Congratulating Keith Cole of the Wolf River Conservancy on His Retirement

Floor Speech

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Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Keith Cole, the executive director of the Wolf River Conservancy, who will be retiring December 15 after helping build fourteen miles of an eventual 26-mile corridor of trails protecting the once-foul Wolf River that runs through the heart of Memphis before emptying into the Mississippi River. Keith, who took on the director's role twelve years ago, brought a business perspective and organizational and fundraising abilities to a loose confederation of conservationists organized in 1985 to oppose a gravel mine near the river. During his time as executive director of the Wolf River Conservancy, he helped raise $62 million to preserve land that is the watershed that produces the region's drinking water aquifer while earning the accreditation of the Land Trust Alliance and doubling the conservancy's staff. An ambassador to the private donor community, he also lobbied state legislators and others in Nashville, securing a $10 million grant from the state of Tennessee. A native of Hayti, Missouri, Keith retired in 2009 after selling his business as a Blockbuster Video franchise owner in Knoxville, Little Rock and Jackson, Mississippi. He soon took up the challenge of righting the Conservancy, which was an organization mired in debt and uncertain of its mission. By the time he enters retirement for the second time, the Conservancy will have protected 20,000 acres of land in Shelby and Fayette counties in Tennessee and Benton and Marshall counties in Mississippi. As a practical matter, that means there is no development or sources of pollution that can flow into the Wolf River's 522,000-acre watershed. The improved water quality now attracts recreational boaters and sportsmen and has stimulated the tourist economy. In September, I was pleased to announce that the Department of Interior's Migratory Bird Conservation Commission approved a North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) grant of $1,308,567 to the Conservancy to protect 1,536 acres of wetlands and adjacent uplands along the Wolf River and its tributaries. The grant is expected to be matched by $2,095,142 in funding from partners including the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, the City of Memphis, Shelby County, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and private landowners. I congratulate Keith on a job well done and join all in our community in thanking him for the environmental victories he and the Conservancy have achieved, benefits to our city and region that will be felt for decades and decades, if not a century or more. Job well done.

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