Remember Powell guy Bob Richards, owner/operator of Bob’s Trails, Trees & Gardens. Bob’s crew installed the bridge from Arvin Brown’s house on Brickyard Road into the soon-to-open Angora Frog Farm. Lately, he’s been working on a project in Memphis at Overton Park. You can read about it here.
Basically, a partnership between the Overton Park Conservancy and Memphis Zoo has removed the boundary fence that’s kept over a dozen forested acres separate from the 126-acre Old Forest State Natural Area. Bob’s job is to design a trail in the new area that connects to the existing trail system.
The Conservancy team recently walked the new route with Richards, and saw the same spring wildflowers as exist in the rest of the forest. Like the rest of the forest, this area also features thousands of pawpaw trees and some impressive vines.
Like many natural areas, the land is dominated by invasive species like Chinese privet, liriope, nandina, cherry laurel and English ivy. The Conservancy has obtained a grant from the state Department of Agriculture – Division of Forestry to reseed native white oaks in the place of the removed plants. The new trail area is expected to open by the end of 2024.
This map shows the Memphis Zoo, Rhodes College, Old Forest State Natural Area and the new trail