Land Trust for Tennessee

Working farms and forests

Of the 300 projects the Land Trust has completed across the state, more than 100 of those are working farms consisting of 27,000 acres, and 18 of those are “Century Farms” owned and continuously operated by the same family for more than 100 years.

Farms and forests account for more than 90 percent of Tennessee’s landscape, and farming and forestry account for 14.7 percent of the state’s economic activity. The heaviest concentrations of the Land Trust’s conserved farms are in the fast-growing Middle Tennessee counties around Nashville, in two parts of the Tennessee Valley, Upper East Tennessee, and the counties surrounding Chattanooga in the southeastern region of the state.

Recreational and scenic lands

The Land Trust partners with Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the National Park Service and local governments to acquire and protect land for public use.

The Land Trust also supports the protection of scenic landscapes visible from public land, rivers and roads. The Land Trust has protected 175 miles of scenic public road frontage and more than 27,000 acres that are open to the public for recreation.

Of the 100,000 acres that the Land Trust has protected, 44,000 of those are on the Cumberland Plateau, the western-most Appalachian range in southeast Tennessee. The Land Trust has worked to expand land and public access to South Cumberland State Park, Fiery Gizzard, the Mountain Goat Trail, Fall Creek Falls, Burgess Falls and (in cooperation with Sewanee, The University of the South) Lost Cove and Shakerag Hollow. The Land Trust holds conservation easements on public parkland to ensure that it will forever be used for parks and public recreation. Some of these parks include Shelby Farms Park in Memphis, Tenn., Nashville’s old growth Hill Forest addition to the Warner Parks, Fairview’s Bowie Nature Park, and Harlinsdale Farm Park in Franklin, Tenn.

The Land Trust is the state of Tennessee’s partner for the Justin P. Wilson Cumberland Trail State Park, a long-distance footpath extending 282 miles from the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park to Signal Point in the Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park. With Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the Friends of Radnor Lake, the Land Trust has partnered to expand the boundary of Radnor Lake State Natural Area, Nashville’s 1,268-acre urban wilderness.

The Land Trust protects over 4,000 acres in more than two dozen projects along the Tennessee corridor of the Natchez Trace Parkway, the 445-mile linear National Park stretching from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee.

The Land Trust protects lands within scenic river corridors including the Hiwassee River in East Tennessee, the Duck and Harpeth Rivers in Middle Tennessee, and the Hatchie River in West Tennessee. A recent recreational project was completed in May 2015 by the Land Trust, Tennessee River Gorge Trust, the Conservation Fund, Harvey Cameron, and the Southeastern Climbers Coalition. The project protects Castle Rock in Marion County, one of the Southeast’s top rock climbing sites.

Historic properties

In 2010, protection of historic properties earned the Land Trust for Tennessee an honor award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. As of 2015, the Land Trust has helped protect 12 properties on the National Register of Historic Places, 18 Tennessee Century Farms, 12 sites with critical American Indian history, and 10 significant Civil War properties, including sites in Franklin, Nashville, Thompson’s Station and New Johnsonville.

The Land Trust works to preserve the community character of Tennessee towns through projects such as the protection of the scenic gateways in the Leiper’s Fork community of Williamson County. Near The Hermitage, a national historic landmark in Nashville-Davidson County, the Land Trust holds an easement that protects a 146-acre contiguous farm on land once owned by President Andrew Jackson and Rachel Jackson.

The Land Trust owns Glen Leven Farm, a 65-acre working farm just four miles from the center of Nashville that includes a Greek Revival home built in 1857. In late 2006, the historic home and farm were left to the Land Trust by the late Susan M. West, a descendant of Thomas Thompson who acquired 647 acres through a Revolutionary Land Grant in 1790. Working with Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA) there is a sustainable cattle grazing demonstration area at Glen Leven Farm. Jackalope Brewery of Nashville, Tenn. grows hops on a section of the farm and gives the Land Trust a portion of the proceeds from the sale of certain seasonal beers. Since 2008, the Land Trust for Tennessee’s Glen Leven Farm has partnered with Double H Farms – The Hermitage Hotel’s Sustainable Farming Project. Tyler Brown, Executive Chef of The Hermitage Hotel’s Capitol Grille, and his team plant and maintain an heirloom garden at Glen Leven Farm. The Hermitage Hotel supports the organization through a program whereby guests donate $3 per room night to the Land Trust for Tennessee for land conservation across the state and to support education and outreach efforts at Glen Leven Farm. In 2012, the arboretum at Glen Leven Farm was established through the Nashville Tree Foundation and includes the largest mass of American Yellowwood in the United States, a White Ash, a Basswood, an American Ash, a Dogwood, a Ginkgo, a Black Walnut, a Sugar Maple, a Chinkapin Oak, a Laurel Oak, a Pecan, a Hedge Maple and a massive Trifoliate Orange tree – all winners of the Nashville Tree Foundation’s Big Old Tree Contest.

Glen Leven Farm also hosts educational programs such as the Land Trust’s “Nature’s Classroom Field Trip Program” for school groups. The program meets state curriculum standards and exposes students to a natural, historic and agricultural landscape, providing an enriched learning experience outside of the classroom.

Urban open space

The Land Trust for Tennessee partnered with The Office of the Mayor and The Conservation Fund to spearhead Nashville: Naturally, a plan that catalogues protected open space in Davidson County and charts the course for how to protect and connect this green infrastructure. Released in 2011, the plan calls for improving the Cumberland River system; supporting a sustainable local food supply through urban and rural farming; improving public health by making it easier for people to bike, walk and play; and protecting scenic and historic places. The plan envisions connected open space in the four corners of Davidson County through protected lands at key points along the Cumberland River, including a greener downtown. A recommendation in Nashville: Naturally is the addition of parkland in the county’s southeast quadrant, the fastest-growing and most underserved area of the county. In response, the Land Trust is working in cooperation with the Metropolitan Board of Parks and Recreation to acquire land for parks and for extensions of the Mill Creek Greenway, including the 60-acres that the partnership added to Mill Creek Park in 2014. In 2012, the Land Trust assisted with the acquisition of the former Cornelia Fort Airpark, adding it to the Shelby Bottoms Greenway and Nature Park in East Nashville. The implementation of Nashville: Naturally has also included 181 new acres of parkland adjacent to the Stones River Greenway; 10 conservation easements: seven in the West Meade neighborhood, two Civil War battlefields and one large forested property; and the addition of over 63.5 acres to Radnor Lake State Natural Area. To green the urban core of Nashville, the Land Trust’s projects include protection of Ernest and Berdelle Campbell’s 30-year-old, quarter-acre garden in the historic but rapidly developing Germantown District, and a half-acre private park in front of The Adelicia in Midtown Nashville that is modeled after Gramercy Park in New York City.

Wildlife habitat

The Land Trust’s preservation of farms, forests, parks, riparian corridors and wetlands helps ensure that Tennessee remains the nation’s most biodiverse non-coastal state. The Land Trust provides resources and educates owners of Land Trust-protected land about best practices to restore, maintain and enhance wildlife habitat. The Land Trust’s work in partnership with Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency on the Blythe Ferry project protected migratory land for 48,000 Sandhill Cranes and a significant point on The Trail of Tears. The Lost Cove project is an example of the organization’s work to protect wildlife corridors. In partnership with Sewanee, The University of the South, the Land Trust protected 3,000 acres of land which contains portions of Lost and Champion Coves adjacent to The University of the South. The parcel is now owned and managed by The University of the South for use as an outdoor academic laboratory and for recreation. This project links large protected tracts including the 8,000-acre Franklin State Forest, two State Natural Areas, Buggy Top Cave and Natural Bridge, creating and conserving large-scale wildlife corridors. The project, originated by the Land Trust to acquire and protect the property, culminated in the successful Lost Cove Campaign, a community fund-raising effort that generated $4.3 million for the purchase. The undertaking received a 2009 Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award because it “incorporates innovative conservation practices to protect Tennessee’s rich wildlife diversity, abundant soil, forest resources and exceptional recreational opportunities.”

Watershed protection

The Land Trust works to conserve lands that border rivers, lakes and streams to create natural buffers that filter pollution to protect both groundwater and surface water quality for human and wildlife health.

The Duck River runs entirely in Tennessee and is North America’s most biologically diverse inland freshwater ecosystem. The Land Trust protects more than 10,000 acres within the Duck River Watershed. Other focal watersheds include the Harpeth, Red, Buffalo, Watauga and Hiwassee Rivers and Oostanaula Creek.

Conservation easements

Voluntary conservation easements [also referred to as conservation agreements] are voluntary agreements between the Land Trust and landowner that restrict the development of a property and conserve the natural and cultural features in perpetuity. Conservation easements are the most prevalent conservation method employed by the Land Trust.

Conservation easements are customized and permanently ensure that the land will retain its conservation values. A conservation easement on a landscape with rare and endangered species might prohibit further development, while an easement on an agricultural property would likely allow farming and even construction of barns.

A conservation easement may apply to only a portion of the property, and need not require public access. Land owners continue to own and use their land and may sell their property or pass it on to heirs with the restrictions in place. Through its stewardship program, the Land Trust is responsible for ensuring that the easement is upheld in perpetuity. While most owners donate easements without compensation and bear their own transaction costs, the Land Trust maintains a fund to assist farmers who need help with the transaction costs. In most cases, landowners who donate a conservation easement are eligible for a federal tax benefit under the IRS IRC Section 170(h) and estate tax benefits under IRS section 2031 (c).

According to the Land Trust Alliance, “One of the most important incentives is the federal conservation tax deduction, which allows landowners to deduct all or part of the value of a donated easement from their taxable income. In 2006, Congress passed the Enhanced Easement Incentive Act, which increased the value of the tax deduction for many landowners — with great results. With the enhanced incentive in place, the pace of voluntary, private land conservation increased by roughly 33%, topping one million acres per year. However, Congress allowed the Enhanced Easement Incentive Act to expire at the end of 2014. Reinstating the enhanced incentive is a top priority for the Alliance and the Land Trust community.”

Limited funding from two federal programs is available to selected owners - the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program through Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA) and the Forest Legacy Program through the US Forest Service. Compensation is also available for selected easements near the U.S. Army’s Fort Campbell near Clarksville under the Army Compatible Use Buffer Program.

Acquisitions

Because of the complexity of property acquisitions by government entities, the Land Trust assists by acquiring potential parkland and wildlife habitat to transfer to the public. This often occurs when the opportunity to purchase will be available for only a limited time, and the Land Trust can move more quickly than government entities. The Land Trust often assists in securing private dollars and works with other conservation partners to supplement state and federal resources. Additions to the Radnor Lake State Natural Area and acquisitions for the South Cumberland State Park followed this process.

Donations

The Land Trust also accepts outright donations of land to the organization. In general, gifts of land fall into two categories: lands with conservation value (e.g. farms, lands with rare and endangered species, historic lands) and trade lands (e.g. commercial buildings, condos, suburban or urban homes).

If there are conservation values, most often the organization puts a conservation easement on the land and then sells the land to help fund future work.

If it is a trade land, the organization generally sells the property without restrictions to support conservation work. Donations of land may be outright or devised through estate planning.

Focus areas

The Land Trust conserves land throughout Tennessee, but has identified several geographic areas of special emphasis because of scenic, historic or ecological qualities or because landscapes are under threat.

Geographic focus areas, some of which overlap, are: (1) The Natchez Trace Corridor/Williamson County; (2) Middle Tennessee farmland; (3) Duck River watershed; (4) greater Chattanooga region of southeast Tennessee; (5) Nashville-Davidson County; (6) Hunt Country of Giles and Marshall Counties; (7) South Cumberland Plateau/Sequatchie Valley; (8) Historic Lynchburg; (9) Red River watershed; and (10) farmland and forest in Upper East Tennessee.

Formation of the Land Trust for Tennessee

The force behind the creation of the Land Trust in 1999 was Phil Bredesen, who served as mayor of Nashville-Davidson County (1991-1999) and later as governor of Tennessee (2003-2011). He organized the Land Trust, served as its first chair, and recruited Nashvillian Jean C. Nelson - former general counsel to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - to serve as president and executive director. The founders studied a number of existing land trusts to determine the best structure and practices, receiving assistance from the Minnesota Land Trust in particular.

The Land Trust for Tennessee’s first project was a conservation easement donated by Aubrey Preston in December 1999 on his farm in Leiper’s Fork in Williamson County, one of the 50 fastest growing U.S. counties. Of the first 20 Land Trust projects, all but four were in Williamson County, which is home to more Land Trust projects than any other Tennessee county. The Land Trust for Tennessee now has over 300 projects across the state.

Organizational structure

The Land Trust is governed by a board of more than 30 members who serve staggered terms of three years with a limit of three terms. The board selects its own members, elects a chair, and meets several times each year. Among other duties, the board approves all conservation projects as well as the annual budget. The staff is headed by the president. A CEO works on special projects and initiatives. There are generally 16 staff members, most of whom work out of the Nashville headquarters. Two staff members work out of the Chattanooga regional office and two out of an office at Glen Leven Farm.

Partners

Much of the Land Trust’s work is in partnership with other non-profit organizations and with a variety of federal, state, and local governmental agencies.

The list of public entities includes: Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA), Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency as well as local parks departments.

The Land Trust partners with the U.S. Department of Defense to preserve open space around Fort Campbell and with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture to conserve farms and forests.

Non-profit Land Trust partners include The Conservation Fund, the Civil War Trust, The Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County, Franklin’s Charge, Battle of Franklin Trust, the Battle of Nashville Preservation Society, Friends of Warner Parks, Friends of Radnor Lake, the Natchez Trace Parkway Association, the Mountain Goat Trail Alliance, the Tennessee River Gorge Trust, Southeastern Climbers Coalition, the Access Fund, The Nature Conservancy and the Appalachian Resource Conservation and Development Council in Upper East Tennessee.

Budget and funding

The Land Trust’s annual operating budget is just under $2 million. The Land Trust also raises funds to support land conservation projects. Major grantors include Brown-Forman Corporation, The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, Lyndhurst Foundation, Benwood Foundation, Merck Family Fund, AWC Family Foundation, ABAHAC Foundation, SunTrust Foundation, Tennessee Department of Agriculture and various individual donors.

Events

The Land Trust hosts a variety of events each year, including Once in a Blue Moon, Eat Green for Tennessee, regional events and public events at Glen Leven Farm.