#GivingTuesday for Lee Tartt Nature Preserve

This year we ask you to consider supporting Friends of Chakchiuma Swamp on #GivingTuesday.

PayPal and Facebook have teamed up to support non-profit work this #Giving Tuesday by MATCHING ALL DONATIONS given today.   This year’s #GivingTuesday kicks off the giving season by inspiring people to take an active role in supporting the kind of world we want to live in.

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Donate Now with PayPal

Friends of Chakchiuma Swamp are a group of citizen volunteers who believe conservation is about the relationship between a community and its wild places through their guardianship of Lee Tartt Nature Preserve.

Lee Tartt Nature Preserve is a special place in the heart of downtown Grenada. In this 300 acre swamp experience oxbow lakes, a bottomland forest, open meadows and the Yalobusha River on foot or in a kayak year round. Open everyday.  Always free.

Since January, we have provided over 400 hours of nature time to over 1,000 participants. Our mission is conservation but our purpose is inspiring people to spend time in nature connecting to wildlife in Grenada County and learning about healthy ecosystems and the critical roles they play in our community and beyond.

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Every dollar donated helps up continue this great work!

And today it’s impact is doubled!!

Join #GivingLeeTarttNaturePreserveand support our goals for 2019

  • Remove invasive plants: cogon grass, water hyacinth & chinese privet
  • Work with Native Habitats ecological design team to develop master plan
  • Organize enrichment classes for all ages to inspire and educate
  • Collect seeds and grow native plant for habitat restoration
  • Acquire equipment for conservation work: tractor, chainsaw, weed eater
  • Share Forest Friends Program with individuals and corporations

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On #GivingTuesdayNovember 27th, Facebook & PayPal will match your donation with their own, up to $250K!!!

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, your donation may be tax deductible. The work toward fulfilling our mission is made possible through the generous donations of our community members and businesses.

Thanks for your consideration of supporting our citizen conservation efforts. Follow the story – let’s make #GivingLeeTarttNaturePreserve grow!!!

Everything is connected.

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2018 Year in Review

Recognition/

February –   Air, Soil and Water Conservationist of the Year (2017),  Mississippi Wildlife Federation

May – Overall Excellence Award, Mississippi Municipal League in partnership with the City of Grenada

September – Grenada City Council recognition for dedication to community

November – Arboretum Status, Mississippi Urban Forestry Council

Events:

May – New name! Chakchiuma Swamp Natural Area becomes Lee Tartt Nature Preserve, named for a local fallen Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Special Agent

July – Recognized as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization

Served over 1,000 participants at Lee Tartt Nature Preserve through programming such as:

  • Monthly NATURE WALKS: guided hikes, kayak tours, and bird watching events
  • Outdoor Classroom Programs for: Audubon naturalists, high schools around Mississippi, Mississippi State University School of Landscape Architecture, Holmes Community College Forestry Department and homeschool programs
  • Community educational and research programs, in partnership withUS Fish & Wildlife Service, Mississippi Bat Working Group and Delta State University
  • private tours for individuals as well as groups such as Grenada Garden Club Jr Buds, and Girl Scouts Troop #30303,
  • Annual Grenada Downtown Jubilee SWAMP TOURS
  • Community based conservation volunteer events

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On the horizon 2019

  • Collaboration with Strawberry Plains Audubon Center in development of Land Use Management Plan
  • Landscape Architecture & Ecological Design firm, Native Habitats Inc, continued work on Master Plan for the preserve
  • Goals – grants for trails / conservation issues / masterplan, classes for all ages (creativity, conservation, ecology), community nature walks, teaching space / hdqtrs, tractor, land management plan
  • New signs, maps, gates and fences for LTNP boundaries and trail heads
PROTECT | PRESERVE | PROVIDE | PROMOTE

Become a ‘Forest Friend’

Your contribution will make a difference!

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HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP!

We are looking for ‘Forest Friends’ to help us secure the canopy of our bottomland forest at Lee Tartt Nature Preserve with a conservation easement by raising funds equal to the value of the trees as timber – $300,000.  It turns out that the average tree in our swamp is valued between $20 and $50 per ton, and most tree measure between 1 to 1.5 tons.

The City receives money, Friends of CS will secure the forest habitat and hundreds of people can have the pleasure of a tree friend with all of it’s other plant and animal associates!   This unique solution has been a win-win situation for everyone—a city council wishing to manage resources in the best way for their city, citizens interested in quality of life for their community, and a rapidly dwindling wild world preserved for the future.

We even have a matching donor for .50 on $1.00!!

 

It’s simple to participate!

Make a donation & in return you will receive:

Details of your new relationship – A numbered tree will be connected with your name or to the name of your choosing, the location of your tree within Lee Tartt Nature Preserve,  along with a bio about your new ‘friend’.

This is a community project about all of us working together!

Our vision is to provide opportunities for all people to experience first hand the beauty of biodiversity in a healthy wetland habitat.

Please help us grow this community of forest & friends!

Budding Buddy!

Your donation will be paired with a water tupelo, sweet gum, tupelo gum, cottonwood, or yellow poplar based on each tree’s timber value.

$25.00

Forest Friend

Your donation will be paired with any of the species above, elm, sugar berry, hackberry, river birch, black gum, maple, hickory, sycamore or ash based on each tree’s timber value.

$50.00

Forest Family

Your donation will be paired with any of the species above, overcup oak, water oak, willow oak, cherry, swamp chestnut oak, or cypress based on each tree’s timber value.

$75.00

Bronze Sponsor

You will be paired with any of the species above, white oak, swamp white oak, cherrybark oak or bald cypress tree based on each tree’s timber value.

$100.00

Silver Sponsor

You will be paired with any of the species above, red oak or bald cypress based on each tree’s timber value. Your Silver sponsorship would also entitle you to divide the dedication to more than one tree.

$150.00

Gold Sponsor

Your generous donation will be paired with any species, or combination of species including overcup oak, water oak, post oak, and bald cypress based on each tree’s timber value.

$250.00

Cypress Friend

Your ‘Cypress Friend’ donation will protect a species, or selection of species of Bald Cypress for generations to come.

$500.00

Chakchiuma Swamp Champion

With your contribution, you will continue to support the forest canopy by protecting a variety of species, fund conservation efforts and enable habitats to flourish for generations to come.

$1,000.00

MAIL A CHECK:

Friends of Chakchiuma Swamp

P.O. BOX 2352

GRENADA, MS 38902

 

all donations are tax deductible under 501(c)3 of Grenada Community Foundation 

Interested becoming a partner, corporate sponsor?

Connect with us today!

 

 

 

 

Get Involved

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If you are interested in volunteering, or for more information,  please connect with us.

 

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