Tennessee is working to purchase 5,477 acres of forest land near Grand Junction from the Hobart Ames Foundation. The land is part of the Wolf River watershed. (Photo: Wolf River Conservancy)
About 60 miles east of Memphis near the Mississippi line, verdant hardwood trees and ecologically exceptional streams weave through thousands of acres of rolling hills.
The land is home to a diverse array of aquatic and terrestrial life, decades-old archaeological sites and a watershed that feeds into the aquifer where hundreds of thousands of Memphians source their drinking water.
If all goes to plan, 5,477 acres of this land will soon become Tennessee’s newest state forest, securing its preservation for posterity.
The land is a portion of the 18,400-acre historic Ames Plantation, a privately owned tract in Fayette and Hardeman Counties amassed by Massachusetts industrialist Hobart Ames in the early 1900s.
For the last several decades, the Hobart Ames Foundation has partnered with the University of Tennessee’s AgResearch and Education Center to maintain and study the land and its history. The university’s website calls the center “an 18,400-acre laboratory” home to an archaeology field school, vet school, forestry camp, tree research nursery, row crop research fields and more.
When the roughly 5,500-acre portion of forest hit the market around early 2023, Tennessee’s forestry division rushed to piece together funding to buy it.
Deal cobbled together at ‘breakneck speed’
Work toward the purchase was already underway when State Forester Heather Slayton was appointed to her role this January. After calling her staff to inform them of her new title, “my second act was to call the Hobart Ames Foundation to let them know that we were hustling to get this project off the ground,” she said. “In the relative scheme of forest legacy projects, it was breakneck speed.”
A man paddles down the main stem of the Wolf River in West Tennessee. (Photo: Wolf River Conservancy)
The land was only on the market for a short time before the Hobart Ames Foundation agreed to remove it and allow the state “a little bit of time” to patch together the funds to “keep it protected and conserved in perpetuity,” Slayton said.
News of the project surfaced in August when the state Department of Agriculture brought an approval request to a State Building Commission subcommittee, warning that the land “will be under immediate threat of development if sold to a third party.”
The forest is located near Grand Junction, about 30 miles south of Ford’s new BlueOval City electric vehicle manufacturing plant.
“This tract is important and irreplaceable as it maintains the longest continuous research tree nursery in the country. It also contains one of the best examples of long-term, well-managed bottomland hardwood forest in West Tennessee,” the request states.
Slayton said an initial $16.9 million to secure the purchase will come from Tennessee’s Heritage Conservation Trust Fund, in addition to about $1.5 million in state wetland funding and help from other state agencies. Tennessee’s Division of Forestry applied to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service Legacy Program, which helps keep working forests kept intact. The program would cover 75 percent of the total $22.5 million purchase price, with state funds making up the remaining 25 percent. If the federal grant is approved, the plan is to repay the Heritage Conservation Trust Fund’s contribution, she said. Including additional costs, the total worth of the project is around $24.3 million, Slayton said.
The total worth of the project is around $24.3 million.
The Conservation Fund, a national nonprofit conservation group, will act as an intermediary to purchase the land from the Hobart Ames Foundation and sign over the contract to the state.
Zachary Lesch-Huie, Tennessee state director for The Conservation Fund, said the land is valuable for a multitude of reasons. It contains a major part of the upper fork of the Wolf River, which feeds the aquifer system responsible for Memphis’ water supply. It’s home to several species prioritized by Tennessee for protection, and features an “outstanding” forest habitat. There’s potential for future recreational and educational opportunities there, including hunting, river access, hiking, and continued archeological research on more than 40 historical sites on the property.
The purchase is not yet final — Lesch-Huie said the process is going well but could take several more weeks, barring any unforeseen snags. He said he credits the land’s excellent condition to the stewardship of the Hobart Ames Foundation and the University of Tennessee.
“I also want to give credit to … the Hobart Ames Foundation, because their willingness to even do this important deal for the state of Tennessee is what this (project) hinges on,” he said. “All these conservation deals rely on a willing landowner, and they are that.”
The University of Tennessee declined to comment on the pending deal, and the Hobart Ames Foundation did not respond to a request for comment.
Once the sale is complete, the University of Tennessee will continue to manage the property alongside the state and continue its tree nursery research project.
“The information that comes out of the research for tree genetics and how to produce healthier, more resilient trees helps the forests of all the rest of the State of Tennessee as well,” Slayton said.
Safeguarding the Wolf River and Memphis drinking water
The north fork of the Wolf River flows through this portion of bottomland forest — essentially a river swamp or forested wetland — on the Ames property. It meets the Wolf River in Moscow, Tennessee, and the Wolf River then flows into the Mississippi River at Mud Island, north of Downtown Memphis.
Wetlands are really integral to protecting and providing clean water, so this system helps to do that for about 2.8 million people downstream in the city of Memphis area and the surrounding counties.
– Heather Slayton, Tennessee State Forester
Memphis is the largest city in the country that relies fully on ground water, according to the University of Memphis.
Ryan Hall, director of land conservation at the Wolf River Conservancy, said the entire tract of forest land lies within an aquifer recharge zone for the Memphis Sand Aquifer. Rainwater is slowly filtered through layers of sand, purifying the water. Natural sand aquifers are separated by thick clay that protects water from contaminants, according to the University of Memphis. But thinning clay and breaks in its surface in several areas throughout Shelby County pose ongoing pollution concerns.
“Wetlands are really integral to protecting and providing clean water, so this system helps to do that for about 2.8 million people downstream in the city of Memphis area and the surrounding counties,” Slayton said. “So just being able to protect that wetland function of creating clean water for those people is really, really special.”
The Wolf River Conservancy aims to preserve the Wolf River watershed as a natural resource and provide conservation education. The organization is working to build a Wolf River Greenway trail through Memphis. The group has acted as supporters and advocates of transforming this land into a new state forest, Hall said.
“(The property) has been stewarded well for a long time, and now we know it’s going to be stewarded well in perpetuity, so that peace of mind is just — the Wolf River Conservancy and all of our volunteers, donors, we’re very grateful that this is happening,” he said.
A rich cultural site
The Ames property was one of several large plantations located in the area in the 1800s, Slayton said.
“This particular forest block and the larger Ames property has a very rich cultural history of enslaved people in this part of Tennessee,” she said.
The University of Tennessee, in partnership with the Hobart Ames Foundation, has done extensive research on the property, identifying historical artifacts and tracing ancestors who lived there.
The greater Ames property features the Ames Manor, a cabin, and the remains of multiple 19th-century buildings, including houses, stores, churches, schools, cotton gins, and the quarters of enslaved people, according to the university. There are 26 known cemeteries on the property, including up to six burial grounds for enslaved people, some of which have more than 100 graves.
“That’s another part of this project that’s super exciting: keeping it in public ownership so we can protect the cultural significance of the property,” Slayton said.
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Water whooshes through two black pipes — both as big around a small pizza and long enough to hide their ends — with the gentle sound of a dishwasher humming out of sight.
The pipes snake nearly across the entire campus of the Allen Fossil Plant. For nearly 60 years, nearly all of Memphis’ electricity flowed from the massive plant close to Presidents Island.
That plant burned coal to make that electricity. That coal was reduced to mainly to ash when it was all burned up. That ash — containing toxins like arsenic and lead — was slurried with water and flowed into great ponds sitting just west and just east of the Allen plant.
Those ponds sit right on the bank of McKellar Lake, a broad inlet from the Mississippi River that cradles the south side of Presidents Island and fronts Martin Luther King Jr. Riverside Park and T.O. Fuller State Park.
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An aerial view of the Allen Fossil Plant.
In 2017, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) found high levels of arsenic and other toxins in ground water close to the ponds. Arsenic levels were more than 300 times higher than federal drinking water standards.
The discovery kicked off a years-long, sometimes-contentious series of events that TVA officials hope will end in 10 years. That’s how long they say it will take to finally remove the ash now sitting on nearly 120 acres.
Environmental and drinking-water advocates here hope that move will finally remove the threat the has poses to the Memphis Sand Aquifer, the source of the city’s pristine drinking water.
The process to remove the ash is already underway. On Wednesday, those two black pipes — both as big around as a small pizza — whooshed treated water from those ponds straight into the Mississippi. Toby Sells
TVA president and CEO Jeffrey Lyash spoke to reporters here Wednesday.
“There’s a deferred cost associated with the nearly 60 years benefit we all derived from places like the Allen Plant,” Jeffrey Lyash, president and CEO of TVA, said to reporters here Wednesday. “That deferred cost is coal combustion residuals [ash] and the decommissioning and dismantling of the plant and the restoration of the site so that it can be repurposed for economic development.”
Two ash storage ponds now hold ash buried at the Allen plant from as far back as 1959, when it was built and brought online by Memphis Light, Gas & Water.
The west ash pond was the site’s first. It was retired in 1978 and closed by the TVA in 2016. The ash in that ponds — some from 1959 — remains. Though, the broad pond is now covered in grass and a few trees. It looks inviting enough, as one TVA official put it, for a family reunion.
The east ash pond replaced the original west ash pond. The east pond was built in 1967, expanded in 1978, and is now 70 acres, according to the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project. Water in the pond looked dark, standing about 50 yards from it. The area around it looks swampy, grown over by some tough, reedy weed — not inviting at all. Toby Sells
Reporters gather before pumps and filters on the bank of the Allen plant’s east ash pond.
Crews began sucking the water from the east pond about two weeks ago, according to Angela Austin, TVA’s construction manager at Allen site. Lyash, the CEO, called Austin the “boots on the ground” for the project to remove the coal ash and decommission and dismantle the old plant.
In those two weeks, nearly 3 million gallons of free water — the water on top of the ash — has been removed from the pond. The water is filtered to remove any particles in it and treated to adjust its pH to clear federal standards that allows TVA to dump the water in the river. Austin said she hopes to have all of that water removed in the next two or three months. When it’s gone, nearly 17 million gallons will be filtered, treated, snaked through those black pipes, and flowed into the Mississippi.
Once that water is gone, crews will begin removing water that’s still in the ash. Once that water is gone, the ash will be stabilized enough to be removed.
Coal ash ponds near TVA’s Allen Fossil power plant
TVA wants to remove it, Lyash said, all of it — from the east and west ash ponds. But part of that decision lies with federal environmental officials and with Memphians. A process is now underway to decide exactly how the TVA will deal with the ash.
As a part of that, TVA held a public hearing on the matter here Wednesday. Lyash said Wednesday TVA is also going to create a citizens advisory group to watch and review the process on an ongoing basis.
The process underway now will determine many of the next steps TVA will take to remove the ash. Can the agency remove it? If so, how? If so, how can they transport it? Truck? Rail? If they can transport it, where can they take it? If they can take it some place, what kind of container can they store it in?
Southern Environmental Law Center
An aerial shot shows the massive east ash pond at the Allen Fossil Plant.
One interesting question is whether or not TVA will be able to use the ash, instead of just storing it some place. The American Coal Ash Association (ACAA) said in 2012 that about half of coal ash that is reused is made into concrete, grout, or gypsum wallboard.
But the biggest question for Memphians is how TVA plans will protect the environment and, more specifically, the drinking water here.
Contaminants from the coal ash ponds leeched into groundwater here. It made it 40 feet into the ground into a shallower alluvial aquifer, not into the drinking-water source, TVA said. Around the time of the discovery, TVA said it wanted to drill five wells into the Memphis Sand (the drinking water source) to pump water from it to cool it’s brand new Allen Combined Cycle Plant, the one that replaced the fossil plant.
TVA
TVA’s new natural-gas-fueled Combined Cycle Plant.
However, some worried that running the wells would pull toxins from the east ash pond into the Memphis Sand aquifer. TVA launched an investigation run by the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Memphis. The groups found that the Memphis Sand was hydraulically linked to that contaminated, alluvial aquifer above it. By this time, though, TVA had decided not to use the wells.
“All the evidence says not only isn’t there any drinking-water contamination or environmental contamination beyond what we’ve characterized, but there really isn’t any migration that would suggest it would be an issue in the future,” said Lyash.
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Two of 57 wells monitor the ground water around an ash pond at the Allen plant.
TVA is watching the situation closely. It has now expanded its of monitoring wells around the east ash pond to 57.
But Memphis will have a second opinion. In November, to the U of M’s Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research (CAESER) wont a $5 million grant to study the aquifer over the next five years.
A U of M news release at the time said MLGW “has grown increasingly concerned over water quality impacts to our sole source of drinking water, the Memphis aquifer. Above the Memphis Aquifer is a protective clay layer which shields our drinking water from pollution, but gaps, or ‘breaches’ in the clay have been discovered.”
Lyash said TVA will return the Allen site to a “best-of-industry standard” using the “best-in-industry practices in science.”
“We’re going to protect the environment,” Lyash said. “We have the interests of the citizens of Shelby County in Memphis right at the heart of that. So, you shouldn’t be concerned that TV is going to do anything other than the right thing here at our Allen.”
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TVA’s Angela Austin speaks to reporters at the Allen plant.
For Austin, TVA’s mission at Allen is personal. She’s the “boots-on-the-ground” Allen construction manager. Austin said she has been a Memphian for 24 years and lives now in Hickory Hill.
“It’s very important that we get it right, because I’m the one who drinks this water every day, Austin said. “It has to be successful. This is where my family has been born and raised.”
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