Blogs

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and when the new trail head and parking area open at the Germantown Road entrance to the Lucius Burch Natural Area on Monday (June 30), you’ll fall in love all over again. The lot is closed for the weekend, so please make your way to one of several other entrances to the trails for your weekend trail adventures. I recommend jumping in at one of the levees off Moore Road or perhaps at the trail head near the Walnut Grove Road bridge. Have a great weekend!

Marianna, Arkansas is a classic southern, two-stoplight town—an unlikely clump of civilization in a sea of farmland. Acres of crops and trees reach in every direction to form rare 360 degree vistas uninterrupted by city life. I’m a city girl, but I get homesick for the bean fields and dirt roads of my hometown. It’s serenity defined. But this little community is anything but sleepy, and that’s because my mom keeps it all shook up.

She can be seen every Halloween doing karate kicks on our front porch in full Elvis Presley regalia—white sequined jumpsuit, wig, sideburns, and guitar—with crowds of neighborhood kids doubled over in laughter. She might be the last true Elvis fanatic, but she’s raising a new generation of little Elvis-lovers in her four-year-old preschool classroom at Lee Academy in Marianna. She’s also teaching them about Shelby Farms Park. Her children were shocked to learn A) what a buffalo is and B) that we’ve got ‘em. The kids have lakes, fields, trees, wildlife, gardens, horses and trails at their back doors and probably don’t yet realize how extraordinary that is. But they don’t have buffalo, and they wanted one.

A what?

Have you ever grabbed a piece of trash on a trail or sidewalk while you were jogging or moved a sluggish turtle across a busy road? Pat yourself on the back. Those are random acts of eco-kindness. I’m borrowing the term from ESPN Outdoors journalist Gregg Patterson, who celebrated Earth Day by planting an oak seedling at Shelby Farms Park. You can read about his experience and his thoughts on tree planting here.

Dear Earthians,

This Sunday I'm playing some music at the Earth Day festivities in Memphis. Some of you might be asking yourself a lot of questions right now. Let's field a few real quick:

1) Um, who are you? Who am I? What am I doing here?
Great, good. I'm Chris Milam. I'm a singer/songwriter in Nashville. I'm originally from Memphis. I'm traveling from Nashville to Memphis to play some music at the Earth Day. This is happening on Sunday afternoon. It'll be funsies.

2) "Where can I learn more about the Earth Day festivities in Memphis?"
Well, you can go HERE for starters.

On my 79th birthday, I would like to spend the day reading a book, watching CNN and maybe telling boring stories about parks to loved ones. Same thing I did for my 24th birthday…

At the annual City Slicker Endurance Ride on March 16 at the park, one tough guy celebrated his 79th birthday by completing his 10,000th mile on horseback in endurance competition right here at Shelby Farms Park.

Hey, park fans. Spring is nigh, and the weather is alternately glorious and horrible, which means I must be in Memphis. Now, I'd like to share something with you. I have the uncanny ability to avoid all weather forecasts. Though I may look foolish walking through the rain without an umbrella or tromping through snow in my flip-flops, rest assured that it's a always a perfectly cool fall day in my head.

Famed American photographer Ansel Adams once said "A good photograph is knowing where to stand." Any paparazzo worth his or her wide angle lens would tell you the same. Perspective can make or break a photo. Let's be real with each other-if it's a poignant picture you're looking to grab, you can't just sit around wait for Kodak moments.

There are currently three very large and very heavy architectural models in route to Memphis as I type this. And depending on where you stand and how firmly your shoes are tied, these designs could really knock your socks off.

1. master plan (n) a plan giving comprehensive guidance

By now, park people, you've begun to notice some changes around this place. We've put in some new bear-proof trash cans (I've tested them, they're tough), doggie poop stations (for disposing of what you're dog's disposing of), and new directional signage. I think everyone can agree that these are good changes. Show of hands?

Fact is, the park's been changing all the time. From forest to penal farm to park, this piece of green has been in flux. All the lakes were man-made to support the crops grown at the penal farm. Patriot Lake was dug when dirt was needed to cap a landfill. While everyone and their brother has had an idea for what this place should be, there's never been a real plan. Fortunately, the land is now protected by a conservation easement (yeah!) and is being managed by a nonprofit in partnership with the county (woo!) and we're smack in the middlish-end of a master plan innovative design competition (alright!). Also, I'm turning my blog into a pep rally. GO BIG GREEN! I'm still cranked up from the Super Bowl. Thanks, Tom Petty.

The signing of the management agreement

A lot of people said it would never happen...that it couldn't happen.

Parks are operated by nonprofits all the time, but the road to a management agreement isn't without its bumps and curves. Thanks to the leadership and wisdom of the Shelby County Commission and Mayor AC Wharton, Shelby Farms Park is now counted in the growing number of public parks run by a public-private partnership. Central Park and Prospect Park in New York are operated this way. So is Piedmont Park in Atlanta and even the Memphis Zoo.

Cities across the country are making record investments in their parks and green spaces, and Shelby County had taken the first step toward prioritizing its valuable and unique natural resources as priceless public amenities. With the conservation easement secured in December of 2006 and the master plan innovative design competition under way, Shelby Farms Park's future is looking bright.

Shelby Farms Park Conservancy has big plans for this big park, and we know we're going to make Memphis proud.