A little boy with a bright red helmet ties the laces on hisright shoe. He climbs on his miniature bicycle and rides a wobblypath toward the lake, veering just in time to avoid a waterycrash.
Some distance away, a black Labrador retriever splashes into apond after a yellow tennis ball.
A group of University of Memphis students cast their fly-fishinglines before flipping them back and forth, practicing for theirclass.
If the Tennessee Department of Transportation gets its way,another feature will be added to this landscape: a multi-lane,superhighway. It will cut directly through the greenway of ShelbyFarms, destroying some of these recreational areas.
Although a lawsuit brought by the Friends of Shelby Farms hasstalled the Walnut Grove Relocation Plan for the moment, thedevelopment --or something similar -- is still a very realpossibility.
Less than a mile away on each side of this 4,500-acre refuge arefast-food restaurants, grocery stores and small businesses typicalof urban sprawl. Down the road are banks, schools and ahospital.
"The road is going to destroy so many activities that go on inthe park now," said Lois Kuiken, a member of Friends of ShelbyFarms. "If it is going to destroy so many recreational areas, theyshould not sign the road into existence."
Kuiken and the rest of the Friends of Shelby Farms object to theproposed road's elevation above the ground, the destruction ofrecreation facilities and the way the proposed road will divide thepark in two places.
U of M student Megan Hefner is worried about the proposal'seffects as well. She works at the Shelby Farms Riding Stable, aShelby Farms-based business that rents horses, holds summer ridingcamps and gives pony rides.
Hefner, a journalism major, said the proposal would take awaypastureland and could affect some of their riding trails aswell.
"I don't want to see them take away land," she said. "It's sucha beautiful place."
The stable rents to many families, and Hefner said she isthinking positively about the ill effects for the business.
"I'm hoping the construction won't drive too many customersaway," she said.
"People use that land all the time," she added, citing hikers,golfers and pet walkers. "It's not like it's just sitting therestagnant."
Another dissenter to the proposal is Steve Satterfield, ShelbyFarms interim superintendent. Satterfield says the proposal willhurt the park additionally by dividing it from surroundingneighborhoods.
Many of the surrounding neighborhoods now use the park as aninducement for potential buyers. If the road goes through, thesesame neighborhoods will be separated from the park by a 12-lanehighway.
"What are you going to do, send your child across Sam Cooper togo play in the park?" Satterfield asked, comparing the potentialroad to part of the larger Memphis road system. "I don't thinkso."
The proposed road would take a 250-foot easement around thepark, engulf the special events field, much of the cross-countrytrack, the equestrian jump course, Willow and Indian lakes, part ofthe Tour de Wolf bike trail, the pet off-leash area and thecorridor that provides horse-access to the western part of thepark. The Chickasaw Walking Trail will also be affected, and muchof the old-growth forest will be bulldozed to make room for theroad. The raised interchanges, with cloverleaf ramps, will take a500-foot easement.
"Most people don't realize how much of the park the road isactually going to affect," Satterfield said.
