Located at the Southern terminus of the Cumberland Plateau, Lookout Mountain is a critically imperiled region representing both the world’s most biologically diverse freshwater ecosystem and one of the world’s most biologically diverse temperate forests.
In 1991, the late Elizabeth Davenport was concerned about encroaching development near Cumnings Highway. The Lookout Mountain community leader purchased a shuttered used car parts lot, then banded together with other citizens to form :
A new land trust.
John Wilson took the lead of the Lookout Mountain Conservancy - originally called the Lookout Mountain Protection Association - began restoring the gateway property to Lookout Mountain. This led to the creation of the four-acre John C. Wilson Park on Cummings Highway.
Those 3.5 acres became 50, as LMC purchased multiple parcels on Old Wauhatchie Pike. The city’s oldest neighborhood had fallen into disrepair; over time, LMC and the Howard Leadership Program interns transformed the property into an abundance of beauty and access: pollinator gardens, hiking trails and the Southeast’s first natural urban Bouldering park.
In the 1990s, LMC was entrusted with the Guild-Hardy Trail; today, the mixed-use trail is enjoyed by more than 70,000 annually. The trail - part of the former broad gauge rail - is now part of the beloved River-to-Clouds Route, which runs 34 miles along the mountain.
Over the past 34 years, Lookout Mountain Conservancy has protected and preserved 1500 acres of land in some of the most ecologically rich and vulnerable places in the northern hemisphere. The Lookout Mountain landscape is rare, stunningly gorgeous and endangered.
Lookout Mountain Conservancy's strategic planning process addresses the land, water, conservation and recreational initiatives spanning focus areas that matter most to our community.
LMC offers a variety of conservation options, allowing landowners to voluntarily preserve land, woodlands, family farms and other parcels for multiple generations. For families who choose to conserve their land and want to continue ownership, we use a voluntary conservation agreement called a conservation easement.
Conservation easements are legally crafted to meet each landowners’ needs and values, allowing a permanent conservation plan to remain in place when the land is sold, given away, or bequeathed via a will or planned gift to another individual or family. These agreements are flexible and tailored specifically for each family or landowner.
The land remains on the tax rolls unless it is given or sold to a municipality or nonprofit conservation organization. Many landowners choose conservation easements as a way to create ongoing protection for generations to come while reducing or stabilizing property taxes or estate taxes.
Landowners may own and live, sell their property, farm, manage timber, recreate, maintain or build limited homes and structures, restrict or grant public access.
year Lookout Mountain Conservancy.