Our History

Swan Conservation Trust was created in 1992 as a means of protecting headwater forests and streams in the Big Swan and Big Bigby watersheds.

We have since defined our mission to include the Western Highland Rim of Tennessee, which has historically been a densely forested region and is being logged and developed at a rapid rate.

Conservation opportunities are unlimited in Middle Tennessee, and we realize the importance of land trusts in meeting this need.

Timeline
1992 – We established the Swan Conservation Trust as a 501(c)3 organization in the state of Tennessee.

1994 – Swan Conservation Trust’s first land purchase was 100 acres near Summertown,TN in the headwaters of the Big Bigby Creek, now known as “The Highland Woods Preserve.”

1997 – Swan Conservation Trust’s second land purchase was 309 acres surrounding the Star Branch, a tributary of Big Swan Creek.

2000 – Swan Conservation Trust received the Natural Heritage Conservation Award from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

2002 – Tennessee Nature Conservancy donated 23 acres in the Lewis County, TN  Langford Branch State Natural Area to the Swan Conservation Trust.

2002 – Swan Conservation Trust purchased 58 acres of bottomland fields at the confluence of Big Swan Creek and Cox Branch from David and Janice Smith.

2003 – Swan Conservation Trust managed a mitigation contract with the State of Tennessee to restore 1,000 feet of stream bank along the Little Swan Creek.

2004 – Swan Conservation Trust was awarded a $100,000 grant by the Tennessee Environmental Endowment.

2004 – Swan Conservation Trust purchased the 1150-acre Baggs Tract and created the Big Swan Headwaters Preserve.

2005 – Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association honored Swan Trust President Cynthia Rorhbach as Conservationist of the Year.

2005 – Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association provided its first $5,000 grant, which was continued in subsequent years.

2006 – Tennessee Environmental Endowment provided a $25,000 grant towards land acquisition for Big Swan Headwaters Preserve.

2006 – Swan Conservation Trust partnered with Tennessee Parks & Greenways Foundation, along with state and local officials, to establish the Stillhouse Hollow Falls State Natural Area.

2007 – US Fish and Wildlife Service provided a $25,000 grant for the preservation of a wetlands habitat for migratory song birds, enabling the purchase of the 17-acre Boiling Springs tract from David and Janice Smith.

2007 – Swan Conservation Trust purchased 120 acres of the Cunningham Tract adding to Big Swan Headwaters Preserve, protecting the Green Pond vernal pool wetland on the Preserve.

2007 – David and Janice Smith donated 10 acres of forest land to the Swan Conservation Trust.

2008 – Hay fields on the bottomlands of the Preserve are converted to warm season grasslands.

2008 – Swan Conservation Trust began a herpetology study to identify reptiles and amphibians in the Preserve.

2011 – The Tennessee Department of Transportation provided $60,000 in mitigation funds for the enhancement and preservation of Green Pond and calcareous seeps in the Preserve.

2012 – The calcareous seeps in the Preserve are identified and mapped, and the Green Pond enhancement project is completed.

2014 – 2015 – The Swan Conservation Trust received $50,000, its largest donation from an individual, making it possible to pay off the note on the Preserve in 2015.

2016 – Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation agreed to hold the rights and responsibility for annual monitoring of a conservation easement on the Preserve.

2017 – Swan Conservation Trust completed the conservation easement and baseline documentation on the Preserve.

2018 – Swan Conservation Trust joins with Defenders of Wildlife to support The Southeastern Hellbender Conservation Initiative.