Foothills Land Conservancy

Sometimes a Foothills Land Conservancy project has many stories to tell. This is the case for a majestic 18+ acre tract in the heart of Happy Valley, Tennessee, which was permanently preserved with a conservation easement earlier this year. Friends of the Foothills, Robert and Betsy, relocated to East Tennessee in 2014. Robert grew up in Blount County and for Betsy, she never looked back, “I love the mountains, the hiking trails, the community, and spirit of our region.” The property includes the playhouse Betsy's parents built in Virginia. They moved it to Knoxville in 1956 when her father joined the UT faculty. Robert and Betsy, with the help of Court Street friends, moved the playhouse to the mountain property in 1982. Only good memories are now left of the 70-year-old playhouse after the pine beetle infestation in the area in the 1990s. In 2023, and after much consideration, the couple decided they would donate their parcel in Happy Valley to the Conservancy. The property is close to the Foothills Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains National Park and includes a variety of native plants and tree species. Within 10 miles, there are 27 tracts (totaling over 4,100 acres) that are protected by conservation easements held by FLC. Robert and Betsy knew FLC would be able to preserve this ‘gem’ while also allowing for it to be sold – with funds from the property’s sale going to a great project! Their wishes? For Foothills to use the funds for improvements and enhancements to Jarvis Park, located on Court Street in Maryville, TN. This 17-acre public park also happens to have an FLC Conservation Easement agreement on it. Some of Robert’s most memorable childhood adventures took place in the woodlands and creek where Jarvis Park is located. For Robert, this land donation was “the perfect way to honor his childhood friends, their memories, and the land they will always cherish.” For FLC’s Executive Director, this type of project gets to the heart of the Foothills’ mission, “This has been a very special partnership. It’s a gift that our community will continue to benefit from in the years to come.” Image Descriptions… Robert and Betsy pictured in 1983 (playhouse in the backdrop) Children enjoying the playhouse, built by Betsy’s parents, at her 6th birthday in 1955 Site Visit #1- FLC’s Director of Natural Resources, Shelby Lyn Sanders, along with FLC’s General Counsel, Cliff Robins, at a site visit to the property. Site Visit #2 – View of the property’s woodlands. Site Visit #3 – A tributary runs through the property that ultimately joins Abrams Creek. Site Visit #4 – Left to right) Stalkless cup lichen (Cladonia apodocarpa), Joint-toothed moss (Bryopsida), Seductive entodon moss (Entodon seductrix) Site Visit #5 – Left to right) Stalked puffball (Calostoma microsporum), Orange witch’s butter (Tremella mesenterica), older Calostoma sp. Site visit #6 – Dwarf iris (Iris verna) observed during a site visit in early spring.

Some words from Bill Clabough (FLC's Executive Director) on this Giving Tuesday: An old friend from politics once told me to “Get your work done at home early, then branch out. But always return home.” At Foothills Land Conservancy, we began our work nearly 40 years ago in Blount County, and the counties that surround it. Today, Foothills Land Conservancy has assisted in the preservation and conservation of more than 200,000 acres with over 500 partners, in 51 additional counties in Tennessee and 6 other states! We branched out...and now, our Board has advised us “It’s time to come home.” Our goal moving forward is to be more active in East Tennessee and share our stories with many more folks locally. On a personal note, 2025 will mark my 20th anniversary with Foothills Land Conservancy. I've spent time with many of you, and hope to see you often in 2025 as we celebrate our 40th anniversary milestone. Thanks to the tremendous investment of our Friends and Partners, we will continue our work to preserve our natural heritage, one property at a time. We are so thankful for your continued support, especially as 2024 wraps up. Every gift makes a difference! (https://shorturl.at/EXR8k) #FoothillsLandConservancy #GivingTuesday #Conservation #Tennessee #EastTennessee #LandPreservation #EnvironmentalStewardship #NaturalHeritage

This year, Foothills Land Conservancy worked to protect 85 forested acres located near Townsend in southern Blount County, Tennessee. Less than a mile from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and less than two miles from the scenic Foothills Parkway, this property includes a section of Kinzel Branch, a tributary to the biologically diverse Little River. Within 10 miles of the tract, there are 30 properties (totaling over 4,500 acres) that are protected by conservation easements held by FLC. Foothills staff wanted to share a few outstanding images from this biologically diverse property. Take a look! Image 1) View of the Kinzel Branch tributary and woodlands. Image 2) American beech (Fagus grandifolia) Image 3) FLC’s Director of Natural Resources, Shelby Lyn Sanders, observing the property’s diverse array of ferns, moss, fungi, and herbaceous plants. Image 4) – Two moss species that are considered to be of conservation concern were observed on the property: Ontario rose moss (Rhodobryum ontariense) which is considered S1 (Critically Imperiled) in Tennessee and Spoon-leaved Moss (Bryoandersonia illecebra) S3 (Vulnerable). Image 5) The property is within the Tennessee SWAP Foothills Conservation Opportunity Area (COA) and has the potential to support 202 species deemed of Greatest Conservation Need. Clockwise from top) A mosiac of lichens and mosses on a downed log; hickory nuts (Carya sp.); pipsissewa (Chimaphila maculata); gold specklebelly lichen (Crocodia aurata); rattlesnake plantain orchid (Goodyera pubescens); funeral bells mushrooms (Galerina marginata)

"I just get tired of all the developers calling me." We are sitting around the kitchen table in the home of the Kirklands--Marvin and his wife Hollyce, who couldn't join us on this day but is a superstar in her own right, having participated in competitive swimming events at the age of 100. But it was Marvin who called Foothills Land Conservancy this summer, exploring his options for conserving their 20 acres forever by restricting development in perpetuity. Nestled among peaceful woodlands in an otherwise bustling Sevier County, it's easy to see why this property would garner so much interest. Sevier County hosts 11 million visitors a year, drawn in by the allure of the Great Smoky Mountains and the promise of a cozy vacation cabin tucked away in the forest. As land just outside the national park continues to be developed, GSMNP is slowly becoming an island of habitat ringed by commercial and residential development, threatening the natural beauty and biodiversity that so many come to immerse themselves in. The Kirklands are not originally native to the area, having retired to Tennessee in 2000, but their love for the land they call home is more than evident. Both Marvin and Hollyce have spent countless hours hiking and volunteering on the Appalachian Trail, falling as in love with the woods as they are with one another. Here at their home, small saplings of the beleaguered American chestnut have been carefully planted and caged off to protect them, gardens full of flowers and bees surround the house, and deeper in the woodlands, huge white oaks, hickories, maples, and tulip poplars preside over a forest floor glittering with life, everything from late-summer wildflowers to scampering squirrels. The Kirklands' choice to permanently protect their land and legacy remind us that the heart of FLC's work isn't measured in acreage or the number of properties we've helped conserve. It's in knowing that we are helping landowners achieve a peace of mind, not unlike the one we feel when we are surrounded by the mountains, trees and birdsong. Pictured) Landowner, Marvin Kirkland with FLC’s Director of Natural Resources, Shelby Lyn Sanders; trail winding through the property; American chestnut sapling; white oak tree; yellow flower (Appalachian oak-leech - Aureolaria laevigata); leaves with red berries (Mountain winterberry - Ilex montana) #LandConservation #GreatSmokyMountains #SevierCounty #NatureLovers #AppalachianTrail #ProtectOurLand #ForestPreservation #WildlifeHabitat #FLC #FoothillsLandConservancy #ConservationEasement

Fall is in full swing in the Southeast, along with the bright beautiful colors of senescence--a fancy word for the annual deterioration and eventual loss of foliage in deciduous species. This pretty palette of fall color is from FLC's recent work in the middle Tennessee Counties of Van Buren and Warren.  What colors are you seeing in your neck of the woods? IMG 1 – Sweeping View over Dry Creek IMG 2 – Pictured left, a reclaimed strip mine, eastern box turtle, and fall colors behind old strip mine pit. IMG 3 – royal fern, wild blueberry, greenbrier IMG 4 – asters IMG 5 – milkwort, lobelia, ladies-tresses orchid IMG 6 – Top and clockwise) tickseed, witch-hazel, camphorweed, hickory, sneezeweed, goldenrod IMG 7 – dogwood, red maple, sassafras IMG 8 – cardinalflower, dogwood, farkleberry IMG 9 – Left to right) winged sumac, winged sumac, black gum (top), sourwood IMG 10 – Top and clockwise) sweetgum, white oak, sweetgum, meadow beauty

FLC Board and staff wanted to take a moment and let our Friends of the Foothills know that our thoughts are with all those affected by Hurricane Helene. This will be a long road to recovery. Please know that we have reached out to our landowner partners in conservation across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee, to check on them and see how we might be of assistance. We were so thankful to hear that everyone is safe and uninjured with only a few, minor property issues reported. #HurricaneHelene

Last year, Foothills Land Conservancy was honored to assist with the completion of a second conservation easement with some of our favorite Sevier Countians (and 2022 Tennessee Wildlife Federation Conservationists of the Year) Earl and Margit Worsham. This 98 acre tract along Norton Creek is adjacent to 237 acres that were protected by the Worshams and FLC in 2007. Together, these lands provide a haven of habitat for brook trout, migratory songbirds, many species of mammals, and the famous synchronous and blue ghost fireflies. Located just outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park boundaries, these beautiful mountain forests also serve as a buffer to the burgeoning development that surrounds the nation’s most-visited park. Pictured (left to right) – Celebrating the conservation easement signing and views from the property are Margit Worsham; FLC’s Executive Director, Bill Clabough; Shelby Lyn Sanders, FLC’s Director of Natural Resources; and Earl Worsham. Additional images are of Norton Creek, some of the mountains from which the property can be seen, a blue wood aster, and rhododendron above the creek.

In 2023, FLC worked with landowners on conservation related projects totaling 561 acres in 6 Tennessee counties! We wanted to highlight one of these very special conservation projects... Not too much of Mrs. Betty Smith, 92, is visible as she pokes among the tall grasses on her land in Anderson County, TN on this warm mid-spring day. She’s looking for scraps of metal or wood, some relic that might reveal the exact location of a barn that stood here near Cane Creek some time ago. Mrs. Smith and her husband Paul purchased this property from the prominent Hollingsworth family in the 1960s while living nearby in Clinton, with big dreams about owning a farm close by to work and play on. While they never did move out to the farm or have a big-time agriculture operation, the property’s rolling hills have seen many generations of cows, calves, and critters crisscross the expansive pastures, as well as a curious child or two with all the woodland, creeks, and flowers one could explore. Mrs. Smith’s daughter Barbara remembers spending many a warm summer day here as a little girl, a simpler time in a special place that still has that idyllic rural feel to it despite all the residential and commercial development creeping ever nearer. It was that very reason that led Mrs. Smith to call Foothills Land Conservancy to find out how she could make sure that the farm would always be there, just as she remembered it. FLC staff met several afternoons with Mrs. Smith and her family in her living room, making careful considerations about future uses of the land as well as the intention behind protecting it. Together, they developed a conservation easement contract that would preserve the farm in perpetuity while allowing future owners to live out their own dreams of having a piece of East Tennessee to treasure. Per Mrs. Smith’s wishes, there can only ever be one single-family house built on this peaceful 100 acres, along with a provision for two barns. FLC will monitor the property at least once annually to ensure there are no stewardship issues, such as trespassing, unauthorized forestry activities, or environmental concerns. In this corner of ever-growing Anderson County, cattle will continue to roam the pastures, and a piece of the Smith family’s natural history and heritage will be preserved, forever. Images) Landowner Betty Smith, pictured left, with FLC's Director of Natural Resources, Shelby Lyn Sanders; Images of Betty's property including a sighting of Indian pink in bloom (Spigelia marilandica) #LandStewardship #FLCConservation #TennesseeLand #ConservationProject #LandPreservation #AndersonCountyTN #RuralHeritage #ConservationEasement #EastTennessee #FarmConservation

Foothills Land Conservancy’s Board and staff have partnered with a team of talented individuals at Knoxville’s The Thought Bureau. Judith Rosenberg and team truly created an outstanding refresh of our organization’s logo, website, and materials. Along with director, Jesse Brass, they also produced several videos giving resonance to who we are and what we do. We are so proud of what they accomplished!   Linked below is a 5 minute video about Foothills Land Conservancy. Be sure to check out the other videos also included in FLC’s YouTube ‘Introduction Playlist’. All of us are very excited to share our story, vision, and work with a lot more people.

PHENOLOGY is, in short, the study of the seasonality of nature. For the living things we share the planet with, timing is everything, and people have long looked to cues from the natural world to mark the passing of time. September has arrived, heralding the beginning of a transitional time for the native pollinator plantings at the Harris Farm (FLC's office headquarters). Some blooms (and native grasses) are just getting started, while others have gone to seed and are already providing crucial late-season food for wildlife. Click through the photos to see what's happening now! #Phenology #NatureStudy #SeasonalChanges #NativePlantings #WildlifeHabitat #HarrisFarmFLC #PollinatorGardens #LateSeasonBlooms #EnvironmentalEducation