Steven E. James Tim Martin Resource Protection in the World’s Largest Urban Park: A Model for Partnership Between Parks, Higher Education, and the Community

Introduction helby Farms Park, the world’s largest urban park (4,500 acres), is located within the city limits of Memphis, Tennessee. The park is in the geographic center of Shelby County, approximately 12 miles Seast of the downtown area. Of the 4,500 total acres, 1,032 have been designated as a Tennessee State Natural Area. The park is a significant natural and recreational resource for the citizens of Memphis and Shelby County. The Memphis Metropolitan Sta- sissippi River to the west of the city), tistical Area (MSA) completely en- much of Memphis’s growth and de- compasses Shelby County and in- velopment has moved eastward from cludes portions of four other coun- the downtown area, and into north- ties. According to the 1990 census ern Mississippi to the south. Shelby and the Bureau of Economic Analy- Farms Park, once considered remote, sis, the Memphis MSA has a popula- is currently surrounded by commer- tion of just over one million persons cial and residential development. and grew at a rate of 8.73% from Owing largely to its proximity to de- 1990-1997 (Memphis Chamber of veloped areas, the park’s resources Commerce 1999). The central loca- are threatened by frequent proposals tion of Shelby Farms Park within the for its development, and by the rec- county places it within approxi- reational pursuits of more than one mately 15 miles of the majority of the million visitors (Shelby County De- county’s residents, and at the center partment of Public Works 1998). of the county’s suburban growth. To address the resource protec- The park is a major source of rec- tion and management concerns reational opportunity in the Mem- within Shelby Farms Park, Shelby phis area and contains a sensitive County Administration and the bottomland hardwood forest and a Shelby Farms Board enlisted the as- number of archaeological sites. It is sistance of the University of Mem- part of a landscape that is culturally phis Park Ranger Training Program. and historically rich. Due to natural The university’s role was to provide geographic barriers (mainly the Mis- training, expertise, and qualified per-

86 The George Wright FORUM sonnel to assist in the planning and and their recreational activities implementation of park resource ranged from early-morning running protection and management at to evening fishing. In fact, there are Shelby Farms. 45 recreational activities officially This descriptive case study out- recognized and accommodated lines the partnership arrangements within the park’s boundaries. The and participants, and the methods park is open to visitors during day- employed to achieve park manage- light hours throughout the year. ment goals. These methods include There is currently no entrance fee. adopting a resource protection and management philosophy based on A Brief History the National Park Service (NPS) Shelby Farms was designated as a model of conserving and protecting penal farm for the rehabilitation of the resources while providing for criminals in 1929. The facility was their enjoyment. Specifically, the considered a model of practical re- plan includes the use of seasonal re- habilitation and self-sufficiency. source protection rangers to patrol “The Farm” as it was called, culti- the park augmented by a volunteer- vated a number of crops and raised based program. livestock from which nearly all the needs of the prisoners were derived. Administration What could not be raised was pur- Shelby Farms Park is under the chased through the sale of surplus administrative mantle of the county food and livestock. During the mid- government. In 1996, Shelby 1960s the penal farm concept came County’s mayor appointed a board of under a great deal of scrutiny, largely advisors to make policy and direc- as a result of the civil rights move- tives regarding the park’s admini- ment. Eventually the farm sold most stration and operation. Since its in- of its livestock and ceased produc- ception, the Shelby Farms Board has tion. repeatedly promoted efforts to pre- In 1966, the penal farm site was serve natural resources in the park under consideration as a proposed while voting down any proposal for nuclear fuel processing facility. Al- park use that had potential for dam- though the penal farm site was elimi- aging the park’s resources. The nated from consideration, Shelby mayor and the board have become County officials agreed that the determined advocates for preserva- property should be sold. Through- tion of the park’s unique natural and out the late-1960s and mid-1970s a cultural resources. variety of plans for the development of the penal farm property were put Park Visitation forth. These included commercial The park was visited by more and residential development, an air- than one million visitors last year, port, and a dam and recreational res-

Volume 17 ¥ Number 2 2000 87 ervoir. More recently, proposals have local businesses to support his efforts surfaced to develop golf courses and to open the newly named Shelby a 10,000-seat soccer stadium. The Farms Park for public use through stadium proposal was denied by the donations of funds and equipment. Shelby Farms Board. Basic playground equipment and In 1975, park planner G. Eckbo picnic tables were installed and be- proposed a “pastoral park” for the gan to draw a few visitors, including citizens of Shelby County on the pe- the families that he hoped would use nal farm property. The “Eckbo the park. However, almost immedi- Plan,” as it came to be known, pro- ately, outlaw motorcycle gangs began posed a large natural area along the to occupy sections of the park. Wolf River, and included restoring Crime, especially incidents involving the channelized river to its original drugs and firearms, increased rap- meandering flow. Interestingly, the idly. Within a few weeks only the Eckbo Plan also proposed a large gang members dared venture into the “African safari”-type zoological park fledgling park. for the interior of the penal farm To address the crime problem, property which, at that time, con- the park’s superintendent arranged sisted mainly of open, formerly culti- for local law enforcement agencies to vated fields. In 1976, Shelby County concentrate enforcement efforts at government officials passed a resolu- Shelby Farms. After several weeks of tion to develop the penal farm land intense scrutiny by law enforcement according to the Eckbo Plan; how- officers, the outlaw motorcycle gangs ever, the land was never developed left Shelby Farms. Crime in the park according to that plan because of was dramatically reduced and park citizen action against it. visitors again returned to Shelby In 1977, the undeveloped park Farms. To ensure the safety of park came under the supervision of the visitors, the superintendent em- warden of the county prison (located ployed auxiliary police officers and at the northwest corner of the prop- off-duty regular officers to patrol the erty) because that position oversaw park. This procedure was effective the 4,500 acres of land formerly used until the early 1990s, when increased for penal farm activity. For the next visitation presented threats to the eight years, the penal farm property park’s resources. remained undeveloped and mostly Although a wide variety of recrea- closed to the public. In 1985, the tional activities were being pursued position was changed from warden of in the park, mountain bike use best the county jail to superintendent. By exemplifies the growing resource this time, the would-be park was at management problems in the park at the very edge of encroaching subur- that time: hikers began complaining ban development. that the trails were eroding, widen- The first superintendent enlisted ing, becoming braided, and devel-

88 The George Wright FORUM oping numerous mud holes. There is required for equipment (e.g., were additional complaints that grass-cutting equipment and park mountain bikers were forcing hikers ranger patrol vehicles). In consulta- off of the trail as they sped by. As tion with the University of Memphis mountain biking continued to grow Department of Geography, the su- in popularity, so grew the need for perintendent has been able to reallo- resource management and protection cate personnel resources in such a at Shelby Farms. manner so as to ensure optimal At this point, the superintendent staffing during both high and low contacted the University of Memphis park-use times, and transfer surplus for assistance in planning for re- funds to resource management ef- source management. The univer- forts. sity’s Park Ranger Training Pro- The Volunteer gram—about which more will be said Reserve Ranger Program below—is an interdisciplinary pro- Shelby Farms Park now maintains gram that prepares students from a a reputation as a safe, relatively low- variety of academic majors for work crime recreation area within the city as seasonal protection and interpre- limits of Memphis. As the park’s tive park rangers for the National reputation as a safe recreation area Park Service (NPS), U.S. Fish and has grown, so has visitation. With Wildlife Service, and a number of more visitors using the park, the de- state and local land management mand for facilities and amenities has agencies. grown as well. Recognizing the needs In January 1996, the park’s first of visitors, Shelby County admini- superintendent retired. The Shelby stration, Shelby Farms Board, and Farms Board conducted a national park management expanded services search for a new superintendent, and in many areas. The most notable of subsequently hired one of the these was the need for security in the authors (Martin), a long-time park park. Although few crimes were be- volunteer and local businessman, as ing committed within the park, interim superintendent. After six nearly all of its visitors reside in a months, the Shelby Farms Board large metropolitan area with typical conducted another search and later crime problems. The potential for chose him to continue in the position criminal incidents is ever present, permanently. but kept in check by judicious use of As is the case in many public visible patrol by resource protection agencies responsible for recreational rangers, resource staff, and volunteer service delivery, Shelby Farms Park rangers. is challenged by fiscal constraints. A The Volunteer Reserve Ranger large portion of the park’s budget is program is the result of a partnership allotted for personnel-related ex- between the University of Memphis penses, while a much smaller portion Park Ranger Training Program, the

Volume 17 ¥ Number 2 2000 89 citizens of Shelby County, county is told at the outset that the program administration, the Shelby Farms will be exclusively a volunteer pro- Board, and park management. The gram, and that the volunteer program program is patterned after the NPS is not an intake program for law en- seasonal resource protection cur- forcement work. riculum and provides a comprehen- Training and preparation. The sive three-day training course for philosophy of the park with respect those wishing to participate, prepar- to its mission must be imparted at the ing them to provide visitor-centered outset. The mission of the park service in the park. The reserve should act as a guide for the volun- rangers are asked to give a minimum teer’s actions. The Shelby Farms of 16 hours per month to the park, model provides for an initial 20-hour and are encouraged to work on pro- course for volunteers which includes jects of interest to the individual and coverage of topics such as constitu- of benefit to the park visitors. The tional law and civil liberties, legal Shelby Farms model relies on three liability issues, appropriate interac- elements critical to the success of a tions between volunteers and visi- volunteer ranger program: selection tors, ethics and conduct, park-spe- and recruitment, training and prepa- cific knowledge, and field training to ration, and motivation and retention. be completed with experienced paid Selection and recruitment. or volunteer ranger staff. Examples of Shelby Farms Park relies on recruit- park-specific skill-building include ing university students with majors equestrian activities, use of park ve- in the natural sciences or park re- hicles, such as all-terrain vehicles and source management, and members of watercraft, and other tools utilized the community who possess valuable for resource protection and manage- knowledge, skills, and abilities and ment efforts. who desire to give service to their Motivation and retention. Once community. Volunteer ranger candi- the volunteer ranger has been se- dates are often referred to Shelby lected, every effort is made to keep Farms park management by friends those who are active and serve the who are rangers or through academic needs of the park motivated so that programs. Each volunteer candidate they will want to continue. Shelby is interviewed by the superintendent, Farms assigns a paid staff member to and before beginning the next phase, serve as volunteer coordinator. The a background check is performed. responsibilities of the volunteer co- Persons who wish to volunteer for ordinator include providing oppor- the purpose of gaining an inside tunities for knowledge and skill ac- track on paid positions in the park quisition and recognition of accom- will likely become discouraged plishments of the volunteer rangers. quickly and will not persist in the The goal is to gather a relatively program. Therefore, each volunteer small, manageable number of volun-

90 The George Wright FORUM teers who will serve the park in the would assist in quantifying the effec- long term. The volunteers, too, tiveness of the partnership. should benefit from the experience, The Future of the Partnership thus encouraging them to persist in Recently, Slippery Rock Univer- service to the park. A recently com- sity of Pennsylvania has joined the pleted dissertation (Bartel 1999) Shelby Farms partnership, providing found that supporting the intrinsic student interns and trained resource motivation of volunteers tends to in- protection rangers for the summer crease a sense of organizational loy- months. To enhance the training and alty and subsequent performance. preparation efforts of the program, To this end, the park offers on-going innovative educational strategies, training and certification programs such as Web-based and -enhanced that are of interest to the volunteers instruction, are being developed for and which benefit to the park. the park by Slippery Rock faculty Evaluation and study. On-going and graduate students. Future efforts study of the partnership’s role in re- to enhance the partnership include source protection and conservation innovative training to support man- is necessary to ensure continued vi- ageable growth of the volunteer pro- ability of the program. Additional gram, in concert with an increasing study of visitor perceptions of the emphasis on resource protection and park’s resource protection efforts management.

References Bartel, C.A. 1999. Strengthening the Bond of Organizational Identification Through Volunteerism. Dissertation Abstracts International, 59/10, p. 5615, April. Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce. 1999. Demographic information. Web site: http://www.memphischamber.com. Shelby County Department of Public Works. 1998. Unpublished statistical survey data from Shelby Farms Park.

Steven E. James, Department of Park and Resource Management, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, 101 Eisenberg Classroom Building, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania 16057; [email protected] Tim Martin, Shelby Farms Park, 500 Pine Lake Drive, Memphis, Tennessee 38134 1

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