Out on Tallant Road in Collegedale, there was a time not too many years ago when there was nothing much but the Farrow family and a few family farms dotted with cows. Today, the Farrow family remains – but there’s a lot fewer cows now. All that pastureland has been replaced by three-bedroom houses and subdivisions galore in this rapidly growing area of Hamilton County. But a Collegedale businessman has found a way to keep the family farm around.

Franklin Farrow’s parents moved out here 25 years ago, and Mr. Farrow was raised in the area, graduated from nearby Southern Adventist University and couldn’t bear the thought of leaving friends and family. So in 2006 as the area continued to boom, he bought 40 acres of Collegedale farmland and settled there with his wife, Tamatha, and two children.

As with much of Hamilton County, the Collegedale area of his youth is not the same today. “Hamilton Place mall was developed, Four Corners has grown exponentially and now Ooltewah is in a major growth mode,” said the 37-year-old Farrow. He is co-founder and chief operating officer of Independent Healthcare Properties, LLC.

To protect his farm and retain some of the area’s longtime rural appeal, Mr. Farrow recently completed a voluntary conservation agreement on his land with The Land Trust for Tennessee, the statewide, nonprofit land conservation organization.

“Immediately surrounding our home, there were many open fields and mostly cattle and pasture land. In the last 15 years, a lot of that land has been turned into sub-divisions and smaller home sites,” Mr. Farrow said. “I rushed to buy the land two years ago because of rumors about it being subdivided by a local developer.”

A voluntary conservation agreement, also known as a conservation easement, is a contract between a landowner and a land trust, government agency, or another qualified organization in which the owner places permanent restrictions on the future uses of some or all of his property to protect scenic, wildlife, or agricultural resources.

Conservation agreements are specifically tailored to meet important conservation purposes and the individual needs of the landowner, officials said. The easement is donated by the owner to the land trust, which then has the authority and obligation to enforce the terms of the easement "in perpetuity." The landowner still owns the property and can use it, sell it, or leave it to heirs, but the restrictions of the easement stay with the land forever.

“I grew up across the street from the farm and my parents still live across the street,” Mr. Farrow said. “I moved onto 5.5 acres beside this farm in 1993 and built a home a begin raising my own family. I could not bear the thought of seeing it developed so close to my parent’s home and now my own home. I saw firsthand the affects of development and its impact on the land and history we take for granted.”

Tricia King, southeast regional project manager for The Land Trust and based in Chattanooga, worked with the Farrow family to secure the conservation of the family’s farm.

“The decision by Franklin and his family to conserve these acres is important when you see the rapid growth and increase in development in the Ooltewah/Collegedale area,” Ms. King said. “To preserve 40 acres of open space and wooded wildlife habitat achieves the type of balance that many are seeking as our region becomes more and more attractive as a place to live, work and play.”

Mr. Farrow’s property adjoins Grindstone Mountain, a place where he and his family enjoy for walks and hikes. He would like to see all the land surrounding the land be conserved.

“We have more to do. I am encouraging neighbors to consider preserving their land for future generations,” Mr. Farrow said. “I am also working with the city of Collegedale leaders to approach the landowners who own Grindstone Mountain to conserve all of it as well.”

About The Land Trust for Tennessee

The Land Trust for Tennessee is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, founded in 1999. Its mission is to preserve the unique character of Tennessee’s natural and historic landscapes for future generations and, to date, has protected more than 32,000 acres of land. The Land Trust works with willing landowners to find ways to preserve forever the historic, scenic and natural values of their land. The Land Trust has offices in Nashville, Monteagle and Chattanooga. More information is available at www.landtrusttn.org.