WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Forest Service International Programs and Environment for the Americas honored the Open Space Institute (OSI), the Tennessee Parks & Greenways Foundation (TennGreen), the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), and the U.S. Forest Service Southeast Division (USFS) with a federal award for the partners’ collaborative efforts that successfully protected the Grassy Cove property in central Tennessee.
The Wings Across the Americas Habitat Conservation Partnership Award recognizes projects that conserve habitat for migratory wildlife in an urban environment. Completed in 2017, OSI’s Grassy Cove project protected 956 acres of karst forests — a rare habitat marked by soluble bedrock such as limestone — from unsustainable mineral extraction.
The land is atop the Cumberland Plateau, one of the most biologically rich regions on Earth. Situated near Chattanooga, Nashville, Knoxville, and other major southern cities, the region was profiled by OSI in a 2018 Story Map, Saving the Southern Cumberlands.