This April proved to be a fruitful Earth Month for the Friends of Chakchiuma Swamp in Grenada.
On April 11, the Grenada City Council voted to reject bids to cut and sell timber in an area of forest surrounding the mid-city swamp that has been the focus of conservation and fundraising efforts by the group of concerned citizens.
The leader of those efforts, Grenada artist and naturalist Robin Whitfield, said this was “a huge step in securing the forest” and “creates an extension for the Forest Friends campaign.”
For several months, the Friends have been running a Gofundme campaign to raise the amount of money the city expected to capture through its timber sale. The total needed is around $270,000, of which around $30,000 has been raised to date.
The online fundraiser was the brainchild of Whitfield who asked when she first heard that the city planned to harvest and sell timber from the swamp area, one simple question: What is the value of a tree?
She discovered by talking to forest managers and logging friends that tree values varied depending on the species, the size and the general condition of the tree. Based on what she learned, she assigned values for supporters to pay to “buy” a tree and save its life.
On the Friends’ gofundme site, a pulpwood tree is valued at $20, a yellow poplar or sweet gum at $30, a sycamore at $40 and so on, up to $100 sponsorship of a hickory or cherry tree.
In early March, an anonymous philanthropist from Jackson stepped up, promising to match 50 cents on the dollar for every dollar pledged toward the Friends’ ultimate goal.
But the city’s looming timber sale was an obstacle. Grenada had already taken bids in 2016 for the designated cut area and the bids weren’t as high as they expected. So they put the timber area up for bids a second time in early 2017.
Now, that second rounds of bids has been rejected in a unanimous vote by Council.
There has been no official announcement of an agreement with the Friends group, but it appears more likely, after this second rejection, that the city might work with the group to place a conservation easement on the forest surrounding Chakchiuma Swamp, the group’s ultimate goal.
In an elated Facebook post, Whitfield thanked the council and City Manager Trey Baker for their leadership.
“We look forward to our continued partnership as we move towards our goals,” she said.
In a previous interview with the Commonwealth, Whitfield said that saving the forest, near downtown Grenada where she works and lives, “is about saving the heart of the community.”
Since she first learned of the city’s intention to cut and sell large swaths of timber in the swamp area, she has consulted with naturalists from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks and other organizations to discern the biological diversity of the forest, its potential for scientific study and ways to preserve it for recreational use with as little disturbance to the natural ecosystem as possible.
Plans have been drawn for a four-mile trail system by the same nonprofit responsible for preserving Sky Lake area near Belzoni.
If the Friends’ plan goes through, they will help support the city’s financial needs by applying $270,000, the estimated value of the timber, to an agreement for a conservation easement that would protect the area from cutting or development in perpetuity.
The trees surrounding the river channel and swamp would remain in place under the care of wildlife managers and conservation professionals, the forest would continue to serve its purpose in the river channel ecosystem, and the preserved area could become part of a center for preservation of biodiversity, a research site and an ecotourism draw to a unique water feature just off I-55.
Whitfield said Chakchiuma and its surrounding forest is one of the few remaining undisturbed wetlands in the Yazoo watershed that extends from Grenada all the way to Sky Lake. It is home to a large number of birds and butterflies, salamanders, tree species and unique plant varieties.
And it’s beautiful. A painter, Whitfield regularly takes her canvas and paints into the woods, or into the swamp by kayak and draws inspiration from the bounty she sees.
In her Facebook announcement, Whitfield said fundraising efforts would continue, but for now, “Let’s celebrate and enjoy watching the birds arrive to the canopy during migration.”
• Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
