Overton Park Pond?

Longtime activist and Vollintine-Evergreen resident Mary Wilder calls her neighborhood "the kink in the hose."

"We get a lot of flooding. [Lick Creek] makes a 90 degree angle at Auburndale and the water comes flying through there," she says. "Back in August, we had trucks and cars on the street and the water was up to their steering wheels."

"It was a phenomenal amount of rain, I'll give you that, but you're supposed to plan for that."

To mitigate Midtown's storm water problem, the city of Memphis is considering installing a detention basin ... in the middle of Overton Park's greensward.

And that has eyebrows raised with community groups and involved parties.

Lissa Thompson, principal at Ritchie Smith Associates, worked on the Overton Park master plan in the '80s. About a year ago, they were asked for their general reaction to a detention pond in the park.

"We'd like to believe there are alternatives ... because that part of the park is the only free open space for people to play Frisbee or soccer or run around with their dogs," she says. "It's a big park, but most of it is occupied by the forest, the golf course, art institutions, or the zoo."

For instance, the Lick Creek channel in Overton Park was concreted over in recent years, meaning storm water rushed downstream at a higher velocity.

"It could be returned to a more natural channel. That would have enough friction to slow the water down," Thompson says. "We're looking at an irreplaceable amenity. This might be a case where a higher investment is warranted."

Wilder agrees that the city should look to alternatives. Other ideas include a water hazard on the golf course or a number of smaller basins. Wilder is not sure that a large detention basin will even solve her neighborhood's flooding issues.

"We're north of it," she says. "It may not divert it to where it helps us."

VECA is hosting a meeting Wednesday, March 11th, at 6:30 p.m. to discuss possible solutions to flooding, as well as the city's water quality, in general.

Memphis is not alone in facing storm water issues. Some cities have started offering incentives for replacing impermeable surfaces with permeable ones.

"A lot of cities are implementing low-impact measures," Thompson says. "I'd like to think this is a case where Memphis could do something a little more progressive."

Calls to the city have not yet been returned.

TONIGHT

I would be remiss if I didn't note that the fun and friendly treehuggers over at CPOP are having a fundraiser tonight at the Hi-Tone.

The Old Forest Jamboree starts tonight at 7 p.m. Admission is a $10 donation to CPOP. (Kids 12 and under get in free.)

Hoots & Hellmouth, Jimmy Davis, Bluff City Backsliders, and Giant Beer will be performing.

I also hear that adults 21 and over will each get a complimentary draft beer from Ghost River Brewing. Should be a fun time!

Into the Woods

This week, Shara Clark and I teamed up to write the Flyer's cover story on the controversy surrounding the old-growth forest in Overton Park.

The Memphis Zoo currently controls 17 acres of old-growth forest that it plans to one day use for a low-impact boardwalk through the woods. But after the zoo bulldozed four similar acres for its new Teton Trek exhibit, local grassroots group Citizens to Preserve Overton Park reformed and asked that the zoo take down their fence and return the 17 acres to public use.

To read the full story, click here.

I get the impression that the zoo — for better or for worse — has a great deal of autonomy. Yes, the zoo is owned by the city (which then contracts its management out to the Memphis Zoological Society for $100,000 a month) and reports to the city's parks division and ultimately, the City Council.

But it also gets a large chunk of its funding from private donors and the City Council doesn't seem all that concerned with what the zoo is doing, as long as it continues to prosper.

CPOP recently went before the council to ask that the zoo's boundary be redrawn and the surviving acres of old-growth forest be protected in perpetuity. They also asked for an update to the Overton Park master plan and the zoo's contract with the now-defunct Memphis Park Commission. They have also followed up with a letter to council members and Mayor Willie Herenton.

Tree Time

The NYT has an interesting story in its Science section today about Diana Beresford-Kroeger, a biochemist and botanist who sees trees as chemical factories.

From the story:

"She favors what she terms a bioplan, reforesting cities and rural areas with trees according to the medicinal, environmental, nutritional, pesticidal and herbicidal properties she claims for them, which she calls ecofunctions.

Wafer ash, for example, could be used in organic farming, she said, planted in hedgerows to attract butterflies away from crops. Black walnut and honey locusts could be planted along roads to absorb pollutants, she said."

But here's what might be most interesting to Midtowners:

"'In a walk through old-growth forest, there are thousands if not millions of chemicals and their synergistic effects with one another,' she said. 'What trees do chemically in the environment is something we’re only beginning to understand.'"

Both Beresford-Kroeger and Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson have proposed using stock from old-growth forests in planting new forests to take advantage of those trees' good genetics.

"'There’s an enormous difference between old-growth forests and tree plantations,' Dr. Wilson said."

I've heard local CPOP member Naomi Van Tol say quite a few times that people don't realize how old some of the trees are in the old-growth forest in Overton Park because they — the trees, not the people — might be roughly the same size as trees in people's front yards.

But the trees in the old-forest have had to fight for survival and their place in the forest, which makes them fitter, hardier, and (apparently) smaller for their age.

"It's Called Progress"*

The Citizens to Preserve Overton Park went before the City Council parks committee Tuesday to ask the council to do four things:

1. Restore 17 acres of old-growth forest, currently controlled by the Memphis Zoo, to free, public use.



2. Update the contract. Originally drafted in 1994, the contract is between the Memphis Zoological Society and the now-defunct Parks Commission.

3. Update the 1988 Overton Park master plan. Though the plan had a horizon of 20 years (and considering it's 2008, that's just about now) it looks unlikely another master plan will be drafted in the near future. Parks director Cindy Buchanan said she thought they could deal with the issue of the forest without spending the dollars needed for a master plan.

4. Create some sort of long-term legal preservation for the old-growth forest, either a conservation easement or a state natural area designation.

I won't go into it very much — if you want to read background on the issue, go here or here.

Construction at Teton Trek

New council member Wanda Halbert — fresh off the evergreen-contract friendly environment of the city schools — mentioned that she was concerned both about public input and how the city seems to be abdicating its responsibilities to quasi-governmental agencies.

"I value our partnerships, but this is city property," she said.

The irony is that the very next thing on the agenda — the very next thing — was an agreement between the city and the University of Tennessee for the school to provide maintenance, security, and other enhancements to Forrest Park.

As presented to the council, the agreement would initially run for a year, then, like the zoo's contract, be renewed each subsequent year unless terminated.

UT vice chancellor Ken Brown said the park was in the heart of their campus and they are interested in adding more lighting and video cameras.

"All improvements will be endorsed by the city," he said.

Halbert, however, wanted to add a more definite time frame to the agreement. "You always forget to terminate a contract," she said.

*"It's called progress," courtesy of Barbara Swearengen Ware. The council member said that not everyone is proud that Memphians stopped the interstate from going through Overton Park and the zoo needs to be able to continue to expand and add new amenities.

Old Growth

I went on a nice hike Saturday morning through the old-growth forest with the folks of Citizens to Preserve Overton Park.



They do hikes the second Saturday of each month and I would highly recommend going, especially if you feel a little out of your depth going on something called the "old forest trail" by yourself. I would also recommend wearing light-weight pants if you are anything like me (and by that I mean incredibly clumsy) and some sort of bug repellent.

Naomi Van Tol led our hike and was nice enough to point out poison ivy and stinging nettle, which I'm told feels like a wasp sting if it touches you.

Anyway, here are a few photos:



A grape vine. Who would have thought?

A tree that people like to take pictures of their children in. Naomi warned against this — something about wild raccoons or poisonous snakes — but I guess that depends on what outcome you're looking for when you tell your kid to stand inside. Either way, I'm sure it makes for unforgetable photos. (joking ...)

The area where the Zoo's Teton Trek will be:






























And inside the fence at the Teton Trek: