August 03, 2015
300 Acres donated by Memphis Real Estate Company
By: Kristin Tallent
My Fox News
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A Memphis family has donated nearly 300 acres for the Greenway initiative in the Memphis Annexation Reserve area.
The piece of land is worth more than $2 million, but the Boyle Family said preserving the wildlife habitat has been a priority for them.
Bayard Boyle Junior said his family’s decision to donate 290 acres along the Wolf River to the Wolf River Conservancy was easy.
"The company has owned this land for about 35 years. My father bought it. He use to come down and walk on it a lot," said Boyle.
"We’re donating it because it’s a valuable natural area that has really beautiful trees and old oxbow lakes and it fits in with the Wolf River Greenway Conservancy plan."
Boyle’s family business, Boyle Investment Company is a real estate company in Memphis, known for commercial and residential development, which perhaps is what makes this donation so unique.
"It has the potential for residential and commercial use. The Boyle family has been generous to not develop and to conserve the whole property as a nature preserve," said Steve Fleegal, CEO Wolf River Conservancy.
The Boyle’s donation is the largest in value in the 25-year-history of the Wolf River Conservancy.
"The conservation of this property is so uniquely valuable, being as it’s as close to the city as it is. There are deer, turkey, all sorts of animals; red fox that use these properties," said Henry Morgan, President Boyle Investment Company.
"It’s got some of the finest old timber on it. Most of this area has been heavily logged and this place has not, so it’s unusual from a forestry stand point," Boyle said.
The land the Boyles donated will be incorporated into the Greenway and Conservation area along the Wolf River, which is being put together by the Conservancy.