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Phil Ensley

Phil Ensley
Phil Ensley

Strawberry plains forever

Zoology graduate Phil Ensley helps Audubon Society turn Southern plantation, including this abandoned sharecropper's shack, into educational venture.

A visit with an old friend and a chance to listen to the Blues was all Phil Ensley had in mind seven years ago when he traveled from his home in California to Memphis and northern Mississippi.

Yet given the Iowa State zoology alumnus' (1966 B.S.) history in working in conservation and his interest in the humanities, it shouldn't come as a surprise that he was soon helping spearhead programs to transform an old Southern plantation into one of the most ambitious projects that the National Audubon Society has ever undertaken.

The result is Strawberry Plains Audubon Center located three miles north of Holly Springs, MS. When Ensley, a retired veterinarian who worked with California condors at the San Diego Zoo, visited the site in 2000, it was a far cry from what is now described as "one of Mississippi's finest natural and historic treasures."

"As we walked around the former plantation I noticed all these old broken down sharecroppers' homes, many of which were hidden under mats of vines," Ensley said. "The fireplaces were falling apart. Vultures were nesting inside one of the buildings. But these long abandoned homes spoke to me."

To Ensley these deteriorating man made structures were a perfect example of nature taking its course after humans had come and "used up" the land.

"The landscape had become depleted of soil nutrients and native plant species from years and years of row crop farming and cotton production," he said.

When Ensley's friend indicated that the Audubon Society, which had only been bequeathed the property two years before, had plans to raze the shacks, Ensley pleaded to have a chance to save the historic sites.

And after talking with local residents, many of whom were the descendants of those who had worked or were born on the former plantation, he realized that this land could be more than a nature preserve. Studying the human history of the land could be just as important as studying the natural history of the land.

"Strawberry Plains was an opportunity for Audubon to do something unique - to couple conservation, land restoration, and education with the history of the local community, to demonstrate man's relationship with the land," said Ensley, who now volunteers at the Audubon Center.

So he went to work lobbying a variety of agencies for funding in order to study and preserve Strawberry Plains' human history. He has helped acquire grants from the Mississippi Humanities Council together with matching funds from Audubon to conduct an oral history project in cooperation with faculty and graduate students at the University of Mississippi's Center for the Study of Southern Culture. Additional funds from the MHC helped support a preliminary archaeological study of the former plantation.

"We are now seeking funds for a film project on Strawberry Plains to help tell the story of both the land restoration efforts and the humanities programs," he said.

Ensley's efforts were rewarded when Strawberry Plains Audubon Center opened in May 2003. The facility's 2,500 acres support a variety of habitats including forests, wetlands and meadows that are home to over two hundred species of birds.

School children and adults from throughout region come to Strawberry Plains where they can see tenant homes that will one day be restored for educational reuse, walk nature trails, and attend education programs. Or they can tour the site's centerpiece - a 12-room Greek Revival Mansion that serves as a reminder of the antebellum era.

And each September several thousand visitors descend upon the conservation site for the annual Hummingbird Migration Celebration as Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are drawn to the Center's forests, gardens and feeders.

"I spent 30 years working with animals and wildlife," Ensley said, "and I see people bring their children to zoos to see the animals, birds and plants in a confined environment. But I didn't see them connecting the dots and putting the whole picture together.

"At Strawberry Plains nothing is behind a moat or in a cage. Everything is there to see in its natural state. You can reach down and grab hold of it."

And when he gives presentations about the Audubon Society project, Ensley talks about making a difference on the local level.

"I encourage people to look in their local communities to help with conservation efforts," he said. "You don't have to go to the Amazon to save a bird."