MISSION
Noel Durant, the Trust's state director in Tennessee since 2021, says the nonprofit's mission is to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come." The Trust works toward their mission by protecting land, developing trails and creating parks and schoolyards. The organization is dedicated to advancing public health, bolstering climate resilience and ensuring equitable access, all while prioritizing community involvement.
HISTORY
The Trust for Public Land was launched in San Francisco in 1972 and "was founded on the principle that there needed to be a conservation organization that put people at the center," Durant says. Initially focusing its efforts in the Bay Area, the Trust quickly broadened its scope nationwide. Today, the organization has offices in 30 states, with projects under way in all 50.
SCOPE
The Trust is the nation's second largest conservation nonprofit, Durant says. Its projects range from the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway project, which has spanned the terms of six Chattanooga mayors, to a New York City project in which paved-over schoolyards are being turned into greenspaces that capture stormwater and are available to the public after school hours. Our west, he says, the Trust is engaged in acquiring more than 250,000 acres of land for public use.
Contributed photo / Trust for Public Land park space at Stringer's Ridge overlooking downtown Chattanooga.DRAWING BOARD
Durant says the Trust has "a couple of key efforts" under way in the region, one of which is Tennessee's first Community Schoolyards project. The nonprofit is working with the Hamilton County Department of Education and the City of Chattanooga to transform the "large, unprogrammed grass space" at East Side Elementary School into a "community-informed, student-designed" park that will be available to the public after school hours. The changes will likely include the addition of a pavilion, a multi-purpose field and trees. "More trees, and a canopy, can mean a cooler neighborhood," says Durant, who adds that construction is likely to begin with the new school year.
BY THE NUMBERS
* 22,000: Acres of Tennessee land protected by the Trust for Public Land
* 29,000: Number of Tennesseans who have a walk of no more than 10 minutes from their homes to a Trust park or trail
* 6.4: Number of miles, end-to-end, of the Alton Park Connector, which Durant calls the "first neighborhood connection, via greenway, to the Tennessee Riverwalk."