The Failure of Conservancy and The Death of Riverwoods
Last night I had the pleasure of attending a public hearing concerning the construction of a new road through the Riverwoods Natural Area. It wasn’t much of a hearing, however, unless you came to hear public officials and developers talk about how much their new road would “enhance” life in our community via the reduction of noise and pollution and increased “access.”
The guvment was very clever in how it managed the time during the two hour event. First, they started late, but since they started late, their presentation and those of the developers ran over into the time allotted for questions from concerned citizens. In the end, the Q&A portion only lasted 15 minutes of the two hours, not counting the fifteen minutes or so set aside for reviewing maps and drawings.
For those unfamiliar, Riverwoods is an heavily wooded area on the north side of my community, Germantown. It’s adjacent and runs parallel to the Wolf River, a waterway that runs on an east-west course and eventually joins the Mississippi River near Chickasaw Bluffs.
In 1973, the area was donated to the nice little old ladies of the Garden Club, and then in 1978, a 21 acre section of the area slated for road construction was designated a state Scientific Natural Area.
Since development is prohibited in such areas, you’d think the road building lobby would have been stopped in their tracks, but no. This project has apparently been in the gun sights of the development community since 1969, and their progress has been steadily but surely inching forward each decade.
First came Humphrey’s Blvd. Then Wolf River Blvd. Except Wolf River Blvd. had a big two mile hole in it, and it’s that hole the developers now wish to fill.
Since when have a few trees and non-humans ever stopped the completion of a five lane road that’s 80% complete?
In 2005, the Garden Club, Wolf River Conservancy and Germantown officials and brokered a back room deal whereby the Garden Club donated its section of land in return for a highly valued 318 acre tract in the same area.
Let’s examine the official statement from the Wolf River Conservancy:
“At last, a very ominous threat to the small but beautiful 21-acre Riverwoods State Natural Area has been successfully resolved!”
Resolved for whom? For the Conservancy, The Garden Club and the City? What about the animals that live there? What about the citizens that don’t want the road? What about the future generations of people that will be deprived of seeing and enjoying the area as it is today?
“Late spring of this year, the Memphis Garden Club and the Wolf River Conservancy worked together to reach an agreement with the city of Germantown allowing their long sought-after extension eastward of Wolf River Boulevard past Germantown Road to Collierville.”
Correct. The back room deal I referred to earlier.
“Our agreement also greatly advances our efforts to protect and enhance Wolf River lands for our community.”
Oh yeah? How so? How does supporting the construction of an unneeded road through habitat enhance our community?
“Riverwoods State Natural Area will still total 21 acres, but it will be reconfigured through a variety of land swaps and donations from The Farmington Group and Jack Owens. The Natural Area will change from a north/south to an east/ west orientation facilitating the road’s construction outside of the Natural Area’s new boundaries.”
This is the critical piece. Somehow, this group, with the “permission of the state,” reconfigured the Natural Area. How do you “reconfigure” a natural area? Does that mean that the portions not included in the new boundary are no longer biologically important enough to be preserved? If they aren’t, why were they included in the first place?
This is a ruse. A sleight of hand that will hopefully be challenged by the Sierra Club in court.
“A Great Result”
Oh really? Again, since when is an unneeded road through habitat a great result? Maybe for the folks that picked up over 300 acres of land, but not for those opposed or for the animals that live in the area. Who represented the deer and coyotes that live in that forest during the “negotiations?”
“Germantown will also put into conservation easements up to 70 additional acres adjacent to the road’s proposed extension. This facilitates the extension eastward of their beautiful Wolf River Greenway Nature Trail.”
This is another former pristine area that now has a concrete walkway and landscaped areas with mulch. But we do have fake animals to represent the real ones that used to live there.
“What makes our agreement especially valuable is that a notorious developer was also negotiating for the 318-acre tract. The developer planned to log, bulldoze, burn then fill enough of its beautiful forest and valuable wetlands to add possibly more than 100 new tract homes within the Wolf’s floodplain.”
No one wants that, but this assumes the Walnut Grove Lakes LLC would have sold the land to the developer. How do you know this would have happened?
“Whooeee! I love this job – and the support of all of you who make our fantastic progress possible!”
I had to read this several times just to be sure I read it correctly. It’s an unbelievable statement. A so-called conservation organization says “whooeee” when critical habitat is developed?
Here’s a better quote:
“For there is a cloud on my horizon. A small dark cloud no bigger than my hand. Its name is Progress.”-Edward Abbey
“Thanks to you – and the Memphis Garden Club, Germantown Mayor Goldsworthy, Walnut Grove Lake LLC, our partner environmental groups and our volunteers – an additional 318 plus acres of Wolf River floodplain lands valued at more than $672,000 will now be protected and enhanced for our beloved Community!Forever! Yahooooo!”
Yahooooo? Boohoo is more like it.
I noticed in the Wolf River publication that these quotes were taken from, that the Conservancy also lauded Con-Agra Foods and Wal-Mart for its important environmental work. In the case of Con-Agra, the important work was a donation to the Conservancy.
I can only conclude that the Wolf River Conservancy is not a conservancy. It’s a partner with development and big corporate interests. It’s an enemy to the natural world. How can support road building, ConAgra and Wal-Mart and call yourself a nature conservancy?
This whole deal was made possible by two things. One, some very deft maneuvering by the City of Germantown to marginalize and neutralize two of the forces it viewed as its major stumbling blocks. I’ll give them (particulary Patrick Lawton and the Mayor) credit for developing and carrying out a brilliant strategem. And two, the lack of effective opposition from the environmental community. The Wolf River Conservancy isn’t part of the environmental community. That’s plain for all to see. Neither is the Garden Club, a group that while claiming that its primary focus is conservation, the truth is far from it. It’s little more than a group of wealthy white women that sit around sipping tea and discussing the latest non-native plant they’ve plopped into gardens maintained by cheap, immigrant labor. Just take a look at their website.
That leaves probably a dozen or so folks that really give a shit and that understand how humans should fit into the ecosystem. The rest are compromisers, partners to development.
I say no compromises. Draw the line in the sand and say “enough is enough!”
Yahoooo!