The Zoo parking lot expansion has been paused again, as City officials, Overton Park Conservancy, and the Memphis Zoo work together to identify potential sources of funds for a parking deck. After years of negotiation, compromise, and fundraising, the project to expand the Zoo’s parking
words and photos by Melissa McMasters Every year after the calendar tells us that fall has officially arrived, we experience a few days of glorious crisp temperatures followed by the cruel return of heat and humidity. The meme about Memphis’s twelve seasons begins to recirculate
Last week, it was announced that the Zoo’s parking lot reconfiguration project was set to resume in 2022, after a two-year pause. We understand why this news came as a surprise to many people. The plan that is now set to move forward is the compromise solution that
words and photos by Melissa McMasters As part of last year’s NatureZen holiday card rollout, we introduced you to the calligrapher flies, tiny flower-loving creatures whose markings look like intricate doodles. This time we’ll go on a short survey, starting with the punctuation mark butterflies.
Overton Park Stories: Abigail Teamer My story with Overton Park begins unconventionally compared to most visitors. Growing up in Bartlett, I usually went to one of the local neighborhood parks for outdoor play. However, this changed when I started working with my uncle’s janitorial company,
words and photos by Melissa McMasters One of the things that fascinates me most as a naturalist is the ways animals have evolved their appearances over time to suit some specific purpose. Last summer, we explored how moths camouflage themselves to blend perfectly into their
Plan to spend next spring on the greens as the Overton Park golf course is on track to reopen in the second quarter of 2022. Although course designers had originally hoped to have a grand opening this fall, the new grass in some of the
words and photos by Melissa McMasters It’s August, and the days of balmy three-hour birding walks in the Old Forest are a few months away. Instead, it’s the season of packing multiple water bottles, coating ourselves in bug spray to keep the chiggers and mosquitoes
Zack Meaders Guess shares his memories of Overton Park, a place his son Noah Guess cares for as the owner of Echo Systems Inc., the park’s landscaping team. You can submit your own park memories at overtonpark.org/stories. This is written in April 2021. In a
words and photos by Melissa McMasters A few weeks ago, I participated in a global community-science project called the Odolympics, named for Odonata, the taxonomic order containing dragonflies and damselflies. Like the Great Backyard Bird Count or a BioBlitz, the Odolympics harnesses the time and energy of
