Tagged cypress in the old river channel abutting Chakchiuma Swamp, just north of downtown Grenada, are up for adoption in a fundraising effort by Friends of Chakchiuma Swamp Natural Area. Other tree species are available for adoption as well, tagged according to timber value anywhere from $25 to $150, depending on species and size.
It’s not every day that a dedicated bunch of tree huggers and a city council come together to save a forest, but that is precisely what has happened in Grenada.
Under the leadership of local artist Robin Whitfield, the Friends of Chakchiuma Swamp Natural Area and the City of Grenada, in late October, announced a lease agreement that will protect 300 acres of hardwood forest along the Yalobusha River channel, just north of the downtown square, and allow it to be turned into a city park, outdoor classroom and conservation site.
Whitfield, well known in Greenwood for her work with ArtPlace Mississippi and her own art – she painted the mural on the front of Museum of the Mississippi Delta – said the lease agreement is the most significant step yet in preserving the forest in perpetuity.
Robin Whitfield has spearheaded the effort to save 300 acres of forest near downtown Grenada and has secured a lease agreement with city council to turn the area into a city park.
If not for the lease — which is still being crafted by Whitfield and Grenada City Manager Trey Baker – a good portion of that forest would have been cut for timber under a former plan by the city. Now, instead of being purchased by a timber company, the forest will be “purchased” by individuals adopting forest trees and other fundraising efforts of the Friends group.
This Friday, which is National Take-a-Hike Day, and Saturday, which is National Adoption Day, the Friends will open the forest to individuals, families, companies, churches — anyone who supports the effort to save the forest or just loves trees.
Taking its cue from foresters who mapped the forest for the timber sale, the Friends and Whitfield are working with forestry students from Holmes Community College to tag trees and assign them a monetary timber value ranging somewhere from $25 to $150 for each individual tree, according to its species and size.
Whitfield said 500 trees will be tagged for “sale” by the time of the event.
Guests are invited to walk through the woods, pick a tree and then adopt it. A guide will be available to help them. Those who can’t be there can let the Friends choose a tree for them and adopt sight unseen.
Among the forest’s biodiverse treasures are fungi like this one, popularly known as “turkey tail.”
“Each tree will have a metal tag with a number, and people will be able to be geo-locate with a smartphone,” Whitfield said. “So if you come to the forest later, you can find your tree.”
Whitfield and the Friends are hoping that a tree from the forest will be a favorite Christmas gift this holiday season. They are drawing on the old tradition of going into the forest to choose a tree but leaving it there rather than cutting it. Trees can be purchased in honor or in memory of a loved one, and the names of all donors will be permanently enshrined.
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Reaching this point has been a lesson in patience and letting things evolve, Whitfield said. She jumped into action when the city announced it would open bidding for a timber harvest in the forest last year, asking the city to let the Friends raise the money instead.
A waiting period ensued as the city received bids from timber companies. Those bids turned out to not be as lucrative as the city had hoped, and the Friends’ proposal became more attractive.
Whitfield credits Baker, a Grenada native son, as an instrumental force in negotiating the final lease agreement. Baker and Whitfield are now working out the terms of the lease.
She is philosophical about the lease and the time it has taken to reach an agreement that would save the trees.
“At first, I worried that if it didn’t happen right then, it wouldn’t happen at all,” she said.
Now, she marvels at the connections and collaborations that have arisen as the project has had time to simmer and solidify.
“It is a communitywide project,” she said. “I see myself, the Friends group, the city manager and council as partners in this endeavor.”
Among other partners and collaborators is Richard Copeland, a Jackson philanthropist who came forward in March with an offer of a 50-cent match on every dollar donated to the project.
“If not for him, we would not be where we are,” Whitfield said. She refers to him as the organization’s “magic man” who has made it possible to appeal to private and corporate interests for larger gifts, as well as to sustain and fortify the gifts of individuals.
Copeland remained anonymous until just recently but came to Grenada to meet with the city council in the most recent stages of negotiation.
In return for his generous gift, he wants just one thing: to name the park. Whitfield said she is not ready to disclose the name, as details have not been worked out. But she said it has local ties and represents something the people of Grenada can get behind.
In addition to Copeland coming on board to catapult fundraising, the Friends have partnered with the Grenada Community Foundation to help run the nonprofit’s operations. It’s a symbiotic relationship that fits the goals of the forest Friends as well as those of GCF Director Deborah Bailey, who along with her husband, Coley Bailey, has invested heavily in the redevelopment of downtown Grenada.
“When the trails are built, downtown Grenada visitors and residents will be able to literally just cross the river and walk right into the forest,” Whitfield said. The city will benefit, ultimately, from having a natural downtown attraction that will draw visitors off I-55 into the heart of Grenada.
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Whitfield’s vision for the natural area includes a city park with trails cut throughout on one side of Main Street, which bisects the forest, and a more undisturbed but still accessible natural area dedicated to research and conservation on the other side, abutting Chakchiuma Swamp. The oldest part of the river channel, with large stands of old cypress, winter habitat for wood ducks, resides on that side, in addition to a biologically diverse hardwood forest.
Partners in developing plans for the future park include Strawberry Plains Audubon Center near Holly Springs, whose naturalists will do the land use plan, and Wildlife Mississippi, the organization that developed the Sky Lake Natural Area near Belzoni.
Both bring extraordinary knowledge and depth to the project, Whitfield said.
“The land use plan will be geared toward birds, a 100-year plan that will be much more in-depth in terms of encouraging biodiversity and managing conservation,” Whitfield said.
A pavilion that will serve as an outdoor classroom and gathering place is part of the plan as well. Whitfield wants it to be designed by an architect who will make it look like part of the forest, a thing of beauty like the trees themselves. Her ideal model is the pavilion at Crosby Arboretum at Picayune, designed by renowned architect E. Fay Jones, best known for Thorncrown Chapel in Arkansas.
“The plans will come about just as the preservation effort has,” she said. “I want it to be a special place, not just any old city park.”
Indeed, as an artist, Whitfield has drawn from the forest as her own inspiration over the past two decades she has lived in Grenada. She spearheaded efforts to preserve the forest because she grew to love the trees as a painter, depicting the forest wildlife, its fungi and undergrowth, its spring wildflowers, the swamp and its murky splendor with brush strokes, coming to the woods each day from her nearby downtown home, to capture some of its magic.
Now, that magic will be preserved for generations to come, and can be a personal or family legacy through the adopt-a-tree fundraising project.
To learn more or to become a Friend of the Forest, buy a tree and invest in conservation, visit https://friendsofcsna.com and click on “How to Help,” or visit the Chakchiuma Swamp Natural Area Facebook page.
•Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
