June 2021

Dear Reflection Riding Supporters,

As we think back over the last year, it’s hard to believe how far Reflection Riding has come. We’ll never forget getting the call from Mark, our President, telling us he thought we needed to close our campus in March 2020. Or the call we got from Heather, our General Counsel, asking us to meet weekly as part of a crisis leadership team. The complex web of pivoting, nimbleness, and  decision-making that followed for more than a year was both exhausting and inspiring. 

We are incredibly proud of this work and how well it has positioned Reflection Riding for the future. Your support made it possible. We say this a lot, but it’s really true — without your support, as donors, volunteers, advisors, members, visitors, employees — the last year would certainly not have been the overwhelming success it was. Below are just a few of the accomplishments you can be proud of. 

Gratefully,      

Santosh Sankar                        Stefanie Crowe
Board Chair, 2021 Board Chair, 2020

Innovation for Future Impact. 

We launched a comprehensive planning process, guided by world-renowned firm Scape Landscape Architecture, for our entire campus that reached more than 1,000 community members and resulted in the Framework for the Future. This work brought into focus what you, our community, wants from us for the next 20-30 years. While the pandemic could have been a limiting factor for this work, our team created a strong stakeholder-informed design process, engaging more than 1,000 individuals digitally and in person. Thank you to everyone who participated and gave us ideas — so much more to come here! 

Permanent, Legal Conservation of our Campus. 

In partnership with the American Battlefield Trust, we spent much of the COVID winter creating a conservation easement to legally protect all 300 acres of our property, permanently, for our community. We expect this historic conservation easement to be complete some time late this summer, and we couldn't be more excited about it. Many of you provided advice and ideas throughout this process, and we are so grateful for your time and energy — thank you!

National Recognition for Mark, our President/CEO.

The Association of Nature Center Administrators (ANCA) selected Mark McKnight, our President/CEO, as the recipient of the national 2021 Outstanding New Leader Award. This award recognizes an individual who demonstrates leadership, professionalism, professional development and creativity within the field of nature and environmental learning centers. “Mark embodies the creative leadership we all aspire to,” said Kitty Pochman, chair of the ANCA awards committee and executive director of the Linda Loring Nature Foundation. “The depth and breadth of his accomplishments at Reflection Riding are impressive, moving the organization forward with innovative collaborations that were transformational. He is a change agent, and his flourishing organization is a testament to his leadership and professionalism.”

All Outdoor, Pandemic Safe Summer Camp. 

Within days of receiving the go ahead from health officials, our team designed eight weeks of COVID-safe summer, serving hundreds of children from 85 families and many families of local essential workers. It is the understatement of the year to say how proud we are of this. In a time when childcare was almost non-existent, our staff put together a really fun, really safe experience and got kids out into the woods and on the water, even during some of the worst days of the pandemic. This June, we expanded that model, in partnership with the Tennessee Aquarium and presented by Children’s Hospital at Erlanger, and kicked off summer camp 2021. Thank you to our camp families for trusting us with your kids, even during a pandemic!

Native Plant Sale Pivot.

Our team re-imagined the Spring Plant Sale, a more than 30-year tradition and one of our largest revenue sources, to be completely online with touch-free delivery service. Again, we really weren’t sure this would work, but we got creative and asked you if you wanted plants and the resounding answer was YES! We distributed around 10,000 native plants from our native plant nursery over the last year as many of you got out into the yard (or even into containers) and rediscovered the joy of gardening at home. Our nursery is now open to the community Tuesday-Saturday because of this strong response. Huge thanks to all our nursery customers!

Community Conservation in Recovery.

Following spring tornadoes, we implemented a city-funded community initiative called Growing Resilient Neighborhoods, allowing citizens to replant 1,000 lost trees with native trees from our nursery. Old friends and lots of new ones came out to our nursery to select just the right tree and learn how to care for it, with expert guidance from our horticulture team. Thanks to everyone who took on the challenge of replanting the tree canopy after the severe weather — we can’t wait to watch it grow!

New American Red Wolves and a Growing Pack.

Just a few weeks ago, our pack welcomed two new American red wolf pups, Romulus and Remus. Proud parents, Ruby and Apollo, are taking great care of them and they appear to be thriving. Last spring, we were also overjoyed when Ruby gave birth to pups. It was a difficult road, but working in partnership with our national red wolf recovery team, we successfully cross-fostered a pup with a litter of the same age in North Carolina. She was seamlessly adopted by her new pack and she, her adoptive mother and siblings are all doing well. Being a partner in the Red Wolf Species Survival Plan is a crucial part of our work and we are proud of the success this program has had recently. To all of you who provide support for our red wolf program, thank you — and we can’t wait to see what comes next!

City Nature Challenge 2021.

The City Nature Challenge is an annual, global, citizen science effort documenting urban biodiversity. People from all walks of life find and document plants, animals, and other organisms in urban areas, generally using the iNaturalist platform. This year, the CNC was a collaborative effort, rather than a competition, and it was a huge success! More than 52,000 people worldwide made more than a million observations during the 2021 City Nature Challenge. In the Chattanooga area, Reflection Riding led the charge for the CNC, and we were blown away by the results! Here they are: 272 observers submitted 3,397 observations comprising 1,101 species, identified by 339 individuals. Congratulations, Chattanooga!

Growing Community Support and Engagement.

The growing community of support for Reflection Riding never ceases to amaze us. In 2021, we asked our supporters, members, volunteers, and everyone else we could think of to step up their giving and help us make it through a tough year. We were overwhelmed by your support and are so grateful for it. Over the last year, 43 members joined our inaugural Annual Giving Society, 13 corporate members joined our Biodiversity Alliance, 1,355 households became members, and three times more people visited us than did during the pandemic. We quickly realized that our work has never been more relevant… and we’ve never been more grateful for your support. Thank you.