millions of dollars in public and private gifts — mostly private — to conceptualize, create and build the greenspace environment in our urban center that so many people now cherish, and that make our city a destination for tourism, new companies and new jobs.
We can’t begin to name all the volunteers who have quietly labored to give root to the Riverwalk and the immense network of connecting or adjacent greenways and parks that this work has inspired and spawned. But at least one star of the community’s green team has been identified. Allen McCallie, an attorney who for 15 years has focused much of his volunteer and legal work on arranging the land acquisitions and conservation easements that have become integral parts of our newer outdoor public spaces, has been awarded the highest honor given by the national office of The Trust for Public Land, the nation’s second largest land conservation organization.
McCallie will receive tonight the national TPL’s Douglas P. Ferguson Award, which is given for outstanding service and extraordinary commitment to conserving land for people across America.
McCallie has well earned the honor. An attorney with Miller & Martin PLLC, McCallie has long focused his practice on real estate, nonprofit organizations, conservation law and public and private nonprofit development initiatives. His blending of professional legal work in these areas along with his advocacy for land stewardship, volunteerism and civic advancement has paid off in an array of civic ventures.