Board Member Spotlight: Mandy Young
Mandy Haynes Young is an attorney in Government, Administration & Regulatory and Health Law groups at Butler Snow. In her professional role, Mandy is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell® and her work has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America®. She has been named to the “Nashville Top 101 Lawyers” by Nashville Post Magazine and “Best of the Bar” by Nashville Business Journal. She is also a frequent speaker on the legislative process and updates on legislation. She lives in Nashville with her husband, Stephen.
We sat down with Mandy to chat about her involvement with The Land Trust for Tennessee and why she chooses to dedicate her time to supporting the organization.
Interviewer: Hi Mandy! Thanks for coming out to Glen Leven Farm to chat. First, tell me a little about where you grew up and your connection to the land.
Mandy: I grew up in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, in the same house that we moved into when I was 2 and my mom stayed there until she died a few years ago. My father was born and grew up on a farm, which is 55 acres in Castalian Springs in Sumner County. We went up there every summer to enjoy the farm and grow a garden among other things. The farm was on a creek connected to Old Hickory Lake. So that was my farm connection. We still own that land today.
Interviewer: Did your father grow up on that land?
Mandy: Yes, he was the first in his family to go to college, because he didn’t want to be a farmer. When our children were small, we did the Month of Big Joe. My father’s father woke him up every day at six so he could go do farm chores before he went to school. So, our month of Big Joe was we woke up the kids, only during the week, at six, for them to get up and act like Big Joe. You can imagine that did not go over very well with our kids.
Interviewer: So then, growing up, was conservation and the outdoors a big part of your life?
Mandy: You know, not the conservation part because I think they just lived off the land. I mean, we grew a huge garden, and my mom canned when money was tight. And we shared my grandparents’ garden the same way. It was also a big part of who Dad was and he wanted us to know the place that he grew up. So, I hate weeding to this day because we did a lot of weeding in that garden.
Interviewer: What kinds of things did you grow in the garden?
Mandy: Tomatoes, beans, okra, cucumbers, you name it. My mom and grandmother canned everything. It wasn’t conservation the way we talk about it now—they just lived off the land. Later in life, I started gardening when I lived in Memphis and called my grandmother to walk me through canning over the phone. I still have some of her canning tools.
Interviewer: When did you first become familiar with The Land Trust for Tennessee?
Mandy: Through my mother-in-law, Faith Young. After my father-in-law passed away, she was determined to protect her farm, Dixona, with The Land Trust. That was in 2007, before The Land Trust was even ten years old. When my dad started redoing the house he was born in on the 55 acres, Stephen and I talked to him about protecting that land too. He and my mom ended up placing a conservation easement on it. With our help and my brothers’ agreement, Stephen and I later bought the 300 acres next to Dixona and we conserved that as well.
Interviewer: How did you go from supporting and participating in The Land Trust’s work to being on the Board?
Mandy: Louise Beasley is the reason. Her family had land protected with The Land Trust in Smith County, and we’re neighbors in the country. She said, “You should really be on this board.” At first, I told her Stephen should do it. But she was persistent as Louise can be. I eventually said yes.
Interviewer: You have a strong connection with the farming community—can you talk about that?
Mandy: I’ve worked closely with the Tennessee Farm Bureau since I was a baby lawyer. My firm represented them, and I’ve stayed connected to that world ever since. I’ve helped host gatherings in Smith County, like the event at George McDonald’s farm, to talk to other farmers about conservation. A lot of folks don’t know that you can still farm, cut timber, or even install solar on conserved land. They just can’t subdivide it. Once you explain that, they’re more open. It’s all about education.
Interviewer: What are your feelings about the Farmland Preservation Act that just passed?
Mandy: We had conversation easements, so I was thrilled to see the Governor appropriate money for the Preservation Act. I talked with the Governor’s office and with Emily [Vice President of The Land Trust for Tennessee], as the legislation passed this year to help preserve farms with the $25,000,000 grant.
I am not sure I helped much but for connecting the dots. I helped people understand the farming community a little bit and the lobbying community a little bit. And I think with conservation easements, each farmer has to make the decision for themselves, but I think that most people don’t understand that they can do exactly what they’re doing today. They just can’t subdivide it into one-acre or five-acre plots in the future.
Interviewer: Why do you believe The Land Trust’s work matters for everyone, even those without land to protect?
Mandy: Because everyone has to eat and everyone needs open spaces. If we don’t protect farmland, all of Nashville and Middle Tennessee could just become concrete. No locally grown food, no open space, no trees. It’s not just about landowners. It’s about the entire community.
Interviewer: What would you say to someone considering a conservation easement?
Mandy: There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. The Land Trust works with you to do what’s best for your land and your family within conservation guidelines. Everyone I’ve met here is kind, knowledgeable, and flexible. They care deeply about protecting land for future generations.
Interviewer: What are your goals for your Board position looking ahead?
Mandy: I’m a bit of an evangelist. When I meet someone with land, I immediately ask, “Have you talked to The Land Trust?” Not everyone’s ready, and that’s okay. But even if they just protect a piece of their land, that’s a win. We have to protect what we can, while we still can.
Interviewer: What does Sense of Place mean to you?
Mandy: A sense of place means to me, the roots to the land, and that can be through a tree or it can be through family. My favorite place in the world is to sit on my parents’ lake house porch and rock and look at the land that my father used to farm and the creek that ran through it. It brings me a lot of comfort and closeness to them, just like Stephen’s love of Dixona does to his mom and his dad. We hope that our children find that sense of love and sense of place as they grow old like we are.
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