The Friends of South Cumberland have embarked on the most ambitious effort in the 11 year history of the organization, a major campaign to preserve and protect the wilderness boundaries of the Park and to gain permanent conservation status for the Fiery Gizzard Gulf and trail.

In the mid-1970s the State of Tennessee purchased a 250-acre tract of land at Stone Door near Beersheba Springs.  It was the first piece of what was to become the South Cumberland State Recreation Area.  Soon afterward the State bought 5,000 acres in Savage Gulf from the Werner-Boyd family.  As pieces were added, the forest coves and bluffs, many of them never cut for timber, began to take the shape of a real wilderness park, the State's largest wilderness park at over 16,000 acres.

At that time most of us thought Savage Gulf, Big Creek Gulf, and Fiery Gizzard were safe forever.  But we didn't realize then the danger of land development that loomed on the horizon and now sits there along those bluffs squarely in our line of sight.  Development encroaches on the trails and threatens to block them entirely.

So the work must begin anew, and we have high hopes of saving these misty coves and rocky ridges of the South Cumberland.  We have good examples in those who have gone before us and first built this park, families like Baggenstoss, Werner, Greeter, and Whitson, but also many others who have worked on the trails, cleaned up the streams, and rallied to protect the park.

We now appeal to all of you who know and love the South Cumberland to join us in helping to acquire the remaining tracts of land or secure easements that will protect bluffs, trails, and watersheds.  More than 20 tracts in the two major wilderness areas have been identified as critical to completion of the natural boundaries of the park.  Your support will help conserve forever these treasures of our natural heritage.

Marvin Runyon  Mack Prichard   Mary Priestley  Latham Davis
Co-Chairs for the Saving Great Spaces Campaign