MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Ford Motor Co. and the University of Tennessee (UT) Institute of Agriculture have announced a stream mitigation and restoration agreement that will restore the waters running through the university’s Lone Oaks Farm.

UT is developing Lone Oaks, a 1,200-acre facility, into a world-class 4-H and STEM (science, technology, education and math) education center. It is near where Ford is building BlueOval City, a complex to be constructed on a nearly 6-square-mile site in west Tennessee to build next-generation electric F-Series pickups and advanced batteries, according to Ford’s website.

“We thought we were going to mitigate about 15-thousand feet of stream and create a stream mitigation bank,” said Dr. Ben West, UT’s director of strategic partnerships. “When you restore a stream, you create credits which you can then sell to anybody that needs mitigation credits.”

When Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, it became illegal to damage or impair streams or wetlands, West said. So, if a developer is going to be doing work that harms a stream or wetland, it can still be permitted. But the developer must offset that impact by restoring and protecting an equivalent amount somewhere else. It is a way to offset the developer’s environmental impact on streams and wetlands.

“In the last 100 years, we have channelized basically every stream in West Tennessee,” West said. “It was well-intentioned; we just didn’t understand what that would cause.

“We will be taking the streams that now look like ditches, because that’s what they are, and making them into functioning streams again. We will give them a floodplain and revegetate the banks by planting trees and shrubs along them. We will then permanently protect it with a conservation easement.”

Lone Oaks Farm will be a summer 4-H camp destination, but more than that, it is a K-12 STEM education facility, West said. This year they will host about 5,000 students for hands-on STEM education programs that use agriculture and natural resources as the context.

“We teach geometry, for example, through timber cruising,” West explained. “To cruise timber, to estimate the volume of wood in a forest and figure out what the value of it is, is full of geometry. What we do at the farm is give teachers and kids hands-on programs that illustrate how what they’re teaching and learning in the classroom is used in the real world.

“We are currently serving more than 15 counties,” he said. “Once we have overnight lodging capacity, we will be serving an even bigger group. Our long-term vision is to have 30- or 40-thousand kids a year involved in Lone Oak’s programs.”

This unique agreement with Ford allows the company to meet its regulatory requirements while benefiting the entire region. The deal totals $16.5 million, which covers the construction cost of restoring some 20,000 feet of streams on the Lone Oaks property while also providing long-term financial sustainability for Lone Oaks’ educational programs. The residual funds from the project will be invested by the UT Foundation to support education programs at Lone Oaks Farm in perpetuity.

“At Ford, our goal is to create a positive impact on people and the planet. We’re proud to enter into this innovative partnership with the University of Tennessee that will help restore and protect the streams and wetlands at the Lone Oaks Farm and create educational opportunities that will inspire and benefit future generations,” said Bob Holycross, vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering at Ford. “This is just one way we can fulfill our purpose to help build a better world.”

The project involves other partners, including the Tennessee Wildlife Federation and the West Tennessee River Basin Authority.