Wolf River Conservancy
Encyclopedia
Headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee
, the Wolf River Conservancy (WRC) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose stated purpose is "conserving and enhancing the Wolf River
and its environs as a natural resource for public education and low-impact recreational
activities." It has approximately 1,500 members from throughout West Tennessee
, led by an active Board of Directors and staff and advised by the Wolf River Conservancy Trustees.
The WRC was formed in 1985 by a small group of people concerned about a new dredging and infill project on the Wolf River in Memphis. They had witnessed the effects of similar development-related degradation along nearby Nonconnah Creek. That small group has grown to include more than members from every community along the river. For ten years the group’s emphasis was in advocacy and education—commenting on wetland
destruction or encouraging activities on the river during Wolf River Days. Only later did the group become a land trust organization by holding land or conservation easements in its own name.
, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
, and local conservationists W.S. “Babe” Howard and Lucius Burch merged their collective resources to satisfy the public’s outcry for the protection of the Ghost River section of the Wolf near LaGrange, Tennessee. During 1995, 4,500 acres (18 km²) -- including the Ghost River—were saved from a land and timber company auction. This area was ultimately brought into public ownership as the Wolf River Wildlife Management Area and the Ghost River State Natural Area.
, as well as continued efforts to conserve and enhance the river's bottomland forests in Fayette and Benton counties.
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, the Wolf River Conservancy (WRC) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose stated purpose is "conserving and enhancing the Wolf River
Wolf River (Tennessee)
The Wolf River is a alluvial stream in western Tennessee and northern Mississippi, whose confluence with the Mississippi River was the site of various Chickasaw, French, Spanish and American communities and forts that eventually became Memphis, Tennessee....
and its environs as a natural resource for public education and low-impact recreational
Leave No Trace
Leave No Trace is both a set of principles, and an organization that promotes those principles. The principles are designed to assist outdoor enthusiasts with their decisions about how to reduce their impacts when they hike, camp, picnic, snowshoe, run, bike, hunt, paddle, ride horses, fish, ski or...
activities." It has approximately 1,500 members from throughout West Tennessee
West Tennessee
West Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the State of Tennessee. Of the three, it is the one that is most sharply defined geographically. Its boundaries are the Mississippi River on the west and the Tennessee River on the east...
, led by an active Board of Directors and staff and advised by the Wolf River Conservancy Trustees.
Planning
The WRC’s long-term goal is to promote the establishment of a greenway along the Wolf River by:- Educating Mid-Southerners of all ages about the river’s biodiversityBiodiversityBiodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
- Addressing policy issues that impact the river
- Identifying critical areas for acquisition by public agencies
WRC history
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
destruction or encouraging activities on the river during Wolf River Days. Only later did the group become a land trust organization by holding land or conservation easements in its own name.
Ghost River campaign
The change occurred when WRC, the Tennessee Department of Environment and ConservationTennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is a Cabinet-level agency within the government of the U.S. state of Tennessee, headed by the Tennessee Commissioner of Environment and Conservation....
, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is an independent state agency of the state of Tennessee with the mission of managing the state's fish and wildlife and their habitats, as well as responsibility for all wildlife-related law enforcement activities...
, and local conservationists W.S. “Babe” Howard and Lucius Burch merged their collective resources to satisfy the public’s outcry for the protection of the Ghost River section of the Wolf near LaGrange, Tennessee. During 1995, 4,500 acres (18 km²) -- including the Ghost River—were saved from a land and timber company auction. This area was ultimately brought into public ownership as the Wolf River Wildlife Management Area and the Ghost River State Natural Area.
Present day
With a dramatic increase in concern for the Wolf River by an increasingly more environmentally sensitive public, the Wolf River Conservancy continues to advance in new arenas, like the City of Memphis' Wolf River Greenway Master Plan, the Army Corps of Engineers/Shelby County Wolf River Restoration project in Collierville, recreational facilities at the river's source in the Holly Springs National ForestHolly Springs National Forest
The Holly Springs National Forest was established by the United States Forest Service on June 15, 1936 during the tenure of United States Department of Agriculture Chief Forester Ferdinand A. Silcox...
, as well as continued efforts to conserve and enhance the river's bottomland forests in Fayette and Benton counties.
History of the Wolf River itself
- 10,000 BCE Wolf River formed by runoff from melting glacier shelf.
- 800-1500 CE Mississippian cultureMississippian cultureThe Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....
rises and declines in this area, evidenced by mound sites and accounts by Hernando de Soto.Hernando de Soto (explorer)Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who, while leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States, was the first European documented to have crossed the Mississippi River.... - 1300-1700 CE Chickasaw nation settles northern Mississippi, western Tennessee, and eastern Arkansas.
- 1682 French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle claims the region near the mouth of the Wolf River. The French alternately called the river Riviere de Mayot (or Margot), Blackbird River, and Riviere de LoupLenapeThe Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
.
- The original Loup was rumored to be a DelawareLenapeThe Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
Indian guide who disappeared along the river while guiding the French. The Delawares were also known as Les Loups or "The Wolves." According to one account, both the English and Chickasaw afterwards called the river "Loup" in their respective languages: "Wolf" and "Nashoba."- 1740 Non-local native American scouts working for the French at Fort AssumptionLouisiana (New France)Louisiana or French Louisiana was an administrative district of New France. Under French control from 1682–1763 and 1800–03, the area was named in honor of Louis XIV, by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle...
(Memphis) survey the Wolf as a possible military supply route from which to destroy Ackia, a Chickasaw stronghold near Tupelo that weathered an attackBattle of Ackia-Introduction:The Chickasaw Campaign of 1736 consisted of two pitched battles by the French and allies against Chickasaw fortified villages in present day Northeast Mississippi. Under the overall direction of the governor of Louisiana, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, a force from Upper...
four years earlier. The group turned back near present-day Germantown, TennesseeGermantown, TennesseeGermantown is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee. The population was 38,844 at the 2010 census.Germantown is a suburb of Memphis, bordering it to the east. Germantown's economy is dominated by the retail and commercial service sectors; there is no heavy industry in Germantown...
, a town that briefly adopted the name "Neshoba" out of anti-German sentiment during the United States' involvement in World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. - Early 19th century The Wolf River is declared navigable, from Memphis to LaGrange, by the Tennessee General AssemblyTennessee General AssemblyThe Tennessee General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.-Constitutional structure:According to the Tennessee State Constitution of 1870, the General Assembly is a bicameral legislature and consists of a Senate of thirty-three members and a House of Representatives of...
, which appropriated funds to remove obstructions for keel boat travel. - 1825 British-born Frances WrightFrances WrightFrances Wright also widely known as Fanny Wright, was a Scottish-born lecturer, writer, freethinker, feminist, abolitionist, and social reformer, who became a U. S. citizen in 1825...
establishes the Nashoba CommuneNashoba CommuneNashoba Commune was an experimental project of Fanny Wright, initiated in 1825 to educate and emancipate slaves. It was located in a 2,000-acre woodland on the side of present-day Germantown, Tennessee, a Memphis suburb, along the Wolf River...
on the Wolf River at the present-day site of Germantown, TennesseeGermantown, TennesseeGermantown is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee. The population was 38,844 at the 2010 census.Germantown is a suburb of Memphis, bordering it to the east. Germantown's economy is dominated by the retail and commercial service sectors; there is no heavy industry in Germantown...
. The commune's purpose was to educate and emancipate slaves using proceeds from the sale of crops grown there. - 1888 Memphis stops using Wolf River as its principal source of drinking waterDrinking waterDrinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...
, switching to artesian wells, which are still used and which are recharged by the Wolf's watershed. - 1960 Because of its foul odor the Wolf is dammed near its mouth and diverted into the Mississippi north of Mud Island. The section of the Wolf downstream of this channel diversion became a slackwater harbor of the Mississippi known today as Wolf River Harbor, which separates Mud Island from the Memphis "mainland".
- Mid-1960s Completion of channelization of the Wolf from the Mississippi upstream to Gray's Creek, east of Germantown, TennesseeGermantown, TennesseeGermantown is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee. The population was 38,844 at the 2010 census.Germantown is a suburb of Memphis, bordering it to the east. Germantown's economy is dominated by the retail and commercial service sectors; there is no heavy industry in Germantown...
resulting in a lowered riverbed and diminished wetland habitat. - 1970 Surface drainage, sewage, and industrial pollution caused a group of scientists and environmentalists to pronounce the river "dead" around Memphis.
- 1977 Mary Winslow Chapman publishes I Remember RaleighRaleigh, MemphisRaleigh is a community in northeastern Memphis, Tennessee named for a formerly incorporated town that used to be at its center. Today the boundaries of Raleigh are designated by the 38128 ZIP Code...
, which including vivid descriptions of a pre-channelized Wolf River (early-to-middle 20th century). - 1985 Wolf River Conservancy founded by an alliance of conservation-minded real estate executives and local environmental advocates.
- 1995 "Ghost River" section of the Wolf saved from timber auction by a coordinated effort of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, local conservation activists Lucius Burch and W.S. "Babe" Howard, and the WRC.
- 1997 American Singer-Songwriter Jeff BuckleyJeff BuckleyJeffrey Scott "Jeff" Buckley , raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician...
drowns during an evening swim in Wolf River Harbor. - 1998 First recorded full descent of the Wolf River completed by members of the Wolf River Conservancy.
- 2004 City of Memphis' Wolf River Greenway, 22 mile (35 km) trail, master plan completed and then shelved (pending approvalW. W. HerentonWillie Wilbert Herenton is an American politician who was formerly mayor of Memphis, Tennessee, and was candidate for election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010, until his defeat in the Democratic primary against incumbent Steve Cohen. He was the first African American to be elected...
) - 2005 Commencement of the Wolf River Restoration Project by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Memphis OfficeMississippi Valley DivisionThe United States Army Corps of Engineers Mississippi Valley Division and the complementary Mississippi River Commission are responsible for maintaining the Mississippi River as a navigable waterway while preventing flooding. This includes the operation of harbor and lock and dam facilities up...
to stop rapid erosion known as "headcutting"Headward erosionHeadward erosion is a fluvial process of erosion that lengthens a stream, a valley or a gully at its head and also enlarges its drainage basin. The stream erodes away at the rock and soil at its headwaters in the opposite direction that it flows. Once a stream has begun to cut back, the erosion is...
at Collierville, TennesseeCollierville, TennesseeCollierville is a town in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and a suburb located in the Memphis metropolitan area. The town had a population of 43,965 at the 2010 census....
. - 2006 Loop trail completed by the U.S. Forest Service in the Holly Springs National ForestHolly Springs National ForestThe Holly Springs National Forest was established by the United States Forest Service on June 15, 1936 during the tenure of United States Department of Agriculture Chief Forester Ferdinand A. Silcox...
(Mississippi) near Baker's Pond, the source of the Wolf River. - 2007 "Middle Wolf" Campaign - attempted sprawlUrban sprawlUrban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...
-proofing of the western Fayette County section. - 2007-2012 Completion of the Collierville-Arlington Parkway segment of Tenn-385State Route 385 (Tennessee)State Route 385 is the designation for three separate segments of highway in the Memphis Metropolitan Area in Shelby and Fayette counties in West Tennessee, forming a semicircle around and through the Memphis suburbs. Clockwise, from the north, they are:...
and I-269Interstate 269Interstate 269 is a partially built outer beltline around the city of Memphis, Tennessee, and its adjacent suburban areas in northern Mississippi. The sections of the route which are currently open are designated as State Route 385 and Mississippi Highway 304...
outer loop expressway, including two (and potentially five) interchanges poised to become major drivers of suburban growth into forested sections of the Wolf River's floodplain and the surface-exposed sections of the Memphis Sands aquiferAquiferAn aquifer is a wet underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology...
.
- 1740 Non-local native American scouts working for the French at Fort Assumption
External links
- Wolf River Conservancy site
- Tennessee Sportsman article on the Wolf River Wildlife Management Area
- Shelby Farms Park Alliance
- Greening Greater Memphis
- Wolf River Conservancy's Flickr group, gallery of photographs of the Wolf River and its environs, taken by WRC members and supporters.