It’s one of the most significant features of the Eastern Highland Rim..and a mountain of contradictions. At least that’s one way you could describe the highest summit in Middle Tennessee. It rises to two-thousand-74 feet in elevation and yet it’s named Short Mountain. Property once used for a secret marijuana operation is now a place for public use. It’s a land filled with wild wonder…unique habitats that provide homes for a diverse group of wildlife…red salamanders, Gunter Cave beetles, Short Mountain crayfish, and others. Wild Side Guide Annette Nole Hall was there when local, state and federal authorities came together to open the state’s 124th Wildlife Management Area.
The land was purchased just over 150 thousand dollars for a thousand acres. The state’s Heritage Conservation Trust Fund contributed approximately 55,000. TWRA contributed 100,000. These dollars were used to satisfy liens against the property. Not a bad deal for Tennessee.
Mark Vance, a TWRA officer interviewed in the story, is the one who came up with the name Headwaters Wildlife Management Area. He says as he stood up on Short Mountain and realized the streams flow from there into the Collins, Stones and Caney Fork rivers, it just seemed fitting to call it Headwaters.
For a list of WMAs across the state, visit the TWRA website at http://www.tn.gov/twra/gis/WMA_Home.html
From show 2403.
