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Governor Dedicates Trail to Walls of Jericho

The Nature Conservancy partners with state on public access

Nashville, Tennessee—19 October 2005— Governor Phil Bredesen will dedicate a hiking trail leading to the Walls of Jericho on Oct. 25. The Nature Conservancy’s Tennessee Chapter purchased this unique natural area, once the home of Davey Crockett’s family, in 2004.

The huge tract of 21,453 acres of rivers, forested uplands and caves spreading across the Alabama and Tennessee state line contains an extraordinarily diverse array of plants and animals. The actual “Walls of Jericho” is a large, bowl-shaped amphitheater that shoots water out of holes and cracks in the canyon wall during times of high flow.

The Nature Conservancy bought the land from Stevenson Land Company. Since that time, the state of Alabama has purchased 12,510 acres in its state from the Conservancy to become part of James D. Martin-Skyline Wildlife Management Area. The Nature Conservancy still owns 8,943 acres in Franklin County, Tennessee.

For the last year and a half, the public could only access the Walls of Jericho by a public hiking trail located in Alabama. The ribbon cutting on October 25, which includes the dedication of a new parking lot, will be the first trail system in Tennessee to the site.

In order to provide public access, the Conservancy is partnering with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. TWRA will manage the property as the Bear Hollow Wildlife Management Area. TDEC’s State Natural Areas Program will manage 750 acres of the Walls of Jericho and its immediate watershed as a State Natural Area.

Since 1970, public and private partners have been working to protect the Walls of Jericho in the Southern Cumberland Plateau. Once part of Texas oil baron Harry Lee Carter’s 60,000-acre property, the site was open for public access. When Carter died in 1977, the land was divided and officially closed to public visitors.

The initial purchase of the property not only restored public access to the site, it also protects the headwaters of the Paint Rock River. The Upper Paint Rock watershed, including the Jackson Mountains, is one of the very few intact large functional landscapes remaining in the Southeast. The Paint Rock River is home to 100 species of fish and about 45 different mussel species.

For more information on visiting the Walls of Jericho click here.