Author: Joshua Cannon

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Memphis Native Immigrates to Israel With 233 Americans

CREDIT: Shahar Azran

Shahar Azran

Memphis native Mirel Samuels moved to Israel yesterday along with 232 Americans by way of a 6,000 mile chartered Nefesh B’Nefesh flight, an organization revitalizing immigration to Israel.

“Looking back in 2002 when [we] founded this organization, we couldn’t have imagined bringing 50,000 Jews from North America to Israel to fulfill their dreams and the dreams of the Jewish people,” said Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, Founder and Executive Director of Nefesh B’Nefesh. “And we’re not stopping anytime soon.”

Citizens from 22 U.S. states and one Canadian province will now call Israel home. That includes 24 families, 78 children, 10 medical professionals, and 75 soldiers who will become Israeli citizens and volunteer in the Israel Defense Forces. The passengers’ ages range from 3 and a half weeks old to 85 years old as well as 20-year-old Samuels. 

[pullquote-1]Nefesh B’Nefesh was founded in 2002. The organization, in cooperation with Israeli government and The Jewish Agency, works to remove the financial, professional, logistical and social barriers of immigration to Israel. Since Nefesh B’Nefesh began, its efforts have been on renewing immigration from North America and the United Kingdom. About 90 percent of immigrants have remained in Israel. 

“Every single family and individual we bring to Israel who decides to make Aliyah is such a special thing for us as an organization, but when you see so many brave young men and women from North America sacrifice so much and voluntarily leave their families because they feel a yearning desire to serve in the IDF and defend Israel, that’s powerful,” Fass said. 

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MATA Reduces Bus Fares for Students, MLGW Defers High Bills Through August

The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) began reducing bus fares for all Shelby County School students on August 8th, the first day of classes.

“It is important that we are able to help parents send their children off to school at a reduced cost and improve their access to public transportation,” said Ron Garrison, CEO of MATA.

The annual reduced student fare is $1.35 per one-way bus trip. Students may also purchase daily passes ($2.75), seven-day passes ($13), or a month-long ($40) MATA FastPass unlimited ride card.

Students must present a MATA identification card with their name, school, age, and photo to receive a discounted fare when boarding the bus. MATA advises students to bring two forms of identification and $3 to the William Hudson Transit Center at 444 N. Main Street to purchase an identification card. Students who bring a parent only need one form of identification. State or school identification cards, birth certificates, insurance cards, Social Security cards, or report cards qualify.

The transit authority will provide identification cards Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. until September 30th. Following that date, MATA will provide identification cards Mondays through Fridays from 1 to 5 p.m., and from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m on Saturdays.

“MATA is pleased to continue to offer reduced bus passes for students to ride,” Garrison said.

MATA lowers fares for students.

Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) will ease its deferred billing rules through August to prevent customers with high bills from having their utilities disconnected.

“The major benefit is, during these extreme temperatures, MLGW has a payment plan that will offset our customers from having their services disconnected for non-payment,” said Gale Jones Carson, MLGW’s director of corporate communications. “If you can’t pay the total amount, we’ll work with you during these temperatures.”

Customers eligible for the loosened billing rules must have a bill that exceeds at least $250. They will pay 25 percent of the owed amount or $250, whichever is less, and the remainder will go on a payment plan that lasts up to five months. Should the deferred billing payment surpass a monthly $500 balance, customers may establish a payment plan for up to nine months. A current and approved residential service agreement must be filed before making an arrangement. Customers who qualify can bring two forms of identification to any of MLGW’s five community centers.

“Normally, customers only have three months to pay they bill, and the balance has to be a minimum of $500,” Carson said.

The relaxed deferred billing rules are different from MLGW’s weather-related moratorium policy. That policy states they won’t disconnect services for residential customers due to non-payment under the following conditions: The forecast wind chill factor will be 32 degrees Fahrenheit or below freezing for 24 hours or longer. The forecast heat index will be 100 degrees Fahrenheit or above at any time during a 24-hour period. The forecast heat index will be 95 degrees Fahrenheit or above at any time in a 24-hour period for customers 60 years or older, physically challenged, or customers dependent on life-support.

“We do this every year when the weather gets extremely cold or extremely hot,” Carson said. “We do this to help customers avoid having their services disconnected for non-payment. When the weather gets extreme, we focus on not cutting services off.”

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Bike-Sharing is Caring

CREDIT: Joshua Cannon

I peddled the three-speed B-Cycle, a prototype made available at a demo hosted last Wednesday by Explore Bike Share, through Overton Square’s bike lane. Then, I hit Cooper Street, and, oh my god, cars everywhere. I’ll die here, I thought, and turned on a side street. After mustering some gusto, I looped back around to the temporary station where project manager Sara Studdard told me, yes, it’s intimidating to ride a bike down city streets for the first time — but it gets easier.

My experience may be typical for a first-timer, but if all goes as planned, Explore Bike Share’s planned bike-sharing program will help newbies like me become more comfortable cycling on the streets.

“A big part of Explore Bike Share’s programming will be bike education and bike safety,” says Studdard, who’s ridden for two years. “Not just how you ride a bike-share bike, but how you ride a bike in general. We’ll go over the rules of the road, and we’ll host group rides to encourage folks to feel more comfortable riding on the street.”

Joshua Cannon

Marcellus Benton, B-Cycle assistant, rides a bicycle at Overton Square’s Bike Share demo.

Bicycling magazine ranked Memphis one of the three worst cities for cycling just six years ago. The city is now on its way to housing 600 bike-share cycles and 60 stations in South Memphis, Orange Mound, Binghampton, Midtown, and downtown.

Here’s how it would work: Bikes would be rented for a certain amount of time, but users can replace the bike at any station around town. Those who expect to use the program regularly can buy memberships for $15 a month, but bikes can also be rented by the day. Riders will be able to pay with card or cash — making it one of the few bike-share programs in the country with that option. There’s also an annual “pay it forward” membership for $200 for those who’d like to donate a membership to a Memphian in need.

Doug Carpenter & Associates, LLC, has assisted with fund-raising for the program for nearly two years. Explore has raised half of the $4 million the bike share needs for initial start-up capital. B-Cycle, operated by Wisconsin’s Trek Bicycle, will then build the bikes and solar-powered stations. The bikes will fit a person from about 5’1″ tall to 6’6″, says Jake Higgin, a B-Cycle associate. Each bicycle will have a projection headlight and LED taillight as well as a front caddy to hold belongings.

A bike-share program will aid many transportation obstacles citizens face in the inner city, says Dwayne Jones, a resident of Orange Mound who sits on Explore’s board of directors. Johnson, who’s biked for six years, said access is the largest barrier to riding for many residents.

“A lot of people in inner city — predominately black people — ride bikes,” Jones says. “The bike-share sparked my interest because we needed more transportation opportunities in the city. We wanted to be connected to what’s going on in Memphis.

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Startup Teaches Kids Computer Coding

CREDIT: Courtesy of CodeCrew

A Texas Instruments home computer was the perfect Christmas gift for 10-year-old Meka Egwuekwe in the early 1980s since he loved video games like Combat and Pac-Man. Months later, Egwuekwe was bored with those games, so he turned to studying a BASIC computer programming textbook. Once he learned to move the letters of his name across the computer screen, a passion that has now spanned 32 years took root.

“I really started to take off with coding when I entered seventh grade at East High School,” Egwuekwe, 42, said. “I knew I wanted to go into computing, but I didn’t know what that meant until I was in a classroom setting at East. I could actually take a full semester’s class in programming. I really credit East High School with setting me on my path, which would end up being a 19-and-a-half-year career as a software developer.”

Egwuekwe has two teenage daughters and ran the Memphis chapter of Black Girls Code, a California-based nonprofit that provides African-American girls with technology education, for almost three years. He’s now the executive director of CodeCrew, a local startup that mentors young African Americans, Latino Americans, and women — all demographics that are under-represented in the tech world — in coding basics. Those groups do, however, make up the largest demographics in Memphis, Egwuekwe said.

Courtesy of CodeCrew

Students practice computer coding with CodeCrew.

“We believe the work we are doing at CodeCrew is transformative for Memphis,” Eqwuekwe said. “Too many kids who are not white or Asian males don’t see themselves as producers in this space. All of those groups are heavily underrepresented in these 21st-century careers. We can’t expect to be prosperous as a city unless we directly address those groups.”

CodeCrew, which Egwuekwe founded in 2015 with Audrey Jones and Petya Grady, grew through preliminary funding from the Grizzlies Foundation. They hosted a six-week pilot camp and a two-day hackathon last summer for kids ranging from fifth graders to high school sophomores. The events drew about 65 children who were challenged to build smartphone apps that would help people take advantage of Tom Lee Park’s Mississippi RiverFIT. Following the camp’s success, the Grizzlies Foundation provided funding for CodeCrew to register as a nonprofit. The organization was then able to start an after-school program.

“I learned that once these kids are shown, they thrive,” Egwuekwe said. “They can express their creativity, and they can go far beyond our own imagination in terms of what we thought they could do.”

After receiving a private, multi-year grant from a local organization, CodeCrew has extended their reach. Word spread after last year’s camp, and this summer they were able to host three camps — two beginner courses and one advanced course. About 85 kids, with more on a waiting list, signed up for the camp. This weekend, July 30th to 31st, they will host their second hackathon at Grizzlies Prepatory Charter School. This year’s theme is Memphis City Pride. The kids will break up into teams, choose an attraction or landmark, and build an app to help visitors take advantage of the location.

Egwuekwe quit his job as director of software development at Lokion Interactive in June to fully focus on CodeCrew. When school starts, the organization will teach programming at Grizzlies Preparatory School, MLK College Preparatory School, and at Veritas College Prepatory School. Grizzlies Prep and MLK Prep will offer elective courses where students will earn grades.

“I’m inspired by my East High experience,” Egwuekwe said. “I was in a classroom setting that had rigor, grades, and assignments. I believe that can work for other kids.”

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On the Hunt for Pokémon

Beasts stood all around us in Overton Park — rattling in bushes and hiding behind trees. We knew they were there, but we couldn’t see them, so we waited in the sweltering heat.

The server for the wildly popular Pokémon Go game had gone down just before sunrise on the day of a planned Pokéhunt in the park. I overheard a trainer — the term used for Pokémon Go players — say 27 countries were involved in an overload to the system on Friday night, as people the world-over searched for Pokémon.

“Even with the server going down, I’ve found myself walking around and seeing people who I know are playing it,” said Ryan Barnett, 28, who traveled from Atlanta to Memphis to catch Pokémon with a friend. “I see people coming out to a lot of areas where it didn’t seem like people were doing anything. Pokémon Go is getting people out.”

Pokémon Go players capture beasts at Shelby Farms Park.

Morale was high, even though the Pokéhunt, arranged by 26-year-old Memphis trainer Mark Brown, felt like a bust. More than 60 trainers stood on the Greensward, constantly refreshing their smartphones.

Suddenly a battle cry came from the back of the pack. “I’m in!” someone yelled, raising his smart phone into the sky. Trainers scurried in different directions. Pokémon of all varieties — Charmanders, Pidgeys, and Magikarp, to name a few — appeared by Rainbow Lake and the play-ground.

“I’m about to give up,” said Caleb Adams, 23, who wore a replica of Ash Ketchum’s backwards cap as he struggled to catch a Pokémon. Ash Ketchum is the main protagonist in the original Pokémon series.

“Would Ash give up?” a trainer shouted as he passed behind him.

Pokémon Go has taken the world by storm. Nathaniel Garner, a 14-year-old trainer, told me he’s collected more than 200 Pokémon since the game’s U.S. release earlier this month. The game’s use of augmented reality, which integrates computer-generated images over a user’s real-world view via the phone’s camera, has broken down the isolation of traditional gaming. The objective is to catch Pokémon, which as players advance, can be used in battle.

At Pokéstops — GPS pinpointed landmarks, parks, and museums — trainers forge real-life friendships and replenish game play resources, like the balls used to catch Pokémon. The Poké-verse allows users to evolve their Pokémon and level up. Once trainers reach level five, they pledge allegiance to one of three teams: Instinct (yellow), Mystic (blue), or Valor (red).

“People are becoming friends who would have never met if it wasn’t for this game,” said Kelsey Brown, 22, a level 20 member of Team Instinct with 130 Pokemon in her collection (called a Pokédex).

Multiple trainers at the Saturday event at Overton Park told me I could really see Pokémon Go‘s impact at Shelby Farms on Sunday, so I went. Hundreds of trainers, donning their team colors, traveled in clusters across the park’s 4,500 acres.

The massive turnout at Sunday’s event led the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office to issue a warning that anyone caught driving while playing Pokémon Go would be ticketed. According to a news release issued Monday from the sheriff’s office, a player was caught driving while playing in Shelby Farms after he nearly hit another player walking through the park.

But the game has had positive effects too. One trainer at Shelby Farms, 27-year-old Stephen Pullam, said the game is encouraging people who suffer from anxiety and depression to leave their homes and socialize.

“It’s a social environment where you know exactly what everyone is doing,” Pullam said. “You know you can talk to [other trainers] without feeling alienated.”

Pokémon Go shouldn’t be used as a treatment for depression, though, said Erik Carlton, an assistant professor in health systems management at the University of Memphis. But Carlton did say that people are reporting the natural side effects of physical activity.

“I would expect these initial positive experiences to coincide with the novelty of the experience and the energy it can create over a short period of time,” Carlton said. “However, for long-term positive effects, these physical activities would have to be translated into more productive, generative activities — exercise, work, social interactions, volunteering.”

Some Memphis trainers have bridged the game’s objectives with social work. One group bags trash while searching for Pokémon. Others, like 27-year-old Chris Baker, drive by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital each week to drop lures (modules that attract Pokémon to a specific location) on the hospital for the patients.

“The kids have Pokémon coming to them instead of having to walk to them,” Baker said. “It’s giving them something to enjoy.”

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13 Percent of Tennesseans Without Broadband Internet Access

About 13 percent of Tennesseans don’t have access to broadband internet service at the federal standard — a “core utility” that’s become a maker and breaker of many jobs. 

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development found that 834,545 Tennessee residents don’t have access to high-speed internet — a recommended 25 megabytes per second of download speed and 3 megabytes per second of upload speed. Though 87 percent of households have broadband availability, rural regions of Tennessee are affected the most. About 24 percent of rural citizens are without broadband access, while only two percent of those who live in the city are affected. 

“The department commissioned this report to establish benchmarks on broadband access in Tennessee,” said TNECD Commissioner Randy Boyd. “We need to evaluate these options and begin a meaningful dialogue.”

More than 23,000 residents and businesses participated in the study. Broadband access is responsible for 43 percent of new net jobs and 66 percent of revenues, according to businesses surveyed. About 34 percent of businesses said broadband was essential to choosing where to move their business, and 56 percent said it was imperative for them to remain at the location. Businesses often passed on a location due to poor internet access, sixteen percent of economic development agencies reported.

[pullquote-1]
That could spell trouble for Tennessee, where at least 33 percent of residents live in rural areas, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Broadband accessibility is affected by a community’s economic status, the level of competition among providers, various types of connection, and population density. About 4.6 percent of household respondents do not have an internet connection at home, the study found. More than half respondents said that there was no broadband available where they lived. 

The second most mentioned reason for not having internet access was affordability. To implement broadband service in all Tennessee homes, however, would cost between $1.1 billion and $1.7 billion, the study found.

“The information in this report is a starting point to advance the conversation about broadband access in our state,” said Gov. Bill Haslam. “An internal working group will review the report and have discussions with stakeholders to develop potential solutions to close the gap on broadband access in Tennessee.”

Chattanooga is tied with Seoul, Korea, Hong Kong, China, Tokyo, Japan, Kansas City, Kansas, Kansas City, Missouri, and Lafayette, Louisiana, in offering the fastest, broadband internet in the world. Chattanooga offers its own service provider through the city’s Electric Power Board (EPB). Only one percent of those in Hamilton County are without access. 

The Electric Power Board of Chattanooga has sparked criticism from companies like AT&T and legislators who see municipally owned internet services as an intrusion into private business. Municipal services, like Chattanooga’s, say they are providing access to underserved areas.

Tennessee is challenging a ruling made last year by the Federal Communications Commission that allows Chattanooga’s EPB to extend access outside of their area. Prior to the FCC overruling it, state law restricted municipal power utilities from offering telecommunications services outside their electric service territories. 

Though 97 percent of Shelby County has access to broadband service, 75 percent of households want to improve how they use the internet. Households with broadband internet access have more opportunities to earn income and train for employment. About 23.5 percent of households surveyed run a home-based business, the study found. 

“Not every option included in the report may be the answer for Tennessee, nor is there one simple solution,” Boyd added. “With the menu of options provided in the study, decision makers can begin a dialogue to find a win-win-win combination to ensure our communities have the broadband they need.”

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Ernest Withers Home to Become Museum

CREDIT: Rome Withers

Salmon croquettes, creamed corn, and eggs. Pork chops, fried chicken, and fish. Rice, gravy, and biscuits. That’s how Rosalind Withers, the daughter of Dorothy and Ernest Withers, remembers Saturday mornings in their home.

“My mother had a staple of doing a Saturday morning breakfast,” Rosalind said. “These were breakfasts my parents would share with any prominent figures who were in town — Martin King, Stokely Carmichael. If something was going on in Memphis on Saturday, chances are my father may not have been there because he was at home with us. That was our quality time with him.”

Rome Withers

Ernest Withers’ home at 480 W. Brooks

The Memphis City Council voted last week to re-zone the Withers home as a single-lot historic district. The rambler fashioned house, located at 480 W. Brooks in the Walker Estates neighborhood, was built 63 years ago and will become a museum to preserve the photographer’s legacy. It’s the only still-intact structure exclusively associated with Withers, says Nancy Jane Baker, the manager of the Memphis Landmarks Commission.

“Mr. Withers’ body of work speaks to the generations of the struggle and accomplishments of the civil rights movement as well as documenting the daily lives of Southern African Americans,” Baker says. “In 50 to 100 years, this property has the ability to explain history like Williamsburg does for us today.”

Withers, also one of Memphis’ first black police officers, worked as a photographer for most of his life until he died in 2007 following complications from a stroke. His images capture historical moments such as the Emmett Till trial, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In 2010, a potential blemish landed on Withers’ record when The Commercial Appeal discovered the photographer worked as a paid informant to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The photographer’s prolific body of work outweighed any tarnish to his name. Rev. Harold Middlebrook, who grew up with Withers, told The Commercial Appeal he didn’t resent his friend. Middlebrook said Withers was a “pretty smart fellow” for being able to make the FBI pay him to tell the story of the civil rights movement.

Rosalind, who opened the Withers Collection Museum & Gallery in 2011 at the site of her father’s former studio, said it could take two years or more until the museum opens.

Andrew Rome Withers, 60, is the seventh son of eight Withers’ children and currently lives in the home. Andrew says he stood next to his father as he snapped the famous “I Am a Man” photo. All of Withers’ sons became photographers, according to Andrew, and he still shoots today. The home not only represents how his parents influenced their children, but how they affected the community and how his father captured history in real time for the rest of the world.

“It is very much in the fabric of Memphis — the significance of it,” Andrew says.

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New Views Show Progress of Big River Crossing

The country’s longest bike-pedestrian land bridge will soon stretch across the Mississippi River. 

Big River Crossing, about 1-mile long, will serve as a neighbor to the 100-year-old Harahan Bridge. It will open October 22 — the centerpiece of the Main Street to Main Street project, a 10-mile effort to connect the city to West Memphis, Arkansas. 
[pullquote-1]”I’m looking forward to the grand opening of the Harahan Bridge’s Big River Crossing in October,” said Congressman Steve Cohen. “The federal funds secured from the highly competitive TIGER grant will help improve livability in downtown Memphis, increase tourism to the city, drive economic development and create jobs, and enable people to bike and walk over the historic, scenic Mississippi River. This kind of infrastructure in the heart of Memphis will help our city attract more people looking to make Memphis home.” 

Constructing Harahan Bridge required 21,400 tons of steel fastened together with thousands of rivets, according to Harry Pratt, the president of Allen & Hoshall, who oversaw the development, engineering and construction of Big River Crossing. 

Anonymous donors will fund the installation and maintenance of the Crossing’s LED system. Stakeholders will cut the ribbon at October 22’s opening ceremony. The gates will open at 1 p.m. Tom Lee Park and Delta Regional River Park will host food trucks and music at an all-day event that will end with a light show and fireworks at dusk. 

“What better way to launch this incredible city asset than by supporting and partnering with other notable Downtown events,” said Mayor Jim Strickland. “It’s been a great team effort across all fronts.”

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Organizers Meet Editorial Staff for “Frank, Robust” Conversation at Commercial Appeal Protest

CREDIT: Joshua Cannon

Joshua Cannon

[pullquote-1] [pullquote-3] Joshua Cannon

A protest assembled at the Commercial Appeal Wednesday objecting the publication’s coverage soon became a two-fold demonstration.  

Rev. Earle Fisher, who organized the protest, and members of the Memphis chapter of Black Lives Matter met behind closed doors with the paper’s editorial staff. The discussion came after the paper ran a headline that read “gunman targeted whites” following a recent shooting in Dallas, Texas which resulted in five officer’s deaths. Fisher said “what happened at the Commercial Appeal is just a symptom of a broader, structural, unjust, and white supremacist system.”
[pullquote-2] Commercial Appeal Editor Louis Graham said in an editorial that the headline was tone deaf and avoided the nuances of a complex situation. Many pointed to the paper’s June 15 coverage of Dylan Roof, when he was accused of killing nine African-Americans inside their Charleston, South Carolina church — which also ran at the top of page one. The headline read, “Suspect Caught.” 
Joshua Cannon

Fisher returned with Commercial Appeal President and Publisher George Cogswell after the meeting ended to address what Fisher said was a “frank and robust” conversation.

“One of the things we came away with was the reality of the need for cultural sensitivity training and we also agreed to meet monthly over the next few months,” Fisher said. “We will try to aid and assist with such things as adequate representation not just in the media as it relates to what’s in the paper, but also who is in the office. We just met with four men, and there was not adequate gender representation. There is no black investigative journalist at the Commercial Appeal. We vowed to help recruit some. We didn’t ask for anyone to be fired, we just want to deal with where they have been lacking.”

Cogswell said they discussed diversity in the newsroom and the overall organization, an issue Gannett, the publication’s new owner, can help resolve as it provides resources, diversity training, and education.

“We have an effort in place to constantly try and improve that diversity,” Cogswell said. “Our organization, like many others, does not reflect the make up of our community, which, in this city, is 65 percent African American. We’ve also pledged to provide space in the op-ed section and to meet as often as we can. It was a very good ‘first date,’ as I would call it.” 
Joshua Cannon

As the meeting occurred, the family and attorneys of Darrius Stewart announced to at least 30 to 40 protestors on the front lawn that they will sue the city, former Memphis Police Director Tony Armstrong, and MPD officer Connor Schilling. 

“We’re here in solidarity with your overall issues,” said Malik Z. Shabazz, attorney for Mary Stewart, Darrius’ mother, who is suing the city for $17 million. “It means something.”

Stewart, holding a framed photo of her son dressed in a white tuxedo, added: “I’ve been talking about what kind of person my son was for about a whole year now. I’ve been fighting for justice for a whole year. Connor Schilling should receive the death penalty. He committed first degree murder. I wouldn’t care if he was black and did my son like that. This is not about race — this is about justice and truth. Don’t think it’s because he’s caucasian.” 

Schilling killed Stewart last July. Stewart was unarmed and was attempting to flee the scene. Schilling shot twice, killing Stewart. Schilling was not fired but was allowed to retire with full pension benefits from MPD.

Wednesday’s demonstration followed nationwide protests after two black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, were shot and killed by police. About 1,000 protestors shut down the Interstate 40 bridge on Sunday. 

Shon Owsley, 22, said he came to the Commercial Appeal protest because he was tired of his voice not being heard. 

“Most of these black men getting killed are around my age,” Owsley said. “I could be in this position. It makes me afraid. It makes me afraid because I’m a young black man trying to see in a white world. It makes me afraid because I’m a young black man and I have to look over my shoulder not only for random people, but also for the people who are supposed to protect and served. I’m afraid because my life could be ended at a red light by a police officer. I’m afraid because my life could be ended because of a busted tail light. We have to change the entire system.” 

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Memphis Zoo Plans to Save Rare Louisiana Pine Snake

The Memphis Zoo will lead conservation efforts to save the Louisiana pine snake — the rarest snake in the United States. Longleaf pine forests, the pine snake’s natural habitat, have been destroyed by urbanization, logging, and cultivation. Human alteration has pushed the species to near extinction, but the Memphis Zoo has a plan to save them. — Joshua Cannon

Flyer: How many pine snakes will the zoo have?
Matt Thompson: We will initially have approximately 20 snakes under our care beginning in late fall or early winter. The remaining snakes that are in 21 different zoos across the country will be distributed to three other locations: Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, Louisiana; Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas; and Ellen Trout Zoo in Lufkin, Texas.

Will the snakes be housed in an existing location or will one be built?
A Louisiana pine snake research facility will be built on zoo grounds near the giraffe barn, courtesy of funds from the U.S. Forest Service Catahoula District. The building, contracted by Mayer Construction Co. Inc., will cost just under $150,000 and will be pretty cut and dry — no fancy features since it will not be open to the public. It will include strong lights that will mimic sunlight and wall-to-wall cages. We hope to have it completed by mid-September.

What method will the zoo use to breed the snakes?
While there are various methods for breeding different types of snakes, the pine snake is bred using the standard practice for North American colubrids — non-venomous, egg-laying snakes. In the late fall/early winter, we lower their temperature in a controlled setting, essentially hibernating them. Once spring rolls around and hibernation ends, the snakes are paired together to facilitate breeding.

What led the pine snakes to near extinction?
The population of the Louisiana pine snake has dwindled due in part to the loss of its habitat, longleaf pine forests. The lush forests once stretched across the Southeast from East Texas to the Atlantic coastline, covering an estimated 90 million acres until their decline began 150 years ago.

Because the trees were so abundant many years ago, settlers saw them as an inexhaustible resource, clearing the longleaf pine forests to make way for human development and agriculture, as well as using the high-quality lumber to build ships and railroads. Now, the trees can only be found in patches throughout those regions.

Once settlers discovered the vast loss of the trees, they replaced them with fast-growing pines that would produce economic benefits much more quickly than their predecessors. However, replacing the longleaf pines caused the areas the snakes once inhabited to no longer be a good fit for the species to thrive.

How many pine snakes are left?
There are 108 Louisiana pine snakes held in captivity in the United States. They’re also found in the wild but sparingly to say the least. The snake is the rarest in North America with fewer than 250 specimens that have been found in the wild.

When did the zoo begin breeding pine snakes, and how many have been successfully re-entered into the wild?
The Memphis Zoo began breeding Louisiana pine snakes in 2010. Over the last six years, we have released 50 pine snakes into the wild at an experimental site in Grant Parish, Louisiana, on the Catahoula District of Kisatchie National Forest. Now that this conservation effort is being kicked up a notch, we’re looking forward to increasing that number exponentially over the next few years. We estimate that each of the four conservation sites will produce about 100 snakes annually.