June 2024: A Message from Our Director
Earlier this year I spoke to a group of students from the University of Memphis who were volunteering at our 19th Annual Tree Planting in the New Chicago neighborhood of North Memphis. As their shovels dug the holes that would soon become home to native oak saplings, I thanked them for spending their Saturday with the Conservancy. Their response echoed a sentiment I have heard so many times before and since, “We appreciate the opportunity to be out here!”
Conserving land and providing our community with opportunities to discover the value of being in and protecting nature are at the heart of what the Wolf River Conservancy does. Our work is rooted in action and your support leads to generational impacts right here in the Mid-South. Together, we are ensuring valuable lands are protected while raising the next generation of environmentally conscious leaders who will get to appreciate them.
Please consider that this year, the Wolf River Conservancy is:
- Placing conservation easements on more than 1,000 acres of the most ecologically valuable land in the Mid-South, thus sequestering carbon and conserving wildlife habitats in perpetuity.
- Working with thousands of participants through our educational and outreach programming.
- Responsible for the planting of more than 2,500 trees! Over the next 20 years, these trees will sequester an estimated 345 metric tons of carbon and filter 445,802 gallons of stormwater, while restoring critical wildlife corridors.
- Hosting hundreds of volunteers to remove invasive plant species, clean up blighted neighborhoods and remove thousands of pounds of trash from the city’s green spaces.
- Beginning construction on 4 new miles of the Wolf River Greenway!
The past six months have been a critical time for conservation in our community. There have been unprecedented threats to the wetlands that filter our drinking water and provide habitat for vulnerable wildlife species across the Mid- South. As the only accredited land trust headquartered in West Tennessee, we value your partnership with us as we address these issues head on. I hope that you will consider a gift to further the important work of the Wolf River Conservancy. Please visit our website at wolfriver.org/give
Sincerely, Erik Houston
Erik Houston promotes tree planting & conservation in Memphis, urging support for the Wolf River Conservancy to protect land & wildlife.
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