Department of Environment & Conservation
Jim Fyke, Commissioner

Specific Judging Considerations

To recognize individuals, businesses, organizations, or agencies that have achieved significant progress in furthering the protection or development of Tennessee’s greenways

Focus on particularly significant river corridors, scenic trails, and other areas of cultural value

Involvement of neighboring communities

Collaboration with regional or statewide initiatives

2009 Winner of Greenways and Trails

Winner –Wolf River Environmental Restoration Project–Shelby County

The Wolf River Environmental Restoration Project is a multi-year, dual-phase project running between Houston Levee Road and Collierville-Arlington Road. Administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and co-sponsored by Shelby County and the Chickasaw Basin Authority, this project began in 1994 with the Wolf River Reconnaissance Study. The goals of this project are to provide flood protection and mitigation, aquifer protection and infrastructure protection. To date, administrators of the project have completed the environmental infrastructure features and associated trails, which opened to the public in October 2008. Construction of four main channel weirs and six tributary weirs to control head cutting was also completed, along with rip-rap protection at the Collierville-Arlington Road bridge, the addition of one cut-off prevention berm, approximately eight miles of combined trails and access roads, a steel truss pedestrian bridge and two parking areas. More than 1,000 acres of land have been purchased as part of the land acquisition process to support the project.