As you sift through the many requests for end-of-year donations, consider the wisdom of seeing to the wholeness of this bit of earth we share, the trees on it that clean our air, the wildlife that depend on it and keep it in balance, the beauty and harmony we have the power to nurture and pass on; then consider the West Meade Conservancy for your giving. Now is the time when donations to the WMC's fund solidify our work.

The first steps--boundaries and title opinion letters--have been finished for the first easement group, and now surveys are going on. What was only a vague dream when we began is actually taking place! Completing this first group will establish the credibility of our project and leverage funds from agencies to pay for future easement groups.

Two new ways to donate:

1. Use the link on the Home page of the WMC's website.
2. Ask for one of the beautiful new brochures containing donation cards and envelopes. (Go to the "Contact Us" section on the website. Or you can send a personal check to "The Land Trust for Tennessee, 209 10th Ave., South, Suite 530, Nashville TN 37203." Don't forget to write "West Meade Conservancy" on the subject line.

Another innovation: There's now a "West Meade Conservancy" page on Facebook.

Jeanie Nelson, Director of The Land Trust for Tennessee, is featured in the Summer 2009 issue of Vanderbilt Magazine. Nelson was general counsel for the EPA before working with Phil Bredesen to set up a land trust for the state.

Jeanie Nelson has been one of The West Meade Conservancy's mentors since 2006, and now her agency and Metro Greenways will be co-grantees for the WMC's easements. Although The Land Trust for Tennessee began by preserving large tracts of land, the agency's role has expanded to include the lasting protection of small privately held land that has "conservation value." That's a description that fits The Conservancy!

One of Jeanie Nelson's statements in the article could serve as a motto for the WMC: "Our forests allow birds and our souls to keep singing."

To read the whole article online, go to http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/vanderbilt-magazine/2009/08/big-ideas-for-a-small-planet/

Meeting at the Kowalski/Nestler home are some of the participants in the WMC's first official easement group - click image to enlarge.

1st row: George Schnitzer, Stephanie Sephel, Mary Kowalski, Kathy Osten; 2nd row: Greg Sephel, Carol Nestler, Maureen Mowry, David and Lynn Barton; Not Pictured: Althea and Lewis Jenkins, Julie and David Petcu, Bette Schnitzer, Nancy and Collins Smith, Lucinda Trabue

• Purpose: to cover costs for the initial easement group, to start a stewardship fund, and to "leverage" matching funds from other sources. It is essential to produce a first group of official easements to prove the WMC's project is realistic.
  
  
• Who: Anyone who cares about preserving the woods of West Meade or preserving the green “corridor” surrounding much of Nashville (see map under Ecological Corridor section) . You can make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to The Land Trust for Tennessee's "West Meade Conservancy Fund" by mail or on-line. The WMC, though a registered non-profit, is not a 501 ( c ) (3) organization and so cannot accept donations directly.
  
  
• How: By mail--send a donation to The Land Trust for Tennessee, 209 10th Avenue South, Suite 530, Nashville, TN 37203, and write "West Meade Conservancy" on your check's subject line. You will receive a special donation card and envelope this week (an image of the front of the card is attached to this newsletter). On-line--go to http://www.landtrusttn.org; be sure to write "For the West Meade Conservancy" in the "Comments" box. Donors may request that their donations be anonymous.
  
  About the Card: at the WMC meeting on April 13, when people saw the donation cards for The Land Trust for TN, someone commented, "But we're not on the card!" Now, thanks to two WMC photographers (Sharon Charney, "Trout Lily," and Brenda Batey, "Red Fox") and artist Anne Williams, the WMC has its own card.
  
  The quotation on the card: the paragraph is from a letter written by Bob Brown to the West Meade Conservancy a month before his death in 2007. Bob Brown (naturalist and charter member of conservation groups in Tennessee and Nashville) took an interest in the WMC from the beginning.

• Signed-up Properties
  
  

  Click on image to enlarge.

  We started with only 7 households signed up to be part of the WMC's conservation easement collection. Now there are SIXTY-THREE (63!) households signed up (shown on the attached map). At the April 13 meeting Audra Ladd (Projects Director of The Land Trust for TN) complimented WMC members for the area's unprecedented enthusiasm and commitment. The First Group ready to begin the steps to official easements will probably be a Jocelyn Hollow/Rolling Fork Dr. collection. As other groups fill in enough gaps to form cohesive easement collections, these groups will move up in line.



• Who Is Helping
  
  The Land Trust for Tennessee and Metro Greenways have agreed to become co-holders of the WMC's easements. Having two agencies bear joint responsibility is a protection for the easements because one group cannot make changes without the other's consent. Kate Rosenthal of Chapman and Rosenthal Title Company and Tommy Mallard of Complete Surveying Services have given the WMC special low prices for title work and surveys. Landowners are not charged for these services or for easements and stewardship. Costs will be paid from a special fund set up by The Land Trust for Tennessee.

The West Meade Conservancy is ready to begin building its first official easement groups. Whether you are a current Registry Signer, a potential Registry Signer, or simply someone interested in the preservation of West Meade’s woods, wildlife, history, and streams, you are invited to come to a “Nuts and Bolts” meeting to:

• See maps with participating lots
• Learn the next steps to implement the easements
• Meet Audra Ladd, Middle Tennessee Project Manager for The Land Trust for Tennessee
• Learn about phases and deadlines
• Have your comments heard and your questions answered

If you can go to only one WMC meeting all year, THIS IS IT

DIRECTIONS: Going toward Bellevue on Highway 70 S, turn Left at light right after Carnavon; JCC entrance will be on your Left. Going toward Highway 100 from Jocelyn Hollow, cross Highway 70 S on Vaughn's Gap, turn Right onto Percy Warner Blvd. (stop sign) and then Right into JCC parking lot; watch out--the JCC entrance is easy to miss. Map is attached.

There are now 57 households signed up to be part of the Conservancy's easement collection, each household conserving a small or large piece of woods, whatever owners choose, to help create the patchwork quilt of forested slopes that will remain intact in West Meade.

1. Rain Gardens for Green Infrastructure: WMC's Patty Ghertner has produced RAIN GARDENS (A Do-It-Yourself Guide for Homeowners in Middle Tennessee). The booklet is filled with easy-to-follow steps, lots of pictures, and lists of native flowers and shrubs suitable for shady, sunny, or partially sunny rain gardens. Patty will part with a booklet for cost, $7; contact WestMeade@gmail.com for more information.
   
   
2. Hill Property Mission: The WMC has received a letter from Warner Bass saying that the Hill Company has reduced the price of the 300+-acre Hill Property from $13,250,000 to $10,800,000. Friends of Warner Parks has already accumulated $9,000,000 toward the purchase of the property and is approaching a goal that once seemed almost impossible. Now the group is working on its final round of donations. To learn more, visit the group's web site: www.friendsofwarnerparks.com .
   
   
3. Community Character Meetings: the next meeting will be on February 2 at 6:00 pm at St. Ann's Catholic Church on Charlotte Ave. At this stage, the Planning Commission is reporting on the plan that has incorporated suggestions from residents who attended earlier meetings. You can read the current plan later this week on the Metro Planning Commission's web site.
   
   
4. RCWA: The Richland Creek Watershed Alliance has completed a film about the creek and its various branches, including the Jocelyn Branch. The group's web site is www.richlandcreekwatershedalliance.org.

"Thanks so much for your letter of September 17, and for your support for Friends of Warner Parks efforts to acquire the Hill Property....You may be sure that Friends of Warner Parks supports the efforts of the West Meade Conservancy to acquire conservation easements and protect the "ecological arc" that you mentioned in your letter....The goals of Friends of Warner Parks and the West Meade Conservancy are very much the same."

• The Metro Planning Commission's next Community Character meeting ("Concept Plan Workshop"), Monday, Dec. 8 at 6:00 PM, St. Ann's Catholic Community, 5101 Charlotte Ave [At this meeting residents will hear an MPC plan that incorporates suggestions they made at the "Visioning Workshop."]

• Details about schedules for and reports from meetings of the Mayor's Green Ribbon Commission on Environmental Sustainability [See next newsletter and/or use this link: http://www.nashville.gov/mayor/green_ribbon/meetings.asp . At least two members of the West Meade community attended the committee's public meeting this past Saturday.]

• A beautiful collection of photographs of the Hill Tract's woods [Go to this website: www.friendsofwarnerparks.com .] Friends of Warner Parks are beginning the final phase of their campaign to raise money to purchase the Hill Tract for the city. The Hill Property forms an important link in Nashville's Ecological Corridor/Conservation Arc.

• The latest newsletter from RCWA (Richland Creek Watershed Alliance) [Go to this website: www.richlandcreekwatershedalliance.org .]

• WMC representatives were invited to attend "Growing Together I & II," receptions for "environmental leaders" at the LeQuire Gallery. Mayor Karl Dean, speaker at "Growing Together I," gave permission for the WMC to quote him at the beginning of the Conservancy website: "Nashville needs to be a leading city for sustainable living with clean air, clean water and plenty of preserved open space."

• Warner Bass, Chairman Emeritus of The Friends of Warner Parks, sent a request to the WMC for an endorsement of the Hill Property Project. Registration Form Signers and charter members who have signed Support Forms chose to give the endorsement and to ask for one in return. [See attached letter and WMC's response.}

• The Hill Property Project (www.friendsofwarnerparks.com)
  You might want to contribute to this cause.

• RCWA (www.richlandcreekwatershedalliance.org)
  You might like to participate in the Watershed Cleanup Event, October 25.

• Metro Planning Commission's Community Meeting Schedule for discussing the Plan for the West Nashville Community (www.nashville.gov/mpc/subarea/subarea7.htm)
  Although Subarea 7's Amendment will not be debated this year, it is to West Meade's advantage to have a large turnout at the meetings and continue to be seen as an area that cares about planning. If you haven't received a postcard with the meeting schedule, you can get one at the above website or call Anita McCaig (862-7156) or Cindy Wood (862-7166).

• Greenways for Nashville (www.greenwaysfornashville.org)
  This is a nonprofit organization that raises funds and promotes events for the Metro Greenways Commission, one of the Conservancy's assisting agencies.

• Mayor's Green Ribbon Committee on Environmental Sustainability
  http://www.nashville.gov/mayor/green_ribbon/index.asp
  If you haven't already done so, you can take the Environmental Survey available at this website.

• Environmental Sustainability Manager, Jenna Smith (jenna.smith@nashville.gov), the person to contact if you have questions about environmental concerns in Nashville. Jenna is Mayor Dean's representative, and she attended the first "Growing Together"

PHOTO OPS, POLLUTION PROTECTION, WELCOME TO NEWCOMERS
WEST MEADE CONSERVANCY'S JUNE 2008 REPORT

A. CALLING ALL NATURE PHOTOGRAPHERS This is a good time of year for taking pictures to add to the Species List on the Conservancy's website. Neighbors have reported seeing fawns, and one neighbor even saw a doe giving birth. There are mammals, insects, reptiles, butterflies, summer birds, and nests galore, so please keep your camera handy.

Here are some gaps you can help to fill in the Species List: beetles, lizards, skinks, snakes (be careful), fawns, crayfish, individuals in the category "Ants, Bees, Wasps, and Kin," and anything else that strikes you as interesting. Send in your shots even if the animal or plant is already pictured on the website. Sometimes new photos replace or accompany the old ones.

You can email your pictures as attachments to WestMeade@gmail.com or send prints to The West Meade Conservancy, P.O. Box 58406, Nashville, TN 37205.

B. THANK YOU to everybody who has recently filled out Landowner Registration Forms, put up West Meade Conservancy signs, or contacted the WMC for information. WELCOME to those of you who are new to the area but not new to the idea of conservation; we're lucky to have you in our midst.

C. STORMWATER TALK In May Council Representative Emily Evans gave a talk on stormwater issues that can affect the creeks and streams in West Meade. She said that although wooded hillsides contribute significantly to the health of a watershed by absorbing stormwater, there are still many things residents can do to help prevent polluting the two branches of Richland Creek in this area: Jocelyn Branch and Vaughn's Branch.

1. Limit use of fertilizers and weed killers.
2. Limit use of concrete around running water (polluting salts and metals can leach out).
3. Grow plants around streams and ditches.
4. Wash cars at local carwashes (to keep sudsy water from running down driveways).
5. Pick up pet waste (a bacterial contaminant) near streams and ditches.
6. Use permeable material on driveways and parking areas so that stormwater can be absorbed by the soil.
7. Report any sediment discharge or illegal construction discharge to 880-2420.

At the Stormwater Talk, Monette Rebecca of the Richland Creek Watershed Alliance invited West Meade residents to become part of the effort to keep Richland Creek clean and healthy. You can learn more about this group from its website. Learn more about the group at www.richlandcreekwatershedalliance.org . If you don't use the Internet but would like information about RCWA, call Monette at 525-3379.

Another neighborhood conservation group, located in Bells Bend, has contacted the Conservancy. Their website is www.bellsbend.org.

The West Meade Conservancy is graduating from good intentions to official actions.

Good intentions caused owners of wooded properties in West Meade to sign non-binding Landowner Registration Forms indicating a desire to preserve the woods by placing conservation easements on parts of them. Residents without wooded properties signed Support Forms to show support for protection of those natural areas. This was Phase One of the Conservancy’s effort to fulfill its mission of conserving a unique natural area.

Once it was clear that there is strong community approval of that mission, the Conservancy sought agencies to assist with Phase Two, turning the informal registrations into legal agreements (“easements”).

The WMC is now actively working with two conservation agencies to provide official support and funding to create a collection of individual conservation easements. For a full description of such easements, see the “Conservation Easements” link on the this website,

The first easement collection will involve properties on Rolling Fork Dr., Jocelyn Hollow, Wayside Ct., Saxon Ct., Grayson Dr., and Rodney Ct. These have been chosen because 1) they enclose some of the oldest sections of woods; 2) the wooded pieces that owners have designated are contiguous; and 3) the position of these woods between other natural areas (Beaman Park, Warner Parks, Radnor Lake) makes a natural corridor important to the city’s character and health.

The agencies who will jointly maintain the easements require legal surveys and legal descriptions of the land bearing easements (an individual benefit of granting an easement will be a free survey). These organizations are helping to create a plan for carrying out the surveys and recording the easements and will work with landowners to define borders that suit the terrain and the residents.

Although many landowners have entered Phase Two, Phase One is on-going. As new owners sign up, the easement collection can continue to expand and new groups can form, so send in your Landowner Registration Form or ask for the form and lot diagrams through the " Contact Us" link on the website.

All of the woods and wildlife on West Meade’s ridges are vulnerable to the pressures of development; however, the WMC has always relied on the personal choices of landowners to determine which sections of woods will receive the protection of conservation easements.

Additional News:

Conservancy member Mary Entrekin Agee led a group of middle school students on a photography field trip through the magnificent 322-acre Hill Property (for the purchase of which Friends of Warner Parks is raising funds); the result of that trip was a beautiful book of students’ photographs and reflections, with mention of the Conservancy’s mission, website, and members Noah Charney and Jane Bibring. To borrow a copy of the book, contact Anne Williams.