Yeatman and Trails & Trilliums Award Winners Named
The Friends of South Cumberland State Parks are pleased to honor Latham Davis and Kathleen Williams with the Harry Yeatman Environmental Education and Trails & Trilliums Tribute Awards, respectively. The awards will be presented at Wine and Wildflowers, the Saturday night event at the Friends’ annual Trails & Trilliums spring festival, which will be held in Beersheba Springs April 21-23.
Enjoying a varied career as journalist, newspaper and magazine editor, book publisher, and book designer, Latham Davis has contributed generously to the Friends of South Cumberland’s efforts over the years. Since joining the Friends in 1998, he served several years on the board, including two terms as president: 2004-2006 and 2015-2017. In addition, he co-chaired the organization’s first Cumberland Wild conservation awareness event and the Saving Great Spaces fundraiser, in which the Friends surpassed their $500,000 goal by $100,000. The success of the campaign led directly to federal and state appropriations totaling more than $3 million. These monies resulted in the acquisition of key bluff tracts in Savage Gulf and then thousands of acres in Fiery Gizzard. Saving Great Spaces certainly brought the friends conservation efforts to the attention of state and federal officials.
The Yeatman Award, however, is for Davis’s latest achievement on behalf of the Friends: South Cumberland and its Friends, a history of the park and those who worked over the years to make the parks — South Cumberland and the new Savage Gulf State Park – true jewels among the state park lands, preserved for all for posterity. Beautifully put together and written in Davis’ clear and light style, the book introduces readers to the geology and ecology of the area, the early settlers, the eras of natural resource extraction, and stories of the preservation of the land and its current recreational and economic value to this part of the country. In Davis’ words, “Here’s to all who love nature and the wilderness.” And Latham, here’s to you!
Kathleen Williams served as President and Executive Director of TennGreen Land Conservancy, formerly Tennessee Parks & Greenways Foundation, from its inception in 1998 until her retirement in 2015. Her work through TennGreen conserved several thousand acres that have protected Tennessee’s natural treasures across the state. Some crowning achievements during her tenure have been the establishment of Cummins Falls as Tennessee’s 54th State Park, securing the permanent ownership of Virgin Falls SNA by the State, securing lands along the Cumberland Trail, including the mountains that surround Grassy Cove and sacred Devilstep Hollow, protecting wetlands in west Tennessee, and securing lands along the Mississippi River.
For her work, Kathleen received the 2004 Mack S. Prichard Award from the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club, was named the 1996 Land Conservationist of the Year, and received the 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award from Greenways for Nashville. In 2011 Kathleen was named the Conservationist of the Year by the Tennessee Wildlife Federation.