News
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Up from South Chickamauga: Paddle Georgia to celebrate 20th anniversary with first Tennessee River journey Tennessee RiverLineFriday, 07 February 2025Weeklong paddling event highlights Tennessee RiverLine; registration open for June adventure
KNOXVILLE — Paddle Georgia, the renowned multi-day paddling adventure, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a historic first: an expedition along the Tennessee River, traveling through Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. More than 300 paddlers are expected to take part in the journey June 15-22, immersing themselves in the beauty, history and vibrant communities of the Tennessee River Valley. The event will highlight the Tennessee RiverLine, an initiative of University of Tennessee Extension that reframes the 652-mile Tennessee River as a continuous system of outdoor recreation experiences.
(Hellbender Press previously reported on the Tennessee RiverLine.)
The Tennessee RiverLine is assisting with trip planning resources for this milestone event, reinforcing its mission to transform the Tennessee River into a continuous system of outdoor recreation experiences and showcasing the river’s potential as a premier destination for adventure tourism.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with Georgia Rivers on the 20th anniversary of Paddle Georgia and welcome them to the Tennessee RiverLine,” said Brad Collett, executive director of Tennessee RiverLine. “This journey exemplifies our shared commitment to connecting people with the river, fostering environmental stewardship and celebrating the natural and cultural heritage of the Tennessee River Valley. We look forward to working together to bring this transformative experience to life.”
The seven-day adventure will begin in Ringgold, Georgia, on the South Chickamauga Creek Water Trail, a narrow watercourse that flows beneath spectacular limestone bluffs, over playful rapids and (unusually) underground before emptying into the Tennessee River just east of Chattanooga. The journey’s final five days will follow the course of the Tennessee and the Tennessee RiverLine, a 652-mile water trail stretching from Knoxville to Paducah, Kentucky, that winds through Chattanooga and the river’s historic and scenic gorge into Nickajack Lake. After locking through Nickajack Lock and Dam in their small vessels, participants will float into northeast Alabama for the adventure’s final two days. Participants will cover more than 80 miles of waterways.A man looks at a map of the Tennessee RiverLine during the paddling trail’s kickoff in May 2021 at Suttree Landing in downtown Knoxville. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press
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Conservation starters: Some of the best science papers of 2024 John R. PlattThursday, 06 February 2025Sukakpak Mountain lies in the Brooks Range of Alaska. Mountain environments were the subject of a conservation paper that found more protections are needed for the many differing types of montaine environments. “Mountains are super-important for biodiversity, ecosystem function, and the benefits people get from nature. We ignore them at our peril,” said a Society for Conservation Biology researcher. Bob Wick/Bureau of Land Management
Scientists churned out studies on life, the planet and the roles people play in the natural world
This story was originally published by The Revelator.
Every month scientific journals publish hundreds of new papers about endangered species and wildlife conservation. It’s a firehose of information in a world that feels increasingly in flames.
We asked researchers to send us their best or favorite papers of the past year. We received submissions that offer hope, guidance, analysis, and insight into emerging threats.
Aerin Jacob, director of science and research at Nature Conservancy of Canada, sent a coauthored paper from Conservation Biology about mountains — a habitat type that deserves more attention. “People often think that mountain ecosystems are so rugged and inaccessible that they don’t need habitat protection, but that’s not true,” she wrote. “We studied six major mountain regions around the world and found that on average half of them are as modified as the rest of the world; two-thirds of them don’t (yet) meet the 30×30 global protection target; and existing protected areas don’t include the vast majority of mountain ecosystem types. Mountains are super-important for biodiversity, ecosystem function, and the benefits people get from nature. We ignore them at our peril.”
One noteworthy study of 2024 was the role public information consumption plays in the perception of sharks, such as this endangered Caribbean Reef Shark. A researcher warns misinformation is polluting science. Brian Gratwicke via Revelator.
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Great Smoky Mountains National Park embarks on cutting-edge hellbender study Holly KaysMonday, 03 February 2025Jonathan Cox (left), wetlands biology technician for Great Smoky Mountains National Park, looks in astonishment at an eastern hellbender captured while monitoring populations in Pisgah National Forest. Ben Dalton/N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission
Two-year study will gain insight into hellbender reproduction; special interest in Fontana reservoir area and its watersheds
Holly Kays is senior writer for Smokies Life.
GATLINBURG, Tenn. — With wrinkly skin that comes in various shades of brown, eastern hellbenders aren’t easy to spot. These giant salamanders, which average 20 inches in length, spend most of their lives nearly invisible under rocks on the bottom of cool, fast-flowing streams. In a two-year research project starting this summer, Great Smoky Mountains National Park will use a combination of technology and traditional survey techniques to solve the mystery surrounding the hellbender’s distribution in the Smokies.
“One of the major conservation questions is: Are hellbenders reproducing in our streams?” said Jonathan Cox, wetlands biology technician for the park. “And it’s really hard to find that out because their lifespan is so long that you can have a hellbender detected in a stream for multiple decades, but it may be the same individual.”
Hellbenders can live for 30 years or more, so figuring out whether the adults alive today are reproducing successfully is imperative to securing the species’ future. Hellbender populations have declined significantly over recent decades, leading the US Fish and Wildlife Service to propose that the salamander be listed as an endangered species. A public comment period on the listing proposal is open through February 11.
Knoxville naturalist Rob Hunter dislodges a fishing hook from a juvenile hellbender encountered during an informal scouting trip with Hellbender Press in 2023. The Smokies-area waterway contains a healthy hellbender population despite threats such as accidental angling, dams, deforestation, water pollution and sediment deposition. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press
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Updated: Searchers find body of long-time park volunteer off trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park Katie LimingSunday, 02 February 2025Rangers find body of 73-year-old woman missing since she embarked on hike Jan. 28
(The original story is below).
GATLINBURG, Tenn. — Missing hiker Ann Houghton, age 73, was found deceased in Great Smoky Mountains National Park on February 2 at approximately 1:53 p.m. She was found roughly a quarter mile off Enloe Creek Trail.
Houghton was reported missing to the park on Feb. 1. She had planned to hike in the park Jan. 28-29. Her vehicle was located at the Smokemont Campground. Law enforcement and search and rescue staff began a search for her on Feb. 1 in the Smokemont area, focusing efforts along Bradley Fork, Chasteen Creek, Hughes Ridge and Enloe Creek trails. Several local agencies assisted the park with search operations, investigations and emergency services including Cherokee Fire and Rescue, BUSAR, Macon Volunteer Fire Department, Cowee Volunteer Fire Department, Appalachian Mountain Rescue Team and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
Houghton was a resident of Jackson County, NC. She volunteered in Great Smoky Mountains National Park for more than 20 years. In 2022, Great Smoky Mountains National Park nominated Houghton for a National Park Service George and Helen Hartzog Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Service.
“Ann was an enduring and beloved member of our Smokies Community. She was a dedicated volunteer and avid hiker who shared her passion for the park with many visitors,” said Charles Sellars, Acting Superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
“Great Smoky Mountains National Park offers condolences to her family and friends.”
Here is the original story:
GATLINBURG, Tenn. — Great Smoky Mountains National Park rangers and others are currently searching for overdue hiker Ann Houghton in the area of Smokemont Campground.
Law enforcement and search and rescue personnel are focusing efforts along Bradley Fork, Chasteen Creek, Hughes Ridge and Enloe Creek trails.
Houghton is described as a 73-year-old female with gray hair, approximately 105 pounds and 5 feet and 6 inches tall. Her planned itinerary was to hike in the park Jan. 28 until Jan. 29. Her vehicle was found at Smokemont Campground. Houghton was reported missing on Feb. 1.
If you have any information or see Ann Houghton, please contact Great Smoky Mountains National Park Dispatch at 865-436-1230.
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Hybrid fire ants, born of foreign species, continue northward march Case KeatleyWednesday, 29 January 2025A hybrid fire ant typical of those now seen in Lee County, Va. Virginia Tech scientists have teamed with the commonwealth’s agricultural extension service to find ways to combat the exotic insect. Cole Shoemaker/iNaturalist
Virginia Tech entomologists partner to help track and prevent the spread of hybrid fire ants
Case Keatley is communications coordinator at Virginia Cooperative Extension.
JONESVILLE, Va. — In Lee County, Virginia Cooperative Extension Agent Amy Byington is working to stop a tiny invader posing a big problem.
Hybrid fire ants, which are well-established across East Tennessee and parts of Kentucky and North Carolina, are now infiltrating far Southwest Virginia.
“It’s just one more nuisance,” said Byington, who leads efforts in her county to report and treat the growing issue. “I get calls every week from landowners who are discovering new ant mounds on their property.”
Byington partners with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) to locate and treat the mounds with insecticide bait.
“One of my producers recently reached out and reported they had found six fire ant mounds on their farm,” she said. “The VDACS inspector later ended up counting 58. It’s a management issue and a human issue.”
As of 2024, Lee County is the only county in Virginia with a presence of hybrid fire ants, although this is expected to change in coming years as ants gradually expand their territory north and east.
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UT vet school declines to treat wild birds, including raptors, songbirds and waterfowl, in deference to bird flu threat Sandra HarbisonFriday, 24 January 2025Veterinary college takes precautionary measures due to bird flu resurgence
Sandra Harbison is a media relations specialist with the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine.
KNOXVILLE — High Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), a very contagious and often deadly disease of poultry, can result in the deaths of entire flocks within a matter of days. Also known as bird flu, HPAI has recently been detected in wildlife and poultry in Tennessee. This virus can spread quickly between birds, including birds that do not have any signs of disease. It has been reported to impact certain mammalian species, including humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is no treatment for HPAI, and the best prevention is to avoid sources of exposure.
Out of an abundance of caution, the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine (UTCVM) has made the difficult decision to temporarily halt the acceptance and treatment of injured or abandoned wild birds including raptors, songbirds or waterfowl (including owned waterfowl). This precautionary measure will help protect patients, faculty, staff and students from potential exposure to HPAI.
(The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency on Dec. 18 warned hunters, birdwatchers and poultry owners of increased bird flu risk. The CDCP as of Jan. 24 considers bird flu “widespread” in wild bird populations and reports limited outbreaks in poultry and livestock workers.)
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New register based at University of Tennessee crowns U.S. champion trees Katie DonaldsonWednesday, 22 January 2025The 2024 National Champion Tree Register features the largest documented trees across the U.S. such as the National Champion Sitka Spruce, which people can see in Olympic National Park in Washington. Brian Kelley via American Forests
Beginning in February, citizen scientists and others can help catalog our biggest trees
Katie Donaldson is a communications specialist for the University of Tennessee School of Natural Resources.
KNOXVILLE — The National Champion Tree Program (NCTP) announced its first Register of Champion Trees since 2021. The program moved from American Forests to the University of Tennessee School of Natural Resources in 2023 and has spent the past year working with state-level Champion Tree programs across the U.S. to update outdated records and verify the newly crowned champions.
“We are thrilled beyond measure to share the list of the largest documented trees in the United States,” Jaq Payne, NCTP director, said. “These trees are more than just numbers on a website. They’re living, breathing members of our community. I hope this register encourages folks to start looking at the trees around them with fresh eyes.”Payne announced the new register and NCTP Data Management System at the program’s Root Ball at the UT Conference Center in downtown Knoxville on Jan. 18. The register started as a short list of 77 big trees in the April 1941 edition of American Forests magazine. By 2021, it had grown to 562 Champion Trees across the country.
Anyone can access the new data management system through the program’s website. There you can find Champion Trees for different species, see the trees’ measurements and read the cultural importance of the trees, if known. “We wanted to create an experience that includes the rich history of these individuals,” Payne added. The program is still collecting the trees’ histories and would appreciate any help from community members.
Champion Trees are identified based on a point system including the trunk circumference, height and average crown spread. After members of the public nominate trees, the NCTP works with state coordinators to verify the submissions and their measurements. Verified trees are then added to the data management system. National Champion Trees are crowned once every two years and must be re-verified every 10 years.
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A hidden prairie treasure comes to light in East Tennessee Shelby Lyn SandersTuesday, 21 January 2025Whorled rosinweed is among the many types of native grassland plants that emerged from a clearcut. The property in Meigs County near Georgetown is now protected in part by the Foothills Land Conservancy. Shelby Lyn Sanders
FLC biologist makes an unexpected discovery in Georgetown, Tenn.
Shelby Lyn Sanders is director of natural resources for the Blount County-based Foothills Land Conservancy.
GEORGETOWN — What started as a simple search for a peaceful retreat turned into an extraordinary ecological discovery.
When Mr. Owen purchased his land near Georgetown, he was looking for a place to hunt, hike and escape city life. Little did he know he’d become the guardian of one of Tennessee’s rare prairie gems.
The property’s true identity emerged when the Foothills Land Conservancy’s director of natural resources (the author of this piece) spotted something remarkable during her first visit — prairie dock, a telltale sign of native grassland heritage. This wasn’t just any piece of land; it was a lost prairie awakening from decades of forest cover, less than a half mile from the historic Gunstocker Glade along Highway 58.
The timing was perfect. A 2022 clearcut had inadvertently liberated this sleeping prairie, allowing it to breathe and bloom for the first time in generations. By its second year, the land burst into life, revealing an astonishing diversity that had laid dormant for years.
Here’s an aerial view of the Owen property in Meigs County northeast of Chattanooga on the eastern Cumberland Plateau escarpment. Native prairie plants emerged from the site of a clearcut, yielding a surprisingly vital piece of prairie. Shelby Lyn Sanders
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34th Sandhill Crane Festival takes wing in East Tennessee Tennessee Wildlife Resources AgencySaturday, 18 January 2025During winter migration, visitors to Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge can view thousands of greater sandhill cranes. This year’s celebration is Jan. 18-19 in Birchwood. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
Beat the winter blues with food, music and celebration of a natural spectacle
BIRCHWOOD — The Sandhill Crane Festival is underway through Sunday in Birchwood, Tennessee. This is the 34th year of the festival. Come celebrate the return of this migrant bird. Breathe in the fresh air. Hear its call. See its dance.
With up to 20,000 sandhill cranes returning to the area each year, you’re bound to be caught up in the spectacular display of the sandhill cranes, eagles, waterfowl and more on the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge. Volunteers will be on hand with spotting scopes, but you’re welcome to bring your own binoculars. Dress for the weather, rain or shine. A potent cold front enters the area Sunday.
Free buses shuttle attendees from the Birchwood School on Highway 60 to each of the locations. No parking is permitted at the refuge unless attendee is in possession of a handicap placard.
The American Eagle Foundation will once again be at the Birchwood School for two live performances each day, along with Nashville recording artist, Second Nature. Vendors will be set up in the gym and home-cooked meals prepared in the kitchen, including Ms. Linda’s homemade breakfast biscuits and vegetable soup.
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Updated: Feds agree to reconsider ESA status of big, elusive salamander known only in Knox County area JJ StambaughThursday, 16 January 2025The limestone cliffs and bluffs of Ijams Nature Center are home to the Berry Cave salamander. The cave is very hard to find, is gated, and entry is forbidden to protect both the salamander and bat populations. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press
Lawsuit prompts federal agency to reconsider protections for rare East Tennessee salamander
KNOXVILLE — The Southern Environmental Law Center, which championed the conservation of a salamander found only in a series of caves within the Knoxville Metropolitan Area, announced Jan. 16 that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to reconsider inclusion of the Berry Cave salamander on the Endangered Species List.
The release from SELC follows; the original story published in July 2024 continues below.
“The Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, reached an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that requires the agency to reconsider listing the Berry Cave salamander—a rare salamander that is only found in a handful of East Tennessee caves—as an endangered species.
The already rare salamanders are under immense pressure from sprawling development in the region, and even the largest observed populations of the Berry Cave salamander are quickly declining. Survey results indicate that a population found in Knoxville’s Meads Quarry Cave—historically one of the salamander’s relative strongholds—fell by 65 percent between 2004 and 2019.
Thursday’s agreement comes eight months after the conservation groups sued the Service, arguing that the agency violated federal law when it denied Endangered Species Act protections for the Berry Cave salamander in 2019. The surprising denial came at a time when the agency’s regional leadership had directed staff to implement a quota system that set annual targets for denying species protections—a system that may have inappropriately influenced the Berry Cave salamander decision.
The agreement requires the agency to reevaluate the Berry Cave salamander’s status and determine by August 2029 whether it should be listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act.
“This agreement is an important step toward securing long-overdue protections for the Berry Cave salamander and correcting a harmful mistake from the Fish and Wildlife Service,” said Liz Rasheed, a staff attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. “We hope the agency will follow the science — as required by law — and give these one-of-a-kind salamanders the protections they need to have a shot at survival.”
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While wary of DC, NC presses on at state level to slow climate change Eric TegethoffWednesday, 15 January 2025Circa 1798: ‘Plan of the City of Washington in the Territory of Columbia; ceded by the states of Virginia and Maryland to the United States of America, and by them established as the seat of their government, after the year 1800.’ Ellicott/Thornton/Library of Congress
Groups to carry on air quality work, defend U.S. investments and ensure voices are heard from all communities
This story is from North Carolina News Service.
RALEIGH — President-elect Donald J. Trump retakes office in less than a week amid promises to roll back efforts to combat climate change. A friendly Congress could follow suit. But state-level efforts to address the crisis will continue in North Carolina, at least.
Trump has promised to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act passed under President Joe Biden, which earmarked billions for climate-resilience and alternative energy projects. Brittany Griffin with the nonprofit CleanAIRE NC says tinkering with the law would hurt the state, including its ability to prepare for more severe weather as climate change worsens. But she says there are still glimmers of hope on the state level.
“We still have a lot of state-led policies, and then our makeup now of the General Assembly looks different. We have a governor who also is pretty well-informed and, I believe, dedicated to addressing environmental issues in our state,” he said.
Griffin added that her organization will be working with community and legal partners to resist potentially harmful changes under the Trump administration, and ensuring that all citizens have a voice in their environment. CleanAIRE NC’s community science manager Daisha Walls is on the Environmental Justice Advisory Council for the Governor’s Office.
Griffin noted that there are a number of ways CleanAIRE NC is helping people feel more empowered, such as through its air monitoring networks in communities across the state and clean energy transportation efforts in rural areas, and said community member involvement is important to the state’s response to climate change.
“When they amplify their voice, it allows them to feel like they are participating in the process of shaping environmental policies as it relates to their communities,” she said.
North Carolina lawmakers have passed climate goals under the state’s Carbon Plan that aim to reduce Duke Energy’s carbon emissions by 70 percent by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050. But Griffin said the current plan falls short for the state’s underserved and impacted communities. However, it is renewed every two years and she hopes they have a larger say in the next iteration.
“We at CleanAIRE NC would like to make sure there’s more inclusion for all communities in the planning process so they can actually more directly benefit from it,” she said.
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ORNL partnership in Chattanooga tests new method for protecting quantum internet Oak Ridge National LaboratoryMonday, 13 January 2025Oak Ridge National Laboratory collaborated with commercial utility EPB and the University of Tennessee Chattanooga to develop and test the first transmission of an entangled quantum signal using multiple wavelength channels and automatic polarization stabilization over a commercial network with no downtime. Morgan Manning/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy
OAK RIDGE — Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory joined forces with EPB of Chattanooga and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to demonstrate the first transmission of an entangled quantum signal using multiple wavelength channels and automatic polarization stabilization over a commercial network with no downtime.
The successful trial of this innovation marks another step toward the eventual creation of a quantum internet that could prove to be more capable and secure than existing networks.
Quantum computing relies on quantum bits, or qubits, to store information. Qubits, unlike the binary bits used in classical computing, can exist in more than one state simultaneously via quantum superposition, which allows combinations of physical values to be encoded on a single object.
The demonstration used automatic polarization compensation, or APC, to stabilize the polarization, or direction of the electric field oscillation in a light wave, of a signal sent over the EPB’s fiber-optic commercial quantum network. The approach used reference signals generated by lasers to continuously check the transmitted polarization, detected with an ultrasensitive method known as heterodyne detection.
APCs reduce data interference caused by outside forces like wind and temperature changes that can affect the fiber optic cables used to transmit quantum signals.
“One of our goals all along has been to develop quantum communications systems that operate seamlessly for users,” said Joseph Chapman, an ORNL quantum research scientist who led the study. “This is the first demonstration of this method, which enabled relatively fast stabilization while preserving the quantum signals, all with 100 percent uptime — meaning the people at either end of this transmission won’t notice any interruption in the signal and don’t need to coordinate scheduled downtime.”
The method enabled continuous transmission of the signals with no interruptions for more than 30 hours between the node on the University of Tennessee Chattanooga campus and two other EPB quantum network nodes, each about half a mile away. The UTC node held an entangled-photon source developed by Muneer Alshowkan, an ORNL quantum research scientist.
The quantum network technology using automatic polarization compensation developed by ORNL was demonstrated in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The test utilized EPB’s fiber-optic commercial quantum network and involved the University of Tennessee Chattanooga and industry partner Qubitekk. Joe Chapman, Morgan Manning/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy
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Saving barrens full of life TennGreen Land ConservancyFriday, 10 January 2025Tennessee coneflower is seen in Couchville cedar glade, a prime example of cedar glade habitat that is a target of preservationists — such as the land acquired recently in Rutherford County by TennGreen Land Conservancy. The Couchville property is managed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. It is similar in nature to the TennGreen property in Rutherford County, and is part of a nexus of such glades around the Cumberland Plateau. According to TDEC: “Couchville supports one of the largest known and best quality populations of the Tennessee coneflower (Echinacea tennesseensis), which was delisted as a federally endangered species in September 2011. Couchville also provides one of the finest examples of a glade-barrens complex and protects many rare plant species. The glades are distributed where limestone outcropping and shallow soils limit growth of perennial plants and support annual species like leavenworthia, sporobolus, and sedum. The barrens species, that also includes Tennessee coneflower, occur where soils increase and grasses like little bluestem and side oats grama become dominant. The glades and barrens interface forming a complex.” Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
Cedar glade habitat protected in fast-growing Tennessee county
MURFREESBORO — To close out 2024, TennGreen Land Conservancy and Allen Patton protected 50 acres of globally unique cedar glade habitat in Middle Tennessee’s Rutherford County with a conservation easement.
Called Rockdale Cedar Glades and Woodlands, Patton’s land abuts TennGreen’s Lamar Cedar Glades & Woodlands Conservation Easement, increasing this connected corridor of protected land to an expansive 256 acres. Limestone cedar glades and barrens, which are incredibly diverse but under threat from development and pollution, are found on the protected properties. This additional 50-acre easement is also within the Spring Creek HUC 12 Watershed and the Stones River Upper HUC 12 Watershed, marking it as critical habitat.
(Hellbender Press has previously reported on the special nature and importance of cedar barrens, including one located in Oak Ridge, just on the cusp of the Cumberland Plateau, which is better known for its cedar glades).
Cedar gladecress (Leavenworthia stylosa) during a prescribed burn at Couchville State Natural Area; this wildflower is only found in the Central Basin of Tennessee. TDEC
Five years after the start of a series of localized disasters, new boat ramps lead paddlers to water in Big South Fork Thomas FraserTuesday, 07 January 2025The Big South Fork on the Cumberland River as seen at Leatherwood Ford in March 2020 when it recorded a record height of 39 feet. One year later, it recorded a new record height of 41 feet. The flooding destroyed four boat ramps in the area, the park service has now rebuilt them all. Big South Fork is a very popular paddling destination. National Park Service
Big South Fork completes substantial repairs to four boat launches damaged in series of rain and windstorms
ONEIDA — Workers in Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area completed repairs to four popular boat launches damaged by significant generational flooding events over the past couple of years.
Park staff dismantled and rebuilt the boat launches at Blue Heron Mine-18, Brewster Bridge, Station Camp and Peters Bridge, all of which were severely damaged during flooding in March 2021 that arose after 8 inches of rain fell in and around Big South Fork. The Big South Fork of the Cumberland River reached 41 feet at Leatherwood Ford; three days prior it was at 7 feet.
The second-highest flow of the river since rain gauges were installed in the park in 1984 occurred just a year earlier in 2020 when the river hit 39 feet.
The park also experienced flooding in 2024, during which a man perished after he fell in a park waterway. Severe storms also damaged or destroyed multiple Big South Fork facilities and blocked roads and trails for weeks.
Big South Fork includes nearly 250 miles of rivers and streams and is a destination park for water recreation, and rock climbing.
Many Tennessee farmers drowned by water and parched by drought in 2024; this year’s outlook is murky Patricia McDanielsSunday, 05 January 2025Although Tennessee producers planted 14.7 percent more soybeans in 2024 than the previous year (1.8 million acres as compared to 1.57 million acres), prices paid to producers fell by 16 percent compared to 2023. Image of mature soybeans before harvest. Soybeans and other commodity crops were affected throughout Tennessee by drought and flood. S. Bauer/USDA ARS.
Poor production, low commodity prices mean difficult times for many in state agriculture sectors
Patricia McDaniels is senior media relations coordinator and editor at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture.
KNOXVILLE — In 2024, Tennessee’s agricultural and forestry industrial complex was significantly impacted by six major factors: drought, agricultural land loss, trade deficits, decreasing foreign market demand, below average yields and relatively lower prices for major commodities.
Researchers and Extension specialists from the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics also suggest that the outlook for 2025 could vary depending on the sector.
In the annual economic report to the governor of Tennessee prepared by the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research at the UT Haslam College of Business, the agricultural and resource economists provide an economic outlook for the state’s farmers and foresters.“The state’s agricultural and forestry industries directly and indirectly contributed $103 billion to the Tennessee economy,” says Andrew Muhammad, UTIA professor of agricultural economics.“2024 was a struggle for many of our producers and sectors. Next year could also be difficult, with trade policy uncertainty, low crop prices, drought- and hurricane-reduced feed supplies and high input costs.” Muhammad is a co-author of the report and holds the Blasingame Chair of Excellence in Agricultural Policy.In terms of gross output, the agricultural and forestry industrial complex measured 11 percent of the economic activity conducted in Tennessee in 2024. An estimated 385,743 individuals worked in industries supported by the complex, which is 8.8 percent of the state’s total employment.“Due to the dramatic declines in gross revenue in 2024, many crop producers will struggle with obtaining financing for the 2025 crop, which could affect production and result in consolidation in the row crop sector in Tennessee,” Muhammad and his co-authors write in the report. They add that negative factors affecting the livestock, poultry and dairy industries in 2025 will be continued high interest rates when financing operations and equipment, as well as inflation and reduced discretionary spending available to consumers.
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Learn about using your forest as a carbon sink Thomas FraserWednesday, 18 December 2024KNOXVILLE — The next installment of Conservation on Tap is set for 7 p.m. Jan. 8 at Albright Grove Brewing Company, 2924 Sutherland Ave., Knoxville.
Join forester Sean Bowers to learn about the Family Forest Carbon Program, a partnership between the American Forest Foundation and The Nature Conservancy. The program allows owners of small tracts of forest access to carbon markets, empowering them to improve the health and wellbeing of their forests and help tackle climate change.
All proceeds from Conservation on Tap benefit Discover Life in America.
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Stubborn Flint Gap fire continues to burn in Great Smokies Katie LimingTuesday, 17 September 2024That’s not the natural ‘smoke’ of the Smokies. The Flint Gap fire has burned about 50 acres south of Abrams Creek in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. National Park Service
Firefighters stage in Abrams Creek Campground in national park as more resources arrive
Katie Liming is a public affairs officer with Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
GATLINBURG — The Flint Gap Fire is 46 acres as of the last estimate. Although the fire is presently uncontained, only a few areas are actively burning within the perimeter. Once firefighter access and safety in this remote and steep terrain is addressed, a full suppression strategy will be executed.
The fire did not receive as much rain over the weekend as previously predicted; however, a local weather station did show that 0.34 inches fell on the fire early Sept. 17.
On Monday, the fire responded to decreasing relative humidities, 10 mph winds and afternoon direct sunlight with some increased activity and additional smoke. The fire is currently backing through fingers of available fuels with flame lengths of 1-3 feet in some areas. Fire activity is primarily in areas with pockets of pine litter and near drainages.
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Tennessee Fish and Wildlife commission returns to Paris Landing Tennessee Wildlife Resources AgencyMonday, 16 September 2024Tennessee State Parks
BUCHANAN — The Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission will return to Paris Landing State Park for the first time in 15 years for a one-day meeting on Friday, Sept. 20. The meeting will start at 9 a.m.
A new video titled “Safe Boating Near Locks and Dams” will be presented. The video was produced by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency in partnership with, Tennessee Valley Authority, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard and Hardin County Emergency Management Agency.
Retired TWRA Wildlife and Forestry employee Mark Gudlin will be recognized for his induction into the National Bobwhite and Grasslands Initiative Hall of Fame. He served in a variety of roles during a 38-year TWRA career and was serving as Habitat Program Manager upon his retirement in 2021.
Will Bowling from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation will be recognized for a donation from the Foundation and the Mildred T. Edwards Trust. The gift will go toward purchasing a 1,322-acre tract at North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area.
There will also be a preview for rules and regulations governing licenses, permit fees and boating certificates.
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Growing a Food Forest Green Drinks KnoxvilleTuesday, 10 September 2024Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, 5:30 p.m. at Barrelhouse by Gypsy Circus (621 Lamar Street). RSVP on Facebook
Green Drinks Knoxville will host an in-depth discussion with Dave Maasberg on how he maintains his food forest including some rare heirloom apple varieties, figs, pears, blackberries and more. He will bring samples to try and fruits for purchase to savor at home.
Raised around agriculture and the vanishing small-scale, midwestern family farm, Dave has always held a special place for fruit trees and perennial plants. After a Foraging and Wild Edible Plants class at Indiana University, his desire to create a food forest and sustainable homestead quickly turned into a reality. After over 20 years of planting and maintaining various fruiting plants on a reclaimed hillside, he is excited to share his journey with us. He currently helps others with plantings, from small scale to larger projects.
Green Drinks Knoxville is a social and professional organization that convenes open-minded folks to encourage education and conversation about the environment, green technologies, sustainable lifestyles and more.
Our events are free and open to the public. We welcome all and support racial diversity, gender equality, and LGBTQ inclusivity.
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Edible Abundance Foodscapes @ Green Drinks Knoxville Green Drinks KnoxvilleMonday, 09 December 2024Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, 5:30 p.m. at Albright Grove Brewing Company (2924 Sutherland Ave, Knoxville TN). RSVP on Facebook
To round out this year of great guest speakers we are thrilled to bring on Daniel Aisenbrey, the founder of Edible Abundance Foodscapes. Come hear why every landscape can and should be a foodscape!
Get inspired by the story and experience of this great local initiative. Edible Abundance Foodscapes
For Daniel, it all started back in 2012 with a hatchback full of lumber, some borrowed tools and a passion for helping people grow food. In the decade since, Daniel has built on that passion by establishing farms and community gardens, fighting for food access in local government and even managing Knoxville’s top farmers’ market. In 2023, the culmination of that passion and experience burst from the soil as Edible Abundance Foodscapes! When he’s not building your new garden, Daniel (and partner, Beth) run Hey Moon Farm, a family farmstead for sheep, chickens, heirloom produce and two feral children. His favorite weird fruit are kiwiberries.
Green Drinks Knoxville is a social and professional organization that convenes open-minded folks to encourage education and conversation about the environment, green technologies, sustainable lifestyles and more.
Our events are free and open to the public. We welcome all and support racial diversity, gender equality and LGBTQ inclusivity.
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Pending state conservation deal would protect forest and water resources Cassandra StephensonMonday, 09 September 2024A man paddles down the main stem of the Wolf River in West Tennessee. The state is working to purchase 5,477 acres of forest land near Grand Junction from the Hobart Ames Foundation. The land is part of the Wolf River watershed. Wolf River Conservancy
The roughly 5,500-acre property features wetland forest used for research by the University of Tennessee
This article was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.
GRAND JUNCTION — About 60 miles east of Memphis near the Mississippi line, verdant hardwood trees and ecologically exceptional streams weave through thousands of acres of rolling hills.
The land is home to a diverse array of aquatic and terrestrial life, decades-old archaeological sites and a watershed that feeds into the aquifer where hundreds of thousands of Memphians source their drinking water.
If all goes to plan, 5,477 acres of this land will soon become Tennessee’s newest state forest, securing its preservation for posterity.
The land is a portion of the 18,400-acre historic Ames Plantation, a privately owned tract in Fayette and Hardeman Counties amassed by Massachusetts industrialist Hobart Ames in the early 1900s.
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Park service: Economic impact of Great Smoky Mountains National Park reaches new heights Katie LimingWednesday, 04 September 2024Fontana Resort, once the site of a Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps camp and now home to a comfortable, low-key lodging destination, has numerous relics and mementos from nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Included among them is this collection of badges indicating landmarks and completion of popular trails throughout the park. Visitors to areas close to the Smokies, such as Fontana Village, bring in an estimated $3 billion each year. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press
Cash-rich tourists flock to Smokies area; whether they set foot in the national park is a different story
Katie Liming is a public information officer at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
GATLINBURG — A new National Park Service report shows that 13.3 million visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2023 spent $2.2 billion in communities near the park. That spending supported 33,748 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $3.4 billion. (In 2020, albeit a year of peak COVID-19, that amount was $2 billion).
“People come to Great Smoky Mountains National Park to enjoy the scenic beauty and end up supporting local economies along the way,” said Superintendent Cassius Cash. “We’re proud to care for a national park that provides incredible opportunities for recreation but also creates jobs and positively contributes to local economies.”
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Calling all climbers (and hikers and bikers): Come help clean Obed crags National Park ServiceMonday, 02 September 2024The annual Obed Adopt-a-Crag event is set for Sept. 14 and will include access trail maintenance such as that performed here by volunteers at a previous event. National Park Service
WARTBURG — The East Tennessee Climbers Coalition and Obed Wild and Scenic River will host the park’s annual Adopt-a-Crag event on Saturday, Sep. 14 2024
Volunteers are needed to help with a variety of projects including general trail maintenance and litter pickup. Please meet at the Lilly Pad Hopyard Brewery, 920 Ridge Road, Lancing, at 10 a.m. to register and receive a project assignment. Due to limited parking, carpooling is suggested. Please bring your own lunch and water. Volunteers are also encouraged to bring hand tools, gloves, sunscreen, and insect repellant.
After completing their projects, volunteers are invited to spend the day climbing their favorite routes or enjoying other recreational opportunities in the park. Following the event, the ETCC will be hosting a volunteer appreciation event at the Lilly Pad.
Air
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State your case in local quest to reduce greenhouse gas emissions Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning OrganizationTuesday, 24 September 2024KNOXVILLE — The Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization seeks the public’s feedback on greenhouse gas emissions in East Tennessee. Take this brief survey and make your voice heard:
- The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete and covers topics like climate change, energy efficiency and transportation to shape ongoing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region. The survey is open through Sept. 30 at www.knoxbreathesurvey.com
- Residents of all nine counties within the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) — Knox, Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Grainger, Loudon, Morgan, Roane and Union — are encouraged to take the survey and make their voices heard.
- The Knoxville MSA was one of 82 metropolitan areas in the U.S. selected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to receive a planning grant to create a regional emission reduction plan as part of the agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program. “BREATHE” is the name for the Knoxville region’s CPRG initiative.
- More information on “BREATHE” can be found at knoxbreathe.org
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Nov. 2: Talk about the weather with NOAA scientists Thomas FraserTuesday, 17 September 2024This event was rescheduled from a previous date.
MORRISTOWN — The regional office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is hosting a free open house featuring tours, scientific discussions and chats with area forecasters intimate with the intricacies of Southern Appalachian weather.
Stop by the regional office, 5974 Commerce Blvd. in Morristown, any time between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2 to learn about the National Weather Service as a whole, tour operations and learn what a typical work day looks like at the weather-service office.
Highlights include chances to meet meteorologists and weather-service partner agencies; explanations of when and how severe weather alerts are issued; an introduction to weather radar and radio; hydrology discussions; and hands-on science activities for children.
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Join the Rally for the Valley 2.0 Thomas FraserFriday, 13 September 2024NASHVILLE — Join the rescheduled Rally for the Valley on Sept. 21 2024 at Centennial Park for a day filled with fun, music, learning and community spirit.
The rally, organized by the Clean Up TVA Coalition, which includes Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and other allies, calls on the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to stop its gas buildout and lead the way to a fossil-free future.
The decisions in front of TVA are significant. They will impact the health and safety of our communities, how much we pay to keep the lights on, and whether we meet our climate targets and achieve energy justice. We are mobilizing with communities from across Tennessee to urge TVA leaders to change course before its too late.
Are you in? Register today!
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Federal home energy rebate dollars are rolling out to states Cassandra StephensonTuesday, 03 September 2024The state of Tennessee will partner with the Tennessee Valley Authority to carry out a federal home energy efficiency rebate program that was included in the federal Inflation Reduction Act. Getty Images via Tennessee Lookout
What might Tennessee’s energy-efficiency rebate plan look like, and when?
This article was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.
NASHVILLE — More than $8 billion flagged for home energy rebates in the Inflation Reduction Act is beginning to trickle out of federal coffers, but Tennessee residents will likely have to wait until the spring of 2025 to start applying for their chunk of change.
Each state must shape its own plan to dole out the funding, which can put money residents spend on energy efficiency upgrades back into the households’ pockets if they meet certain requirements. New York and Wisconsin became the first states to begin offering federally funded home energy rebates to their residents in mid-August, two years after President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act and its many energy-focused subsidies into law.
In total, the rebate funds are expected to impact between 1 to 2 percent of households across the nation.
Tennessee submitted its application to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the more than $167 million earmarked for the state in mid-August. Tennessee’s 2025 rollout timeline largely depends on how quickly the DOE approves the state’s applications and when Tennessee can execute a contract with the Tennessee Valley Authority — its chosen implementer — to put the program into action.
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A climate scientist explains why Debby did us so dirty Mathew BarlowWednesday, 07 August 2024Hurricane Debby made landfall near the town of Steinhatchee, Florida, at 7 a.m. Aug. 5, 2024, as a Category 1 storm. As it moved northeast, the storm stalled over the U.S. Southeast and delivered torrential rainfall. Some areas of South Carolina and Georgia recorded more than 20 inches of rain as the storm crawled northeast toward a second landfall (this time as a strong tropical storm) near Myrtle Beach, S.C. NOAA
A warming climate means more water vapor, which means bigger and wetter tropical storms
(This story was originally published by The Conversation.)
Tropical Storm Debby was moving so slowly, Olympians could have outrun it as it moved across the Southeast in early August 2024. That gave its rainfall time to deluge cities and farms over large parts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. More than a foot of rain had fallen in some areas by early Aug. 7, with more days of rain forecast there and into the Northeast.
Mathew Barlow, a climate scientist at UMass Lowell, explains how storms like Debby pick up so much moisture, what can cause them to slow or stall and what climate change has to do with it.
What causes hurricanes to stall?
Hurricanes are steered by the weather systems they interact with, including other storms moving across the U.S. and the Bermuda High over the Atlantic Ocean.
A hurricane may be moving slowly because there are no weather systems close enough to pull the hurricane along, or there might be a high-pressure system to the north of the hurricane that blocks its forward movement. In this case, a high-pressure system over the western U.S. was slowing Debby’s forward progress and the Bermuda High — which is a large, clockwise circulation of winds that generally runs up the East Coast — wasn’t close enough to be a factor.
That’s similar to what happened with the remnants of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, one of the best-known examples of a stalled hurricane. High pressure over the U.S. blocked its forward movement, allowing it to drop more than 50 inches of rain on parts of Texas.
Slower-moving storms have longer to rain over the same area, and that can dramatically increase the risk of flooding, as the Southeast is experiencing with Debby.
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Tennessee Valley Authority faces a push to get greener and more transparent Robert ZulloFriday, 02 August 2024Nanette Mahler, left, and Tracy O’Neill walk along Macon Wall Road in Cheatham County, Tennessee, near the site of a proposed Tennessee Valley Authority gas power plant project. Local backlash against the proposal comes as the federal utility faces bipartisan legislation in Congress seeking to boost transparency in its planning process and scrutiny of TVA’s anemic renewable power growth compared to other utilities. Robert Zullo/States Newsroom
TVA ‘clearly a laggard’ in renewable energy
This article was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.
ASHLAND CITY — When he heard about the sale, Kerry McCarver was perplexed.
In 2020, the mayor of rural Cheatham County discovered that the Tennessee Valley Authority bought about 280 acres of rolling farmland “in the middle of nowhere” in his county, which lies just west of Nashville and is home to about 42,000 people.
He asked another county official who formerly worked for the TVA, the nation’s largest public power company, to find out what it planned to do with the land.
The answer they got was “future use,” and they speculated a solar farm might be in the works.
“It’s kind of the last we thought about it,” McCarver said during an interview in his office in May. “Then a year ago last summer, TVA called here needing a place to have a public meeting.”
The authority was now proposing a 900-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant, battery storage, pipelines and other associated infrastructure for the site, which came as a shock to McCarver and many other locals who felt it was wholly inappropriate for the area.
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Welcome to the Heat Dome Mathew Barlow and Jeffrey BasaraMonday, 08 July 2024An area of high pressure lingered in the upper atmosphere over the U.S. Midwest and Northeast in June 2024. This pushed warm air toward the surface and trapped it there—a weather phenomenon meteorologists call a heat dome. The heat wave reached the Southern Appalachians, as seen in this model generated from NASA Earth Observatory data. NASA
How climate change is heating up the weather, and what we can do about it
This article was originally published by The Conversation.
The heat wave that left more than 100 million people sweating across the eastern U.S. in June 2024 hit so fast and was so extreme that forecasters warned a flash drought could follow across wide parts of the region.
Prolonged high temperatures can quickly dry soils, triggering a rapid onset drought that can affect agriculture, water resources and energy supplies. Many regions under the June heat dome quickly developed abnormally dry conditions.
(The average temperature of June was about 7 degrees above normal in Knoxville as reported by Weather Underground).
The human impacts of the heat wave have also been widespread. In Ohio and Pennsylvania, emergency room visits for heat-related illnesses surged. Several Massachusetts schools without air conditioning closed to protect kids and teachers. In New York and New Jersey, electric wires sagged in the heat, shutting down trains into and out of New York City and leaving commuters stranded.
Water
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Nov. 2: Celebrate fish at the bird park — Sturgeonfest 2024 Thomas FraserWednesday, 25 September 2024This event was rescheduled from its original date.
KODAK — Take a break from football, grab the kayaks, get outside and join your friends and family for Sturgeonfest 2024 on the French Broad River!
The FREE celebration of the ancient fish, their lore and their future is set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 2 at Seven Islands State Birding Park boat ramp.
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Release a baby sturgeon into the French Broad River!
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Enjoy food from Kennedy Grill Food Truck, Crave Food Truck, Giddy Up Coffee Truck, Central Creamery, and the King of Pops!
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Enjoy music by the Tennessee Stifflegs!
To put a fish in the water, reserve a FREE ticket for everyone in your party for a specific time slot.
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Pending state conservation deal would protect forest and water resources Cassandra StephensonMonday, 09 September 2024A man paddles down the main stem of the Wolf River in West Tennessee. The state is working to purchase 5,477 acres of forest land near Grand Junction from the Hobart Ames Foundation. The land is part of the Wolf River watershed. Wolf River Conservancy
The roughly 5,500-acre property features wetland forest used for research by the University of Tennessee
This article was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.
GRAND JUNCTION — About 60 miles east of Memphis near the Mississippi line, verdant hardwood trees and ecologically exceptional streams weave through thousands of acres of rolling hills.
The land is home to a diverse array of aquatic and terrestrial life, decades-old archaeological sites and a watershed that feeds into the aquifer where hundreds of thousands of Memphians source their drinking water.
If all goes to plan, 5,477 acres of this land will soon become Tennessee’s newest state forest, securing its preservation for posterity.
The land is a portion of the 18,400-acre historic Ames Plantation, a privately owned tract in Fayette and Hardeman Counties amassed by Massachusetts industrialist Hobart Ames in the early 1900s.
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To beat them, eat them: Enjoy a carp po’boy during an invasive-species panel Thomas FraserThursday, 22 August 2024Invasive carp jumping from the water at Barkley Dam in Kentucky. One option for eliminating carp is to eat them, and you can do just that on Saturday in Knoxville. Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
Learn about invasive species such as carp and zebra mussels at Conservation Fisheries panel
KNOXVILLE —To hear Bo Baxter tell it, carp actually doesn’t taste half bad.
He fairly gorged on the bottom feeders once long ago, during a long Mississippi River trip with the famed aquatic biologist David Etnier.
He prefers silver carp to, say, bighead carp, but the meat is fairly light and flaky on both and “I consider it excellent,” Baxter said. (Baxter serves on the editorial board of Hellbender Press).
Regardless their culinary appeal, the fish don’t belong anywhere near here, and will be among several different invasive species set to be the subject of a forum beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23 at Remedy Coffee, 800 Tyson St., Knoxville.
And while you learn, you can enjoy a $5 carp po’boy and hushpuppies plate courtesy of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), which is working to both limit the spread and establish a robust commercial market for the fish. Payson will provide the bread and remoulade.
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Kayak fisherman drowns on Watauga River Tennessee Wildlife Resources AgencyWednesday, 14 August 2024ELIZABETHTON — A fisherman drowned in the Watauga River on Aug. 12 after his kayak capsized. The victim was not wearing a personal flotation device, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.According to TWRA wildlife officers, a 31-year-old man from Watauga and another male kayaker were fishing in separate kayaks around 9 a.m. when both individuals overturned in rough water about a half mile below Wilbur Dam. One was able to make it to shore and call 911.The missing angler’s body was recovered by Carter County Rescue and the Carter County Sheriff’s Office around 10:10 a.m. His identity was not immediately released.This marks the 15th boating-related fatality of the year in Tennessee waters, which TWRA is tasked with patrolling.
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Get on Little River for a day of summer fun, science and community Thomas FraserWednesday, 24 July 2024MARYVILLE — Come hang out on Little River with friends and family and learn about river life with the scientists and staff of Conservation Fisheries Inc. and Little River Watershed Association.
The educational fun kicks off at noon July 27 with the start of shuttled floats down Little River ending back at River Johns, 4134 Cave Mill Road. (Bring your own personal flotation device).
Guided snorkeling (masks and snorkels provided) in the river at River Johns begins at 3 p.m. The day wraps up with food from Tarik’s North African, or you can bring your own picnic.
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Fish on: First-time study links recreational fishing and nutrition David FlemingTuesday, 16 July 2024A new paper reveals the important role that inland fisheries play in providing affordable nutrition around the world. Illustration courtesy of Lakshita Dey via Virginia Tech
Under-reporting of economics of sustenance fishing is a social justice issue
David Fleming is a Virginia Tech writer and communications specialist.
BLACKSBURG — It is a sight of summer: Along the banks of rivers and streams throughout the Southeast, recreational fishers will cast lines into the water, hoping that a fish will take the bait. In urban towns and cities such as Roanoke or Charlottesville, the same lines dangle from bridges or freshwater wharfs.
All of these activities are currently catagorized as “recreational fishing,” but for many fishers in the U.S. and around the world, the act of fishing in freshwater is not a leisurely pursuit but a way to provide critical sustenance and nutrition for individuals, families and communities.
An expansive new paper, co-authored by Virginia Tech Assistant Professor Elizabeth Nyboer of the College of Natural Resources and Environment and published in the journal Nature Food, reveals the underrecognized extent that inland recreational fisheries provide food and nutrition to people as well as offers insight on their vulnerability to future climate challenges.
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Harpeth Conservancy fundraiser comes with dinner in a creek Thomas FraserTuesday, 09 July 2024KINGSTON SPRINGS — The 2024 Dinner IN the Creek, a fundraiser for the Harpeth Conservancy, will be nestled in the serene beauty of Bell’s Reserve in Kingston Springs. This hidden oasis, with over a mile of Harpeth River waterfront, offers a unique setting for the event in a charming spring-fed creek at the heart of the 600-acre property.
This year’s Dinner IN the Creek, sponsored by Amazon, is set for 6-9 p.m. July 23. Tickets are $500 and include a Hispanic-roots dinner from renowned chefs and live entertainment from Brother and the Hayes.
Harpeth Conservancy’s vision is clean water and healthy ecosystems for rivers in Tennessee championed by the people who live here.
Voices
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Don’t hate the diggers. Hate the ginseng game. Justin LawFriday, 13 September 2024A ginseng digger works a hollow somewhere in the Appalachians. Traditional ‘sangers’ generally follow centuries-old protocols for sustainable harvest of the plant and pose much less of a threat to ginseng than habitat destruction and extractive industry. Photos from American Folklife Collection/Library of Congress
Wild ginseng is declining, but small-scale ‘diggers’ aren’t the main threat to this native plant — and they can help save it
This article was originally published by The Conversation. Justine Law is an associate professor of Ecology and Environmental Studies at Sonoma State University.
KNOXVILLE — Across Appalachia, September marks the start of ginseng season, when thousands of people roam the hills searching for hard-to-reach patches of this highly prized plant.
Many people know ginseng as an ingredient in vitamin supplements or herbal tea. That ginseng is grown commercially on farms in Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada. In contrast, wild American ginseng is an understory plant that can live for decades in the forests of the Appalachians. The plant’s taproot grows throughout its life and sells for hundreds of dollars per pound, primarily to East Asian customers who consume it for health reasons.
Because it’s such a valuable medicinal plant, harvesting ginseng has helped families in mountainous regions of states such as Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Ohio weather economic ups and downs since the late 1700s.
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Photos: Glimpses of the old ways at Cherokee Fall Festival in Vonore Thomas FraserWednesday, 11 September 2024Scenes from the Cherokee Fall Festival, an annual celebration of Cherokee culture and history at the Sequoyah Museum in Vonore. Photos by Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press
A celebration of Cherokee people and the man who wrote their alphabet
VONORE — Flutes, dance, food and firearms were featured at the annual festival near the birthplace of a linguistic giant on the shore of the Little Tennessee River and the grounds of the Sequoyah Museum.
Cherokee dance, lore and storytelling communicated the rich story of the Native American nation, which was forcibly disbanded along with other indigenous residents of the Southern Appalachians under the administration of President Andrew Jackson. The main concentration of the tribe is now in Oklahoma, but the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians — including those whose ancestors resisted forced relocation — is now centered in Cherokee.
Sequoyah, born in nearby Toskegee in the Cherokee Nation circa 1770, developed an alphabet for the Cherokee language so it could be written and read, an astonishing feat to this day. By some accounts, the literacy rate of the then-fractured nation approached 100 percent soon after Sequoyah’s death in Mexico in 1843.
Most of Sequoyah’s community was destroyed and its culture imperiled by the invasion of the nation by federal forces after the sham Treaty of New Echota, named after the then-capital of the Cherokee Nation in north Georgia. The Cherokee and other regional tribes were rounded up in the late 1830s during an Army campaign under the command of Gen. Winfield Scott and forced upon the Trail of Tears.
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Editorial: As historic climate legislation turns two, the numbers don't lie Stephen SmithThursday, 05 September 2024The IRA’s clean-energy progress is clearest in our communities
Stephen Smith is executive director of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. He was a founder of the Foundation for Global Sustainability (FGS) and serves on the FGS board of directors. Hellbender Press is published by FGS.
KNOXVILLE — The largest climate investment legislation in U.S. history, the Inflation Reduction Act, celebrated its two-year anniversary in August: two years of reducing harmful pollution, of creating thousands of good-paying clean energy jobs, of welcoming billions of dollars in clean energy investments to the Southeast. The ways the IRA has and will continue to benefit our region and beyond are innumerable — and the numbers don’t lie.
The IRA’s progress is clearest here in our communities: between Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, 559,820 households received more than $1.3 billion in residential clean energy and energy-efficiency tax credits in tax year 2023. Real people are saving money and benefiting from the historic climate law every day — take it from seven SACE members, their IRA stories and the encouraging statistics mentioned here.
The reach of the IRA stretches beyond our homes — over 70,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations now dot the U.S., and federal tax credits on both new and used EVs have saved consumers over $1 billion so far this year alone. Last month, SACE released its updated 2024 Electrify the South Electric Transportation Toolkit to help guide decision-makers through this time of enormous opportunity.
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Editorial: Revoke North Carolina’s water regulatory authority Gray JerniganThursday, 29 August 2024EPA should take over water protections in face of hostile legislature
Gray Jernigan is deputy director and general counsel for MountainTrue.
RALEIGH — MountainTrue is committed to safeguarding the public water resources of Western North Carolina. Our mission to protect the health of our waterways and the well-being of our communities has never been more critical. However, the obstacles we now face have made it clear that the state cannot meet its obligations under the Clean Water Act.
Therefore, MountainTrue has joined the Southern Environmental Law Center, Cape Fear River Watch, Environmental Justice Community Action Network and the Haw River Assembly in filing a formal petition asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw North Carolina’s authority to regulate water pollution. This action is necessary because the state legislature has crippled the NC Department of Environmental Quality’s ability to protect our waterways, drinking water sources and communities from harmful pollution.
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Editorial: TVA executes sharp electric rate increase amid lack of transparency Southern Alliance for Clean EnergyWednesday, 21 August 2024A protestor holds a sign during a 2021 demonstration against TVA’s plans for continued fossil fuel use outside the federal utility’s headquarters in Knoxville. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press
KNOXVILLE — On Thursday, August 22, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Board of Directors will meet in Florence, Alabama to authorize a 5.25 percent electric power rate increase without any public documentation showing why the increase is needed or how those additional revenues will be spent. This rate increase amounts to approximately a staggering half-a-billion-dollar increase for Tennessee Valley ratepayers. Only in the Tennessee Valley could a major utility raise rates without public scrutiny of financial documents.
The 5.25 percent rate increase coupled with last year’s 4.5 percent electric rate increase is strategically set just below a 10 percent threshold that would trigger renegotiation of hundreds of power supply agreements with local utilities. But even with this rate increase, TVA is still racking up debt at a rate not seen in decades.
Based on documents over a year old at this point, we can only guess what is driving TVA’s current financial woes: the largest buildout of fossil gas in the country this decade. These new fossil gas pipelines and power plants aren’t cheap, and TVA’s plan to increase reliance on gas is risky. Families and businesses across the Valley will see increased bills when gas prices rise again and as these new gas power plants become obsolete in just a few short years.
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Researchers use environmental justice questions to reveal geographic biases in ChatGPT David FlemingTuesday, 09 April 2024A U.S. map shows counties where residents could (blue) or could not (pink) receive local-specific information about environmental justice issues. Photo courtesy of Junghwan Kim via Virginia Tech.
Key findings indicate limitations of AI, suggest improvements
David Fleming is a communications specialist at Virginia Tech.
BLACKSBURG — Virginia Tech researchers have discovered limitations in ChatGPT’s capacity to provide location-specific information about environmental justice issues. Their findings, published in the journal Telematics and Informatics, suggest the potential for geographic biases existing in current generative artificial intelligence (AI) models.
ChatGPT is a large-language model developed by OpenAI Inc., an artificial intelligence research organization. ChatGPT is designed to understand questions and generate text responses based on requests from users. The technology has a wide range of applications from content creation and information gathering to data analysis and language translation.
A county-by-county overview
“As a geographer and geospatial data scientist, generative AI is a tool with powerful potential,” said Assistant Professor Junghwan Kim of the College of Natural Resources and Environment. “At the same time, we need to investigate the limitations of the technology to ensure that future developers recognize the possibilities of biases. That was the driving motivation of this research.”
Utilizing a list of the 3,108 counties in the contiguous United States, the research group asked the ChatGPT interface to answer a prompt asking about the environmental justice issues in each county. The researchers selected environmental justice as a topic to expand the range of questions typically used to test the performance of generative AI tools. Asking questions by county allowed the researchers to measure ChatGPT responses against sociodemographic considerations such as population density and median household income.
No joke: Comic Vasu Primlani starts her job as Knoxville’s new Director of Sustainability on April 1st 2024 Hellbender PressMonday, 01 April 2024
Creature Features
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Beat the winter blues at Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge Thomas FraserFriday, 24 January 2025PIGEON FORGE — Learn about the culture and ecology of the Southern Appalachians from a warm hotel and conference center, and then get outside and keep learning during the annual knowledge-fest that is Wilderness Wildlife Week.
This year’s event is set for Jan. 28-Feb. 1 at The Ramsey Hotel and Convention Center, 3230 Parkway in Pigeon Forge.
Come celebrate the natural features, creatures and cultures of the Great Smoky Mountains. This year, we’ll be inviting some of the leading wildlife experts to lead informative discussions with you. Writers, artists, photographers, musicians, biologists and naturalist will entertain and inform. This is a great opportunity to learn and ask questions about nature.
Wilderness Wildlife Week celebrates the abundance of wildlife, variety of plants, trees and wildflowers, and the rich history of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee through a series of classes, seminars, demonstrations, guided hikes, panel discussions and workshops.
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Save our salamanders: Shoot wild swine in Big South Fork for $5 Daniel BanksTuesday, 17 September 2024Wild hogs root in a sensitive area in Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. National Park Service
Tennessee side of Big South Fork best for hunting invasive hogs
Daniel Banks is a public information officer at Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.
ONEIDA — Deer hunting season opened in Kentucky on Sept. 7 and opens in Tennessee on Sept. 28. During these big game seasons, wild hogs may be harvested by licensed hunters with the appropriate weapon that is legal for that specific season.
There is also an extended hog hunting season that lasts from the end of the deer season until the end of February with a weapon that is approved by that state for harvesting big game.
The wild hog is an invasive exotic species that has a significant negative impact on native species and do a great deal of damage to farmlands and residential areas. The damage they cause threatens park resources, including federally listed plants. (Their rooting also damages salamander and other amphibian habitat).
(Check out this video of natural pest control: A bear eating a hog in Great Smoky Mountains National Park).
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Don’t hate the diggers. Hate the ginseng game. Justin LawFriday, 13 September 2024A ginseng digger works a hollow somewhere in the Appalachians. Traditional ‘sangers’ generally follow centuries-old protocols for sustainable harvest of the plant and pose much less of a threat to ginseng than habitat destruction and extractive industry. Photos from American Folklife Collection/Library of Congress
Wild ginseng is declining, but small-scale ‘diggers’ aren’t the main threat to this native plant — and they can help save it
This article was originally published by The Conversation. Justine Law is an associate professor of Ecology and Environmental Studies at Sonoma State University.
KNOXVILLE — Across Appalachia, September marks the start of ginseng season, when thousands of people roam the hills searching for hard-to-reach patches of this highly prized plant.
Many people know ginseng as an ingredient in vitamin supplements or herbal tea. That ginseng is grown commercially on farms in Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada. In contrast, wild American ginseng is an understory plant that can live for decades in the forests of the Appalachians. The plant’s taproot grows throughout its life and sells for hundreds of dollars per pound, primarily to East Asian customers who consume it for health reasons.
Because it’s such a valuable medicinal plant, harvesting ginseng has helped families in mountainous regions of states such as Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Ohio weather economic ups and downs since the late 1700s.
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Preservation of Hamblen County property protects the seldom-seen Tennessee trillium TennGreen Land ConservancyTuesday, 27 August 2024Tennessee trillium is among the beneficiaries of a partnership between the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the land conservancy TennGreen that protected the rare flower’s limited habitat in Hamblen County, Tenn. Photo illustration courtesy of TennGreen
60-acre Union Grove acquisition marks first protection of imperiled Tennessee trillium, unknown to scientists until only 2013
MORRISTOWN — In May 2023, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) alerted TennGreen Land Conservancy that a 60-acre swath of land nestled in the forests of Hamblen County known as Union Grove was for sale in East Tennessee. Most interestingly: The property contains some of the only known populations of a native trillium that were described for the first time only 20 years ago.
Union Grove’s owner first alerted University of Tennessee botanists and researchers to the unusual trillium in hopes of safeguarding both the wildflowers and the forests they live within. The botanists realized the trillium was nothing they nor other botanists had encountered and described it as “new to science” in 2013. To date, the Tennessee trillium (Trillium tennesseense) has only been found in the Bays Mountain formation areas in Hamblen and Hawkins counties.
Until this successful collaboration, Trillium tennesseense existed only in private, unprotected areas such as the project landowner’s property. The landowner was moving out of Tennessee, and wished to sell their property to an organization that would value it and seek to protect its incredible habitat. TennGreen Land Conservancy stepped in to quickly acquire the property.
TennGreen then transferred the property to TDEC in June 2024.
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Mountain monarchs inspired Wanda DeWaard’s legacy of citizen science Élan YoungMonday, 26 August 2024Wanda DeWaard has spent 30 years studying and tagging monarch butterflies. Here she leads a volunteer group of citizen scientists tagging monarchs in Cades Cove. Photos courtesy of Wanda DeWaard
Successful Smokies monarch tagging project is a product of the people
Every winter, way up in the oyumel firs in Mexico’s high elevation forests, millions of North American monarch butterflies that have traveled from as far north as Canada cluster in colonies to overwinter before flying north again to lay eggs in spring. Tens of thousands of monarchs might adorn a single tree like a papery gown, sometimes weighing it down enough to break off branches.
To get to the oyumel forests several miles above sea level, which provide a perfect microclimate for the weary travelers, they migrate south using different aerial paths, or flyways, that merge together over Central Texas. This migrating generation can live up to nine months and might travel anywhere from 1,000-3,000 miles to the forests they seek, yet have never been to. Mysteriously, they find their way and sometimes even make it to the exact tree where their ancestors four or five generations back once clustered.
Monarchs are the only butterfly that makes a long two-way migration. Despite much research on the species, science still hasn’t fully unraveled the secrets of their incredibly accurate homing system. This makes them one of the true marvels of the natural world.
A tagged monarch feeds on nectar in the Great Smokies before joining the migration to Mexico for the winter.
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Aquatic rescuers help laurel dace dodge a drought on Walden Ridge Casey PhillipsFriday, 23 August 2024Tennessee Aquarium VP and Chief Conservation and Education Officer Dr. Anna George, right, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Conservation Delivery Coordinator Geoff Call collect critically endangered laurel dace from a stream ravaged by a prolonged drought on the Cumberland Plateau. The rescue successfully relocated 105 adults into human care at the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute’s headquarters near downtown Chattanooga. Photos by Doug Strickland/Tennessee Aquarium
Drought prompts emergency rescue of one of America’s most endangered aquatic species
Casey Phillips is a writer for the Tennessee Aquarium.
CHATTANOOGA — Few things trigger louder or more distressing alarm bells among freshwater biologists than watching a waterway dry up during a severe, prolonged drought. That’s especially true when the disappearing stream is home to one of America’s most imperiled fish.
In late July, reports of dramatically withered streams atop Walden Ridge north of Chattanooga spurred an emergency rescue operation to prevent the extinction of the federally endangered laurel dace, which scientists consider to be among the 10 most at-risk fish in North America.
This effort was carried out by representatives from the Tennessee Aquarium, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the University of Georgia’s River Basin Center in coordination with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. In all, 105 adult laurel dace were removed from dangerously dry streams and successfully relocated to the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute (TNACI) near downtown Chattanooga.
All but one of the collected fish survived the relocation and are now thriving in temporary human care, where they will remain until conditions in their few native streams are sufficiently improved for them to be returned safely.
This laurel dace (Chrosomus saylori) was among dozens other collected from a stream on Walden Ridge north of Chattanooga to save the fish from drought. In the last 12 years, this minnow’s range has drastically dwindled to just two streams, and scientists consider it one of North America’s 10 most imperiled fish species.
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Ijams pays homage to our flying friends at science soiree Thomas FraserTuesday, 20 August 2024The live animal shows and educational lectures were a big draw during the annual Ijams Nature Center Hummingbird Festival held Aug. 17 at the center in Knoxville. Photos by John White/phocasso for Hellbender Press
Annual Hummingbird Festival showcases Appalachia’s airborne denizens
KNOXVILLE — Jane Willard loves it when people put a name to the face of a butterfly. Or a bird. Or a bat.She and Sarah Parker were crewing a booth of natural relics on Aug. 19 at the 2024 Hummingbird Festival at Ijams Nature Center, an annual celebration of all winged things.Their display of items from the Ijams collection ranged from fierce and sharp owl talons to carefully curated moth and butterfly collections and a somewhat forlorn version of a long-gone little brown bat rendered relatively immortal by a long-gone taxidermist.Passersby, their interests piqued, stopped and chatted in the humid late-summer morning. Some recognized butterflies and moths that had formerly forever remained nameless in their minds. Connections were made.“People love stopping by,” and getting hands-on with native flora and fauna, said Willard, an AmeriCorps member who typically works on urban water quality issues with the Water Quality Forum.Children learn about the four seasons during one of many immersive educational activities available during the Aug. 17 Hummingbird Festival at Ijams Nature Center.
Hunt mushrooms in the Smokies for the 2024 Continental Mycoblitz Thomas FraserThursday, 15 August 2024This event was postponed on a previous date.
GATLINBURG — Partner with Discover Life in America to find and collect mushrooms and fungi specimens for identification and DNA sequencing and learn more about the diversity of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Register here for the event, set for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 16 at Twin Creeks, 1316 Cherokee Orchard Road in Gatlinburg.
The fungi roundup is in conjunction with the Summer 2024 Continental Mycoblitz, a continentwide fungi data-collection project.
Expect a 1-2 mile easy to moderate hike. Email Jaimie Matzko, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., for more information.
Events
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2025 Keep Knoxville Beautiful Annual Summit
6th Annual Summit on February 7, 2025!
Is it hot in here or is it just the infrastructure? How we develop a city can either keep it cool or create intense heat pockets. Join us as we learn from experts about the necessity of building a heat resilient city where we can continue to live, work and play. We hope to see you for a day of learning!Lunch will be included for all attendees from Brown Bag.
There is a limited number of tickets available. We anticipate this event selling out, so get your ticket while you can!
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Hop on a call to start planning Amphibian Week
Join an engaging webinar to jumpstart planning for Amphibian Week 2025, which highlights the diversity and ecological importance of amphibians while exploring ways to support their conservation.
The annual hopalong, set for May 4-10, is organized by Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation.
The event is highly collaborative in nature; anyone from scientists to teachers and regular citizens can celebrate amphibians during the week, which will feature different themes each day. PARC is hosting a planning webinar at 3 p.m. Jan 30.
According to organizers, the call will discuss the significance of Amphibian Week, its history and the urgent need to protect these fascinating creatures. Get a first look at the 2025 theme, “Masters of Two Worlds,” along with exciting activities and success stories from last year. Learn how to get involved, access valuable resources and collaborate. Register for the Zoom call.
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KCM Knoxville Community Media Engagement Calendar
Knoxville Community Media (KCM)
KCM’s Community Engagement Calendar provides information about both, date-specific events and the regular programs & services provided by nonprofit organizations.
Many people still think it is necessary to have a TV cable connection to watch community TV programs. But that’s old history.
One does not even need to be in the City of Knoxville or anywhere near it, nor have a TV set anymore.
Feedbag
Your diet of environment and science news
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February Green Drinks meetup highlights TennGreen
KNOXVILLE —Meet representatives of a budding land conservancy and raise a glass and network to support conservation.
This month’s installment of Green Drinks Knoxville, is set for 7-8 p.m. Feb. 12 at Albright Grove Brewing Company, 2924 Sutherland Ave.
This meetup Knoxville features TennGreen Land Conservancy Executive Director Alice Hudson Pell, and Matthew McClanahan, East Tennessee vice president. They will share share updates on current projects and the 2024-2029 Strategic Plan.
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Park service crews to remove hazardous trees from Cades Cove; road closures planned
A view of a greening Cades Cove as seen from Loop Road in mid-March 2016. Great Smoky Mountains National Park crews will remove hazardous trees from the cove over the last weeks of January. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press
TOWNSEND — Great Smoky Mountains National Park will remove hazard trees in Cades Cove Jan. 20-Jan. 24. This includes removing brush from the side of the road to keep vegetation from hitting passing vehicles and removing all hazard trees that could fall onto the road.This process requires the use of heavy equipment. In order to ensure visitor safety, the park will close Cades Cove Loop Road the morning of Jan. 20 through noon on Jan. 24. Cades Cove will reopen to the public over the weekend, weather permitting. If further work is necessary, the loop road will close again on Jan. 27.The park will bring in extra crews to complete this process as quickly as possible and appreciates the cooperation of the public as we make Cades Cove safer for all visitors.As always, please refer to the park’s Current Conditions page for the most up to date information on road conditions.
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NOAA’s Teek and Tom bring fun and free science to classrooms and homes
It’s all about the ocean-weather-climate connection!
Join intrepid student explorer Teek from planet Queloz and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) climate scientist Tom Di Liberto as they explore planet Earth’s weather and climate. This five-part science series covers a range of scientific topics, including how the ocean influences weather and climate on Earth, and the technologies scientists use to gather information about our planet and its changing climate.
Each episode is supplemented by two lesson plans designed for students in the fourth through sixth grades — all of which are compiled in a single Educator’s Guide. Each lesson allows students to explore and investigate NOAA data, visualizations and content, allowing them to build knowledge of and skills associated with important Earth science concepts.
An understanding of how the Earth works as a system and how humans interact with the Earth is important for all inhabitants of our planet. Teek and Tom are a fun and engaging way to grow that understanding!
Teek and Tom: Educator’s Guide
The Teek and Tom Educator’s Guide includes 10 lesson plans — two supplementing each episode. The lessons allow students to build knowledge of and skills associated with important Earth science concepts. Through the exploration and investigation of NOAA data, visualizations, and content, the lessons support the videos in telling a cohesive story of key Earth systems, and how those systems impact each other.
Each lesson is aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), national standards for math, national standards for English and language arts, and the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards. These standards reinforce the interdisciplinary nature of ocean, weather and climate studies, and support the teaching of these topics. The lessons engage students in content that is locally relevant; and use the 5E model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) to provide a structure for students to connect science ideas with their own experiences, and apply their learning to new contexts.
To access this high-caliber, free science lesson, download the educator’s guide.
Action Alerts
Action Alerts
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Celebrate the importance of bats
Oct. 24 - 31, everybody is encouraged to learn about bats and get involved in their conservation. National Park Service
An excellent time to celebrate bats
ASHEVILLE — Last year, the public was invited to “Bats N Brews” in honor of Bat Week at Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. This year we have not heard yet of any event to celebrate bat week in the southern Appalachians. Who will step up this year? Please let us know of any related activities. Or at least celebrate with family and friends. This article includes great recipes, too.
Bat Week is an international, annual celebration designed to raise awareness about the need for bat conservation. Bats are vital to the health of our natural world and economy. Although we may not always see them, bats are hard at work all around the world each night — eating tons of insects, pollinating flowers, and spreading seeds that grow new plants and trees.
ES! Initiatives
ES! Initiatives
Do you have an idea that protects the natural environment, improves community livability, cares for future generations or strengthens the integrity of Mother Earth’s life support systems? Here we present examples of what others are accomplishing already or striving to work out.
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New register based at University of Tennessee crowns U.S. champion trees
The 2024 National Champion Tree Register features the largest documented trees across the U.S. such as the National Champion Sitka Spruce, which people can see in Olympic National Park in Washington. Brian Kelley via American Forests
Beginning in February, citizen scientists and others can help catalog our biggest trees
Katie Donaldson is a communications specialist for the University of Tennessee School of Natural Resources.
KNOXVILLE — The National Champion Tree Program (NCTP) announced its first Register of Champion Trees since 2021. The program moved from American Forests to the University of Tennessee School of Natural Resources in 2023 and has spent the past year working with state-level Champion Tree programs across the U.S. to update outdated records and verify the newly crowned champions.
“We are thrilled beyond measure to share the list of the largest documented trees in the United States,” Jaq Payne, NCTP director, said. “These trees are more than just numbers on a website. They’re living, breathing members of our community. I hope this register encourages folks to start looking at the trees around them with fresh eyes.”Payne announced the new register and NCTP Data Management System at the program’s Root Ball at the UT Conference Center in downtown Knoxville on Jan. 18. The register started as a short list of 77 big trees in the April 1941 edition of American Forests magazine. By 2021, it had grown to 562 Champion Trees across the country.
Anyone can access the new data management system through the program’s website. There you can find Champion Trees for different species, see the trees’ measurements and read the cultural importance of the trees, if known. “We wanted to create an experience that includes the rich history of these individuals,” Payne added. The program is still collecting the trees’ histories and would appreciate any help from community members.
Champion Trees are identified based on a point system including the trunk circumference, height and average crown spread. After members of the public nominate trees, the NCTP works with state coordinators to verify the submissions and their measurements. Verified trees are then added to the data management system. National Champion Trees are crowned once every two years and must be re-verified every 10 years.
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A hidden prairie treasure comes to light in East Tennessee
Whorled rosinweed is among the many types of native grassland plants that emerged from a clearcut. The property in Meigs County near Georgetown is now protected in part by the Foothills Land Conservancy. Shelby Lyn Sanders
FLC biologist makes an unexpected discovery in Georgetown, Tenn.
Shelby Lyn Sanders is director of natural resources for the Blount County-based Foothills Land Conservancy.
GEORGETOWN — What started as a simple search for a peaceful retreat turned into an extraordinary ecological discovery.
When Mr. Owen purchased his land near Georgetown, he was looking for a place to hunt, hike and escape city life. Little did he know he’d become the guardian of one of Tennessee’s rare prairie gems.
The property’s true identity emerged when the Foothills Land Conservancy’s director of natural resources (the author of this piece) spotted something remarkable during her first visit — prairie dock, a telltale sign of native grassland heritage. This wasn’t just any piece of land; it was a lost prairie awakening from decades of forest cover, less than a half mile from the historic Gunstocker Glade along Highway 58.
The timing was perfect. A 2022 clearcut had inadvertently liberated this sleeping prairie, allowing it to breathe and bloom for the first time in generations. By its second year, the land burst into life, revealing an astonishing diversity that had laid dormant for years.
Here’s an aerial view of the Owen property in Meigs County northeast of Chattanooga on the eastern Cumberland Plateau escarpment. Native prairie plants emerged from the site of a clearcut, yielding a surprisingly vital piece of prairie. Shelby Lyn Sanders
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Learn about using your forest as a carbon sink
KNOXVILLE — The next installment of Conservation on Tap is set for 7 p.m. Jan. 8 at Albright Grove Brewing Company, 2924 Sutherland Ave., Knoxville.
Join forester Sean Bowers to learn about the Family Forest Carbon Program, a partnership between the American Forest Foundation and The Nature Conservancy. The program allows owners of small tracts of forest access to carbon markets, empowering them to improve the health and wellbeing of their forests and help tackle climate change.
All proceeds from Conservation on Tap benefit Discover Life in America.
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Edible Abundance Foodscapes @ Green Drinks Knoxville
Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, 5:30 p.m. at Albright Grove Brewing Company (2924 Sutherland Ave, Knoxville TN). RSVP on Facebook
To round out this year of great guest speakers we are thrilled to bring on Daniel Aisenbrey, the founder of Edible Abundance Foodscapes. Come hear why every landscape can and should be a foodscape!
Get inspired by the story and experience of this great local initiative. Edible Abundance Foodscapes
For Daniel, it all started back in 2012 with a hatchback full of lumber, some borrowed tools and a passion for helping people grow food. In the decade since, Daniel has built on that passion by establishing farms and community gardens, fighting for food access in local government and even managing Knoxville’s top farmers’ market. In 2023, the culmination of that passion and experience burst from the soil as Edible Abundance Foodscapes! When he’s not building your new garden, Daniel (and partner, Beth) run Hey Moon Farm, a family farmstead for sheep, chickens, heirloom produce and two feral children. His favorite weird fruit are kiwiberries.
Green Drinks Knoxville is a social and professional organization that convenes open-minded folks to encourage education and conversation about the environment, green technologies, sustainable lifestyles and more.
Our events are free and open to the public. We welcome all and support racial diversity, gender equality and LGBTQ inclusivity.
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Park service opens trail to forever in Great Smokies
A trail crew takes a breather after laboring on the Ramsey Cascades Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Crew members and park officials formally opened the rehabilitated trail this week after three years of work. National Park Service
Radically enhanced Ramsey Cascades Trail leads to national park’s highest waterfall
Dave Barak is a public affairs specialist with the National Park Service.
GATLINBURG — In collaboration with Friends of the Smokies, the National Park Service (NPS) completed a three-year restoration of the Ramsey Cascades Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Located in the Greenbrier area, this popular trail ascends through beautiful hardwood forests to the 105-foot Ramsey Cascades, the tallest waterfall in the park. The trail is now open seven days a week following an extensive reconstruction and rehabilitation.
The NPS and Friends of the Smokies celebrated the milestone at the Ramsey Cascades trailhead. Following remarks and a ribbon-cutting, several participants hiked the newly restored trail together.
Improvements to the Ramsey Cascades Trail include:
— Two new footlog bridges.— New decking and handrails on a 20-foot hiker bridge.— 151 trail drains.— More than 600 new steps for hiker safety and erosion control.— Regrading of 2.5 miles of trail surface for improved safety and better trail drainage.— Removal of tripping hazards, including roots and rocks.— Pruning of overgrown vegetation in the trail corridor to improve the hiking experience and allow the trail to better dry.Throughout this rehabilitation, the NPS restored Ramsey Cascades — with the original trail design in mind — in a way that blends in with the natural landscape. Trail crew members used natural materials and hand tools and transported most tools and equipment by hand or pack mule. A helicopter delivered several loads to five drop sites that the mule team could not access. The trail crew used 1,200 black locust logs and 760,000 pounds of rock crush for fill for this rehabilitation.
Crews had to carry many materials and tools to the site by hand or mule. National Park Service
“Trails Forever is an excellent example of the collaborative partnership between Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Friends of the Smokies,” said Boone Vandzura, Acting Deputy Superintendent. “Together we’ve preserved and rehabilitated trails that enhance the recreational experience of millions of visitors.”
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Growing a Food Forest
Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, 5:30 p.m. at Barrelhouse by Gypsy Circus (621 Lamar Street). RSVP on Facebook
Green Drinks Knoxville will host an in-depth discussion with Dave Maasberg on how he maintains his food forest including some rare heirloom apple varieties, figs, pears, blackberries and more. He will bring samples to try and fruits for purchase to savor at home.
Raised around agriculture and the vanishing small-scale, midwestern family farm, Dave has always held a special place for fruit trees and perennial plants. After a Foraging and Wild Edible Plants class at Indiana University, his desire to create a food forest and sustainable homestead quickly turned into a reality. After over 20 years of planting and maintaining various fruiting plants on a reclaimed hillside, he is excited to share his journey with us. He currently helps others with plantings, from small scale to larger projects.
Green Drinks Knoxville is a social and professional organization that convenes open-minded folks to encourage education and conversation about the environment, green technologies, sustainable lifestyles and more.
Our events are free and open to the public. We welcome all and support racial diversity, gender equality, and LGBTQ inclusivity.
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Editorial: As historic climate legislation turns two, the numbers don't lie
The IRA’s clean-energy progress is clearest in our communities
Stephen Smith is executive director of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. He was a founder of the Foundation for Global Sustainability (FGS) and serves on the FGS board of directors. Hellbender Press is published by FGS.
KNOXVILLE — The largest climate investment legislation in U.S. history, the Inflation Reduction Act, celebrated its two-year anniversary in August: two years of reducing harmful pollution, of creating thousands of good-paying clean energy jobs, of welcoming billions of dollars in clean energy investments to the Southeast. The ways the IRA has and will continue to benefit our region and beyond are innumerable — and the numbers don’t lie.
The IRA’s progress is clearest here in our communities: between Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, 559,820 households received more than $1.3 billion in residential clean energy and energy-efficiency tax credits in tax year 2023. Real people are saving money and benefiting from the historic climate law every day — take it from seven SACE members, their IRA stories and the encouraging statistics mentioned here.
The reach of the IRA stretches beyond our homes — over 70,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations now dot the U.S., and federal tax credits on both new and used EVs have saved consumers over $1 billion so far this year alone. Last month, SACE released its updated 2024 Electrify the South Electric Transportation Toolkit to help guide decision-makers through this time of enormous opportunity.
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Calling all climbers (and hikers and bikers): Come help clean Obed crags
The annual Obed Adopt-a-Crag event is set for Sept. 14 and will include access trail maintenance such as that performed here by volunteers at a previous event. National Park Service
WARTBURG — The East Tennessee Climbers Coalition and Obed Wild and Scenic River will host the park’s annual Adopt-a-Crag event on Saturday, Sep. 14 2024
Volunteers are needed to help with a variety of projects including general trail maintenance and litter pickup. Please meet at the Lilly Pad Hopyard Brewery, 920 Ridge Road, Lancing, at 10 a.m. to register and receive a project assignment. Due to limited parking, carpooling is suggested. Please bring your own lunch and water. Volunteers are also encouraged to bring hand tools, gloves, sunscreen, and insect repellant.
After completing their projects, volunteers are invited to spend the day climbing their favorite routes or enjoying other recreational opportunities in the park. Following the event, the ETCC will be hosting a volunteer appreciation event at the Lilly Pad.
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Mountain monarchs inspired Wanda DeWaard’s legacy of citizen science
Wanda DeWaard has spent 30 years studying and tagging monarch butterflies. Here she leads a volunteer group of citizen scientists tagging monarchs in Cades Cove. Photos courtesy of Wanda DeWaard
Successful Smokies monarch tagging project is a product of the people
Every winter, way up in the oyumel firs in Mexico’s high elevation forests, millions of North American monarch butterflies that have traveled from as far north as Canada cluster in colonies to overwinter before flying north again to lay eggs in spring. Tens of thousands of monarchs might adorn a single tree like a papery gown, sometimes weighing it down enough to break off branches.
To get to the oyumel forests several miles above sea level, which provide a perfect microclimate for the weary travelers, they migrate south using different aerial paths, or flyways, that merge together over Central Texas. This migrating generation can live up to nine months and might travel anywhere from 1,000-3,000 miles to the forests they seek, yet have never been to. Mysteriously, they find their way and sometimes even make it to the exact tree where their ancestors four or five generations back once clustered.
Monarchs are the only butterfly that makes a long two-way migration. Despite much research on the species, science still hasn’t fully unraveled the secrets of their incredibly accurate homing system. This makes them one of the true marvels of the natural world.
A tagged monarch feeds on nectar in the Great Smokies before joining the migration to Mexico for the winter.
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Get plugged in to the facts about electric vehicles during SACE webinar
KNOXVILLE — You’re invited to join a Southern Alliance for Clean Energy webinar, “Understanding EVs: Real People Share Real Stories of Electrifying Their Ride,” at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 29.
A panel of electric vehicle (EV) owners and drivers will share stories and insights from their experiences with EVs. Learn more about what it’s like to own, charge, travel and save money with an EV, plus hear advice from real people who have gone electric! Panelists for this webinar will include:
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EVNoire Associate Director Tarique André Miller, on EV charging levels and networks, best practices on charging, maintenance cost savings, plus EV incentives and opportunities for all
- SACE Electric Transportation Equity Manager Madelyn Collins and East Tennessee Clean Fuels Community Engagement Liaison Wesleigh Wright, on what they learned about EV range and community charging during their first ever EV road trip
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SACE volunteer Sara Vinson, on purchasing an EV, using federal tax credits to save money on an EV, and benefiting from the low maintenance of EVs (including her vow to never get an oil change again!)
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As climate threats to agriculture mount, could the Mississippi River delta be the next California?
Michael Katrutsa walks through rows of tomatoes on his 20-acre produce farm in Camden, Tennessee. His crops also include sweet corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, peppers, cucumbers, okra and more. John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout
Specialty crops take root as models emerge of American agriculture dominated by Delta
This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation. It was originally published by Tennessee Lookout.
CAMDEN — A smorgasbord of bright red tomatoes and vibrant vegetables line the walls of Michael Katrutsa’s produce shop in rural Camden, Tennessee. What began a decade ago as a roadside farm stand is now an air-conditioned outbuilding packed with crates of watermelon, cantaloupe and his locally renowned sweet corn — all picked fresh by a handful of local employees each morning.
The roughly 20-acre farm west of the Tennessee River sells about half of its produce through his shop, with the rest going to the wholesale market.
Farms like Katrutsa’s make up just a sliver of roughly 10.7 million acres of Tennessee farmland largely dominated by hay, soybeans, corn and cotton. Specialized machines help farmers harvest vast quantities of these commodity “row crops,” but Katrutsa said the startup cost was too steep for him. While specialty crops like produce are more labor-intensive, requiring near-constant attention from early July up until the first frost in October, Katrutsa said he takes pride in feeding his neighbors.
The World Wildlife Fund sees farms in the mid-Mississippi delta as ripe with opportunity to become a new mecca for commercial-scale American produce. California currently grows nearly three-quarters of the nation’s fruits and nuts and more than a third of its vegetables.
But as climate change compounds the threats of water scarcity, extreme weather and wildfires on California’s resources, WWF’s Markets Institute is exploring what it would take for farmers in West Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas to embrace — and equitably profit from — specialty crop production like strawberries, lettuce or walnuts.
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Bruderhof manufactures sustainable community in Monroe County
Hiwassee Bruderhof builds vermicomposting equipment at its manufacturing facility on the grounds of what was Hiwassee College in Monroe County, Tennessee. Hiwassee Products
Intentional Christian community settles into old Hiwassee College campus
HIWASSEE — We gathered in the old Hiwassee College theater to see “Common Ground” and hear from one of the farmers featured in the film.
Members of the new Bruderhof (from the German word, a place of brothers) community in Monroe County sat with us for the screening.
A few folks asked me: “Are you a farmer?”
“No, I am a United Methodist pastor,” I replied. The community is on the old Hiwassee College campus. The Holston Conference closed the college in 2019 and then sold the property to the Bruderhof in 2021
One older gentleman said, “I hoped to sit with a farmer.” I understood that. The community, in addition to being a self-supporting Christian Intentional Community, hoped to sell some of its new equipment to local farmers. Hobby gardeners, like me, would not want to invest the money in the new tools being offered.
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Youth Conservation Corps team tends to Obed trails
A Youth Conservation Corps team performs trail maintenance at Obed Wild and Scenic River during a summer YCC program at the park. National Park Service
WARTBURG — 2024’s Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) team at the Obed Wild and Scenic River spent their summer working to maintain and enhance hiking trails. The YCC is a paid summer work program for youth ages 15-18 on federally managed lands. Since its inception in 1970, the YCC has introduced young Americans to conservation opportunities on public lands.
This year’s YCC team members include Lydia Barnett from Gateway Christian School, Emma Foust from Anderson County High School and Jimmy Hall, Haylee Morgan and Joshua Stedman from Wartburg Central High School.
Youth Conservation Corps members engage in activities that restore, rehabilitate and repair the natural, cultural and historical resources within federally preserved areas. The crew is led by National Park Service staff, who provide transportation, supervision, training and education. Students acquire basic trade skills and learn about cultural and environmental topics, fostering a sense of stewardship toward park resources. The program also includes instructor-led recreational activities, educational field trips and classroom instruction.
The completion of this year’s YCC project will extend the lifespan of trail assets and components, enhancing visitor satisfaction and safety. Participating youth will gain new skills, improve teamwork and develop a deeper understanding of environmental impact, contributing to the National Park Service’s mission.
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Not just a bougie supper club: Slow Food returns, patiently, to mountains
Slow Food Tennessee Valley co-founder Sarah Bush picks heirloom tomatoes at Vuck Farm in Riceville. Élan Young/Hellbender Press
Slow Food ramps up regional food resilience efforts
RICEVILLE — On a hot summer day in late June, Sarah Bush, co-founder of Slow Food Tennessee Valley, slices some varieties of tender heirloom tomatoes freshly picked from tall rows of plants strung up in a giant, covered hoop-style greenhouse before serving them on a cutting board with a bit of farm-fresh chevre and basil.
The tomatoes span hues of yellow, red, green and purple, some a solid color or slightly striped and bearing intriguing names not found in grocery stores: striped Heart, Cherokee evergreen, chocolate stripe and Valencia. The flavor combinations explode into farm-to-table bliss.
The tomatoes are especially terrific for a reason: Bush, 46, has practiced regenerative farming since she was 28.
Mentored by other small farmers around the country who taught her how to exist and thrive in an economy that favors Big Ag, she now splits her time between Vuck Farm, a biodynamic farm in Riceville owned by her partner TJ Teets, and managing the produce department at Three Rivers Market in Knoxville — Tennessee’s only cooperative grocery.
She also serves on the planning committee for CRAFT (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training), which is run by the Southeastern Tennessee chapter of the National Young Farmers Coalition.
Not a bougie supper club
Founded in 2008, the Tennessee Valley chapter of Slow Food is the only chapter in the state that has remained active since its founding.
A little more than two decades earlier in 1986, thousands of Italians gathered at the base of the sprawling Piazza di Spagna in the center of Rome to protest the country’s first McDonald’s restaurant. Slow Food’s founder, Italian journalist Carlo Petrini, was among them. Instead of bringing a sign with a slogan, Petrini brought a big bowl of penne pasta to share with the crowd chanting We don’t want fast food. We want Slow Food! Three years later the movement became an official organization and today spans 160 countries.
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‘Cute little falcons’ fly free in Wildwood
Katheryn Albrecht holds a juvenile American kestrel just prior to releasing it into the Wildwood area of Blount County as part of the Farmland Raptor Project. Thomas Fraseer/Hellbender Press
Farmland Raptor Project takes wing to expand raptor populations on private properties
WILDWOOD — She felt the bird in her hand in her heart as the kestrel strained toward freedom.
Elise Eustace, communications director for Foothills Land Conservancy, blessed the bird and let it go, free to make a home somewhere on the 300-acre Andy Harris Farm or elsewhere in the Wildwood area of Blount County. “I’ve never gotten to do something like this,” she said. “So exciting.”
Two other juvenile kestrels joined their kin on the warm summer afternoon, lighting into nearby oaks and atop a telephone line above the red and yellow pollinator gardens and dry pasture and cornfield and copses that punctuate the property in the shadow of smoky knobs that rise gradually to the Smokies crest beyond the blue-green hollows of the Little River watershed. Resident sparrows, bluebirds and kingbirds voiced displeasure at the new arrivals.
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Big South Fork volunteers honor natural heritage, national trails
Volunteers helped build this bridge on Sheltowee Trace in Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. National Park Service
ONEIDA — Two popular trails were greatly improved with the help of volunteers during Big South Fork’s annual National Trails Day event, observed this year on June 22.
Volunteers helped build a 40-foot-long trail bridge between Yahoo Falls and Alum Ford on the Sheltowee Trace (a designated National Recreation Trail), by assisting park staff in transporting lumber and tools as well as the replacement of decking boards and handrails on the entire bridge. Volunteers also assisted trail crews with vegetation, drainage and tread improvements on the Proctor Ridge Horse Trail.
Volunteers are an important part of ensuring park trails are clear and well-maintained. If you are interested in learning more on how you can volunteer, contact the volunteer coordinator This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or call (423) 569-9778.
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Smokies tourists are coming to see the light
A recent display of synchronous fireflies (Photinus carolinus) in the Smokies. Abbott Nature Photography
Thousands of visitors view annual firefly spectacles in Smokies area as natural light show dims elsewhere
ELKMONT — Anyone who has fallen in love knows reading a love poem is no substitute for direct experience. Similarly, no technology, no art form, nor any reportage can come close to the mesmerizing firsthand experience of witnessing hundreds of thousands of synchronous firefly beetles pulsing in the dark during the peak of their mating period in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Over the last 20 years, throngs of eager visitors have trekked by the thousands to catch this rare glimpse of collective insect behavior. The crowds posed problems: Since females and larvae of the species are on and under the ground, visitors can trample them if they stray off trail. Likewise, flashlights and other white lights, including from cell phone screens, can also disrupt courtship.
The firefly phenomenon caught fire in 1991, when Lynn Faust read an article suggesting that no synchronous fireflies lived in the western hemisphere, yet she knew that’s what she witnessed in the 1960s at the historic Elkmont community when she vacationed there with her in-laws. After she brought Photinus carolinus to the attention of scientists, word spread and new firefly pilgrimages to Elkmont were born.
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City-based projects are pollinating the planet
A parklet in Washington DC with brightly colored planters filled with local pollinator plants. Molly McCluskey
From pocket parks to large-scale projects, cities around the world are working to reverse a troubling trend.
This story was originally published by The Revelator.
Every June, cities around the globe celebrate Pollinator Week (this year, June 16-22) an international event to raise awareness about the important roles that birds, bats, bees, butterflies, beetles and other small animals serve in pollinating our food systems and landscapes. These crucial species are declining worldwide, with many on the brink of extinction.
Cities have responded to this crisis with a variety of urban initiatives designed to foster pollinator habitats and in the process transform once-stark cement landscapes — as well as pocket parks, curb strips and highway dividers — into lush, welcoming areas for pollinators and humans alike.
In Washington, D.C., ambitious pollinator projects are abundant on rooftops of public, office and private spaces, ranging from the renovated D.C. Public Library’s main branch to National Public Radio’s headquarters, which hosts an apiary. Throughout the District of Columbia, municipal code requires buildings to maintain the tree boxes and curb strips outside their properties. This often leads to creative landscaping on the smallest of scales.
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Follow some protocols during No-Mow May or risk the sting of a city codes violation
Gerry Moll is seen in the native garden of his home in the 4th and Gill neighborhood of Knoxville in this file photo. Moll tends to his natural habitat in keeping with city codes protocols. Ben Pounds/Hellbender Press
City: Overgrown lots don’t automatically qualify as wildlife habitat
KNOXVILLE — City government wants people to know that though “No Mow May” is a worthy observation there are still some protocols residents have to follow to avoid codes violations and potential fines.
The month of May is hyped as a prime time to refrain from cutting your grass or portions of your lawn to allow pollinating plants and the pollinators they support to get six legs up late spring and early summer nectar season. It’s also an occasion to consider the fact that traditional lawns are largely ecological deserts.
“No Mow May” is a quick and catchy name for a movement that aims far beyond not mowing the yard for a month,” according to Bee City USA, a proponent of keeping your yard real and wild when and where it is practical.
“It’s more than long grass and dandelion blooms. It’s a gateway to understanding how we share our lawns with many small creatures.”
It goes beyond bees and butterflies and other pollinating insects. Many ground-nesting birds are on the decline due to loss of grassy habitat. Native grasses also serve as habitat for small mammals such as rabbits and mice, which in turn provide a buffet for raptors such as owls, hawks and eagles.
Hellbender Press has reported on cultivation of such natural landscapes and habitats within the city limits. Groups such as the Native Plant Rescue Squad can also provide plants and guidance.
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Sharing the love: Grayson Subaru presents $39K check to Ijams Nature Center
Grayson Subaru presented a check for $39,000 from Subaru of America’s 2023 Subaru Share the Love Event to Ijams Nature Center on April 24. Funds will be used to expand the popular Ijams Nature Playscape at Grayson Subaru Preserve and the Mead’s Quarry Lake swim area. Ijams Nature Center
KNOXVILLE — Grayson Subaru gave $39,000 to Ijams Nature Center to expand the popular Ijams Nature Playscape at Grayson Subaru Preserve and the Mead’s Quarry Lake swim area.
The local retailer chose the nonprofit nature center as its hometown charity for Subaru of America Inc.’s 2023 Subaru Share the Love® Event. From Nov. 15, 2023, to Jan. 2, Subaru and its retailers donated a minimum of $300 for every new Subaru vehicle purchased or leased at more than 628 of its retailers nationwide to several national charities and a hometown charity chosen by each retailer.
“Subaru of America and Grayson Subaru are committed to the communities we serve,” Subaru Sales Manager JC Marquardt said. “We do that by showing support in ways that make a meaningful difference, and we’re incredibly grateful to our customers, who share our values and are committed to doing the same. This is a proud day for all of us.”
Work has already begun on Phase 2 of the Ijams Nature Playscape.
“Thus far, Ijams staff have scouted the new trail and, with the help of 115 trained volunteers, removed invasive species from about one acre of the new section,” Ijams President and CEO Amber Parker said. “This is the most time-consuming part of the process, because there is a more diverse mix of invasive and native species, and removal has to be done by hand.”
In addition to preparing the upper section of the 13.46-acre property, Ijams is planning a new feature to Phase 1 of the playscape after conducting a survey of the people who were using it.
“We learned that people wanted a way to cross through the mushier spots of the floodplain in an area we call the ‘Soggy Bottom Room,’ so we’re creating a narrow path of wood over utility poles to make a bog walkway,” she said. “We recently salvaged a large palette that was mired in the mud along the Tennessee River and will use that reclaimed wood in the project. There are perks to having an Ijams River Captain keeping our waterways clear!”
Parker said improvements to the Mead’s Quarry swim area will start at a later date.
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Chattanooga Earth Day Week continues
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Ijams and other volunteers pull, push to restore riverine beauty
Odd robotic forms were among the every-worldly items pulled by volunteers from the Tennessee River and its tributaries earlier this month. Courtesy Ijam’s Nature Center.
Betty Boop recovered from drink during widespread river cleanup
KNOXVILLE – Rain didn’t stop 441 volunteers from cleaning up the community’s waterways during the 35th annual Ijams River Rescue on March 9.
They tackled trash at 31 sites in Knox and Blount counties, filling 1,097 bags with garbage weighing an estimated 21,958 pounds (10.48 tons). That doesn’t include the weight of 46 tires and large items such as household appliances, furniture and car parts.
Plastic and Styrofoam waste was common in all areas, but Ijams River Rescue volunteers found items such as a robot puppy, drug paraphernalia, an antique lounge chair, a full patio set, suitcase, Betty Boop doll and shoes, sofas, stove parts, traffic barrels, a car seat, sports gear, a “nice watch” and a $10 bill.
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Experts and citizens plan and commiserate over TVA’s lack of public process
Tennessee state Rep. Justin J. Pearson speaks to community members assembled for the evening discussion during the People’s Voice on TVA’s Energy Plan. John Waterman/Appalachian Voices
A lack of public process brought together a coalition of environmental organizations
NASHVILLE — In every state except Tennessee, for-profit utilities and their regulators are required to get public input about energy-resource planning.
These Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) provide an opportunity for a utility to demonstrate that the ratepayer money the utility spends is on the best mix of energy investments that meet this objective.
In Tennessee, however, TVA, which is the nation’s largest public power provider, has no process for engaging the public on its IRPs.
It is this lack of public process that brought a coalition of environmental organizations together to host a mock public hearing in a Nashville church last month presided by Ted Thomas, former chair of Georgia Center for Energy Solutions. Their goal was to call attention to the fact that TVA acts more like a corporation or a self-regulated monopoly than as a public utility. The groups say that lack of public involvement in the process harms Tennesseeans across the board.
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Sequoyah Hills is now officially the arboretum we always shared
Many such new identifying tags highlight trees such as this red cedar in the newly designated Sequoyah Hills Arboretum near Bearden in Knoxville. Ben Pounds/Hellbender Press
The arboretum designation will allow for more extensive tree walks, scout projects, school outings, and other educational programs on the value and beauty of native trees
KNOXVILLE — A small crowd of volunteers with tags and tools descended on Sequoyah Park on a February afternoon, preparing to affix identifying labels to the bark of old trees in one of the city’s most storied neighborhoods.
Sequoyah Park sits along the Tennessee River at 1400 Cherokee Boulevard, tucked behind the Sequoyah Hills neighborhood but open to all who want to run, walk, cycle, or enjoy its open fields and other features. It’s Tennessee Valley Authority land, maintained by the city. The many species of native trees that tower over the park’s long field got recognition this year. The park and other Sequoyah Hills neighborhood areas are now part of the Sequoyah Hills Arboretum, an accredited level one ArbNet arboretum.
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Foothills Land Conservancy commits more land to memory
Foothills Land Conservancy recently completed a conservation easement on 100 acres near Cane Creek in Anderson County, Tenn. Shelby Lyn Sanders/ Foothills Land Conservancy
Generations have crisscrossed the expansive pastures near Cane Creek in Anderson County
Shelby Lyn Sanders is the senior biologist at Foothills Land Conservancy.CLINTON — Not much of Mrs. Betty Smith, 92, is visible as she pokes among the tall grasses on her land in Anderson County, Tenn. on this warm mid-spring day.She’s looking for scraps of metal or wood or some relic that might reveal the exact location of a barn that stood here near Cane Creek some time ago.Mrs. Smith and her husband Paul purchased this property from the prominent Hollingsworth family in the 1960s while living nearby in Clinton. They had big dreams about owning a farm close by to work and play on.
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Fighting our own worst enemy along the way to better seeds and systems
Tennessee Local Food Summit participants were encouraged to bring their favorite heirloom seeds for a seed swap and social. Courtesy Matt Matheson
Tennessee Local Food Summit is a hive for food justice in the Southeast
NASHVILLE — About 70 miles north of Nashville in the town of Red Boiling Springs in Macon County, farmer and educator Jeff Poppen, better known as the Barefoot Farmer, runs one of the oldest and largest organic farms in Tennessee. For nearly 40 years, he built rich soil for his bountiful farm before the second-largest meat producer in the world forced him to move from the 250 acres he’d been farming since 1974.
When his neighboring property owner partnered with Cobb Vantress, a subsidiary of the multinational mega-giant Tyson Foods, to place a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) — aka a factory farm — 450 feet from his homestead and garden, Poppen’s first instinct was to organize.
This self-described “dirty hippie” found unlikely allies in his neighbors — a Baptist preacher, a state trooper, a politician, and what he calls a “chemical farmer” — all opposed to an industrial chicken house moving in.
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Tennessee Tree Day
It’s that time of year again — time to reserve your trees for Tennessee Tree Day 2024. Reserve yours now and plan on picking them up on March 15th or 16th and planting them that weekend. Here are some special things to know about this year’s statewide native-tree-planting extravaganza:
- This is the 10th Annual Tennessee Tree Day
- You have more than 12 native species to choose from
- Plant at home, on the farm, or anywhere you have permission to plant
- You have more than 150 pick-up sites to choose from
- We anticipate planting our one millionth tree in 2024 — we want you to be part of this historic milestone. (We founded the Tree Program in 2007 with a goal of planting one million trees. You can help us cross the finish line!)
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Join a community of Tennesseans carving out gardens to attract, feed and nurture pollinating wildlife
These signs will show your friends and neighbors that your wildflower garden supports pollinators and hopefully get them excited about starting a pollinator garden too! Our original signs are made from embossed, recycled aluminum and measure 8 x 12 inches. They are available for a donation of $25 each and can be shipped directly to you. Tennessee Environmental Council
Through Generate Some Buzz, the Tennessee Environmental Council aims to engage hundreds of Tennesseans in establishing new pollinator habitats statewide. All gardens, both big and small are welcome and by participating in this program, you are joining a vibrant community of Tennesseans committed to protecting our pollinators, one plot at a time.
Populations of many pollinator species like bees, butterflies, moths, beetles and hummingbirds have been negatively impacted by agricultural practices such as using synthetic pesticides, disease and habitat loss. These creatures are experiencing a drastically different world compared to just a few decades ago.
Native pollinators depend on native plants to provide habitat and food, and plants need pollinators to help them reproduce. In fact, pollinators assist in the reproduction of 75 percent of flowering plants worldwide. Turning manicured lawns that provide little to nothing for pollinators into havens full of native flowers and wild grasses, we will effectively "Generate Some Buzz" and bring back these essential workers full force.
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Solar for All: An opportunity to expand alternative-energy access
The historic federal climate legislation known as the Inflation Reduction Act passed last summer. The $7 billion program will help fund rooftop solar projects benefiting communities with lower incomes and provide workforce development enabling millions of households’ access to affordable, resilient, and clean solar energy. Southern Environmental Law Center
A competitive grant program to bring solar power to people with limited incomes has found huge demand in the South
CHARLOTTESVILLE — Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, as well as other tribal governments, municipalities and nonprofits submitted applications for Solar for All, a new program designed to expand solar access.
“I’m thrilled to see enthusiasm for this funding in Southern states, which have traditionally lagged behind the rest of the country in residential solar while many households struggle to pay their electricity bills,” said Gudrun Thompson, leader of Southern Environmental Law Center’s Energy Program.Part of the historic federal climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act passed last summer, the $7 billion program will fund rooftop solar projects benefiting communities with lower incomes and provide workforce development enabling millions of households’ access to affordable, resilient and clean solar energy and related jobs. These funds have the potential to double the number of rooftop solar customers with 100 percent of cost saving solar, benefiting customers that would not otherwise be able to access solar.
“This is a generational opportunity to enable low-income households in the South to access affordable, resilient, and clean solar energy,” Thompson said.
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Join SACE for a Clean Energy Generation webinar on Wed, Oct. 25 at 1:30 PM
The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy invites people to join the “Clean Energy Generation.”
We’re gaining momentum as a movement that is rising to one of the greatest challenges of our time: the climate crisis. We’re pushing for new policies and practices and taking action, no matter how small — because it takes small ripples from people at all levels of engagement to create a tsunami of change.
At the second Clean Energy Generation webinar, SACE staff, including Executive Director, Dr. Stephen A. Smith, Climate Advocacy Director Chris Carnevale, and Climate Advocacy Coordinator Cary Ritzler, will talk about what the “Clean Energy Generation” is and how you can play a role, no matter your age, abilities, income or zip code.
SACE’s Executive Director will also share the ways he is taking clean energy action in his home, and how you don’t have to be an expert to connect with your community and make meaningful change: learning more is a good place to start. We’ll also show how small groups of neighbors, students and friends are coming together to accomplish specific climate-actions goals. And we’ll have time on the webinar to answer your questions.
Can’t make it? Register anyway and we’ll send you the recording plus a few follow-up resources.
The Clean Energy Generation is motivated by what our daily lives, communities, country, and planet will look like when clean energy replaces decades of dirty pollution from fossil fuels. We are working together for communities powered by clean energy with good jobs, clean air and water, clean transportation, a stable climate and affordable bills, where all of us can thrive.
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Homeward bound: local students release hundreds of lake sturgeon into Tennessee River
Conservation scientists with the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute pose in the Tennessee River before releasing more than 600 juvenile lake sturgeon into the waterway. Tennessee Aquarium
CHATTANOOGA — After bulking up all summer on a steady diet of bloodworms and brine shrimp, hundreds of juvenile lake sturgeon finally were returned to their ancestral waters this morning.
Under a nearly cloudless autumn sky, biologists from the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute and third through fifth grade students from Girls Inc. of Chattanooga’s Fall Break Camp gathered on the north bank of the Tennessee River in Coolidge Park.
One by one, they carefully made their way to the river’s edge holding clear, water-filled plastic buckets containing five-month-old lake sturgeon. Amidst excited squeals and nervous laughter, they squatted down, gently depositing each sleek, armor-skinned fish into the shallows.
This latest release “class” included 667 lake sturgeon. Comparatively tiny now, these miniature river giants have the potential to reach nine feet in length and could live for up to 150 years.
Reintroduction events like this are the capstone payoff to a summer spent tirelessly caring for and — most of all — feeding these sturgeon, says Reintroduction Biologist II Teresa Israel.
“It’s really special. It’s hard to see them go, but it’s a happy day since we’ve seen them get so big, so we know they’ll be successful out there,” she said. “It’s a great accomplishment that completes the circle for all our hard work.”
Lake Sturgeon are considered endangered in Tennessee. As recently as the 1970s, this species had disappeared from both waterways due to the impacts of damming, poor water quality and over-fishing. Today’s release is the latest in the now-23-year-old effort to bring Lake Sturgeon back to the Tennessee River and Cumberland River.
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October 24 is United Nations Day
Despite strong US popular support for the UN, House Appropriations Bill wants to eliminate UN funding
NEW YORK — In a poll of nearly two thousand registered voters, 73% of respondents from across the political spectrum support America’s engagement with the United Nations.
Conducted by Morning Consult in August 2023, the survey finds that roughly two-thirds of Republicans and 86% of Democrats believe it’s important for the U.S. to “maintain an active role” in the UN.
UN favorability stood at 52%, with a plurality of Republicans saying they view the UN in a positive light.
More than half of all voters support paying full dues to the UN’s regular budget, and an even greater percentage (nearly 60%) are in favor of paying dues to the UN’s peacekeeping budget.
These numbers reflect similar nationwide data — including a 2023 survey by Pew Research — noting strong UN favorability among Americans.
What’s at stake?
The House budget proposal recommends eliminating funding for the UN regular budget — for the first time in history. That would cause the U.S. to lose its vote in the UN General Assembly!
Why that would be a grave and costly mistake is well explained by Jordie Hannum, Executive Director of the Better World Campaign.
This UN Day, make sure to tell your members of Congress that you support the UN’s mission.
Here are easy to follow help and sample scripts for your call and for leaving voice mail. Or, send them a customizable email message.
“As Congress considers making drastic cuts in U.S. contributions to the UN, this is a powerful reminder that Americans value the institution and want the U.S. to stay involved,” said Peter Yeo, President of the Better World Campaign. “The UN is a critical space for the U.S. to demonstrate our global leadership and support our allies. Americans clearly understand that it’s in our best interest to nurture this vital relationship.”
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Join Keep Knoxville Beautiful on Friday, Nov. 3 for its annual Sustainability Summit
KKB Sustainability Summit 2023
Why do we have all this asphalt, how is it keeping us apart, what is it doing to the fabric of our cities, and what can we do about it?
From 2nd Avenue in Nashville to The Stitch in Atlanta to the Placemaking Hub in Charlotte, travel with us to different Southeastern cities with professionals who are reshaping their urban environments to create more equitable, sustainable and beautiful places, and get inspired about what we can do in our own city. Join us on Friday, November 3rd for KKB’s 5th annual Sustainability Summit for a day of learning.
Lunch will be provided for free to all attendees, sponsored by the Tomato Head.
Other sponsors include TVA and Earthadelic.
Event Timeline
9:00 AM - Doors open
9:15 AM - Opening remarks by City of Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon
9:45 AM - Jack Cebe, Landscape Architect/Engineer, Atlanta
11:00 AM - Eric Hoke, Urban Designer, Nashville & Kate Cavazza, Urban Designer, Charlotte
12:00 PM - Lunch provided by Tomato Head
12:45 PM - Beverly Bell, Landscape Designer, Chattanooga & Caleb Racicot, Urban Planner, Atlanta
1:45 PM - Closing remarks
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Tennessee Project Milkweed orders top 300,000 and exhaust the free supply. TDOT says there’s more to come.
Monarch butterfly feeding off milkweed. TDOT launched a program to promote milkweed production, a common source of food for butterflies, birds and other insects.
Free milkweed seed will help citizens restore landscapes and preserve habitat; orders commence again in June for popular TDOT project
NASHVILLE — Amid unprecedented citizen demand, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) halted online orders for free milkweed seed, offered as part of its Project Milkweed. Launched in June 2023, this mail-order resource was aimed at restoring landscapes and preserving habitats for monarch butterflies and other pollinator species. Since June, TDOT has taken nearly 131,000 individual orders from Tennesseans for milkweed seed. In total, 779,601 red and common milkweed seed packets were requested. The program will return in June 2024.
“TDOT is happy to offer such a popular program to the public, and to empower Tennesseans to do their part in saving pollinators as they are vital to life, growing food, and the economy of Tennessee,” said TDOT Commissioner Butch Eley in a release.
Orders exhausted a stock of 300,000 milkweed seed packets by Sept. 30. Additional seed material has been ordered and is expected to arrive in October. All remaining orders will be fulfilled then, according to TDOT.
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Appalachian State Energy Center is crushing it with biochar
Community biochar production in Boone. Appalachian State Energy Center
Appalachian State University research helps farmers and crop yield
This article was provided by Appalachian State University. Hei-Young Kim is laboratory manager and research assistant with the Appalachian Energy Center.
BOONE — The Appalachian State Nexus Project experiments continue to advance agricultural innovations with biochar to help local farmers. Biochar is a charcoal-like material produced from plant material such as grass, agricultural and forest residues that produce carbon-rich material used for agriculture and horticulture purposes.
Adding biochar to soil increases surface area, pH, plant nutrient availability, and enhances water-holding capacity, according to Appalachian State researchers. It also can sequester carbon in the ground for extended periods of time, which may otherwise find its way into the atmosphere as CO2 or methane.
The qualities of biochar vary depending upon the material it comes from — timber slash, corn stalks or manure.
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Tennessee Aquarium wants to up the pollination game
Pollinator Pathway signs on the Tennessee Aquarium Plaza in Chattanooga lead guests on a self-guided tour highlighting native plants, pollinator behaviors, and unusual pollinators. Courtesy Tennessee Aquarium
TDOT joins with Tennessee Aquarium to pollinate our pathways
CHATTANOOGA — With their distinctive orange and black patterns, gossamer wings and harrowing 3,000-mile migrations, few insects are as charismatic or beloved as the monarch butterfly.
Just imagine how tragic it would be if they disappeared.
So it was with alarm in 2022 that the world received news that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had declared the monarch an endangered species, citing population numbers that had fallen 80 percent since the 1980s.
Similar anxiety met reports in the mid-2000s of colony collapse disorder. This sudden phenomenon dramatically imperiled the survival of European honey bees, whose activity directly or indirectly affects roughly one of every three bites of food we eat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Pollinators are undoubtedly critically important to plants and humans alike, whether they’re investigating our Irises, calling on our Columbine, or buzzing our Blueberry bushes. This week, June 19-25, the world celebrates Pollinator Week, which recognizes the wondrous, vital contributions of butterflies, bees, moths, bats, and other pollinators.
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KUB and SACE provide a guide to a home efficiency uplift
KNOXVILLE — Are you looking to take control of your utility bills to not only save money but also breathe easier knowing your home is healthier and more comfortable? Join us this Wednesday, May 17, from 6-8 PM for a free workshop to learn about newly available, once-in-a-generation funding, resources, and rebates that everyone can benefit from, regardless of if you own or rent your home, or if you have high or low income, through local and federal funds.
KUB is providing free (yes, free) home energy improvements for income-eligible customers through the Home Uplift program. New or repaired HVAC units, attic and wall insulation, appliances, and electric water heaters are just a few of the home energy upgrades that you may receive. Plus, professional crews are ready and waiting to do the work so you don’t have to.
— Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
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Rocking chair rebellion: Older Americans help drive climate activism
Photo courtesy of Third Act via The Revelator
As their twilight approaches, elders supercharge climate action on behalf of future generations
This story was originally published by The Revelator. Eduardo Garcia is a New York-based climate journalist. A native of Spain, he has written about climate solutions for Thomson Reuters, The New York Times, Treehugger and Slate. He is the author of Things You Can Do: How to Fight Climate Change and Reduce Waste, an illustrated book about reducing personal carbon footprints.
Thousands of senior Americans took to the streets in March in 30 states to demand that the country’s major banks divest from fossil fuels.
This “rocking chair rebellion” — organized by Third Act, a fast-growing climate action group focused on older Americans — shows that Baby Boomers are becoming a new force in the climate movement.
Third Act cofounder Bill McKibben, who joined a Washington, D.C., protest, says it’s unfair to put all the weight of climate activism on the shoulders of young people. It’s time for older Americans to take a central role.
“Young people don’t have the structural power necessary to make changes,” McKibben tells The Revelator. “But old people do. There are 70 million Americans over the age of 60. Many of us vote, we’re politically engaged, and have a lot of financial resources. So if you want to press either the political system or the financial system, older people are a useful group to have.”
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Knoxville trees need a canopy of support
KNOXVILLE — Trees Knoxville wants to hear from residents to help develop an Urban Forest Master Plan that considers the city’s unique challenges, priorities, and opportunities. A successful plan will help Knoxville preserve, grow and care for trees, which play a significant role in public health and environmental health.
Upcoming opportunities to learn more and provide feedback:
May 4, 6-7:30 p.m.
Urban Trees Virtual Open House
Zoom
If you haven’t attended an in-person event, this virtual option may fit your schedule. Learn about the urban tree canopy and provide your thoughts and perspective on what Knoxville needs. Participants will need to preregister online to receive the link to the virtual workshop.
May 11, 4-7 p.m.
Urban Trees Open House
Cansler YMCA
616 Jessamine StreetTrees in cities are vital to human health, especially as the climate warms. What does Knoxville need? Come to this open-house-style event to learn more and add your two cents. Trees Knoxville will give 15-minute presentations at 5 and 6 p.m. Attendees will learn more about the Urban Forest Master Plan process and how to engage neighbors, friends and other residents who value trees in this important process.
Other options:
Invite Trees Knoxville to your meeting! Go to KnoxvilleTreePlan.org to schedule a presentation.
Online Survey. If none of these engagement options work, fill out the online survey at Knoxville Tree Plan to make sure your voice is heard.
Learn more at Knoxville Tree Plan, and find additional community event listings at Knoxville Tree Plan Get Involved.
Trees Knoxville was formed in 2016 and grew out of the community’s deep appreciation for trees and their many benefits. Its mission is to expand the urban canopy on both public and private land throughout Knox County. Trees Knoxville is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to planting trees, educating people, and promoting the health and well-being of our community and our environment in Knoxville and Knox County.
— City of Knoxville
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Refill with KnoxFill. Knoxville startup gets its own storefront.
Multiple household and personal items such as detergent, shampoo and even toothpaste can be refilled at KnoxFill, which now has a storefront at 3211 South Haven Road in Knoxville. Photo courtesy Michaela Barnett
Glass jars aren’t just for moonshine anymore
KNOXVILLE — The city now has a store where walk-in customers can buy refillable household products.
“Zero waste” is commonly heard around concerts, festivals and Earth Day events, but now it is easier to make it a daily priority.
KnoxFill opened a 1,600-square-foot store April 8 in South Knoxville at 3211 South Haven Road.
The company uses reusable glass containers for purchasing common household goods such as shampoo and detergent, like the way you might buy bulk foods. Hellbender Press previously reported on this business.
Their products are eco-sourced. The idea is if a container is not reused, it will either be landfilled, incinerated, end up as litter, or recycled, which has its own set of issues. That’s on the back side of the waste stream. Refillable glass containers also combat pollution and waste on the front side by eliminating the petrochemicals needed to produce and ship all the plastic containers needed for consumer products in the first place.
Prior to opening her store, owner Michaela Barnett provided her goods and services via the “milkman” method. She would refill the bottles at home and then deliver them to her customers.
“The milkman system was very labor intensive; we could never have the impact and scale we now have without a brick-and-mortar store,” she said.
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Earth Day is every day, but especially this Saturday
This photo of the Southern Appalachians was taken from 30,000 feet. “Notice how the clouds are parallel with the ridges below them. Wind near the surface blowing up the western slopes forms waves in the atmosphere. At the crest of the wave, over the ridge tops, the air has cooled sufficiently to condense into clouds. As this air descends toward the wave trough, it becomes slightly warmer and drier, inhibiting condensation.” Seth Adams via NASA
Earth Day activities have cooled in Knoxville over the decades. The planet has not.
KNOXVILLE — It’s been 52 years since the modern environmental movement was born on what is now known around the world as Earth Day.
Now reckoned to be the world’s largest secular observance, Earth Day is the climax of Earth Week (April 16 to 22), which brings together an estimated billion people around the globe working to change human behavior and push for pro-environment economic and legislative action. This year’s theme is “Invest in the planet.”
Events marking Earth Day in Knoxville tend to vary in size and tone from year-to-year, with 2023 providing environmentally minded residents with a number of ways to celebrate Mother Earth.
Perhaps the most memorable of those years was the very first one, when one of the most important voices in the burgeoning environmental movement spoke on the University of Tennessee campus.
Jane Jacobs, who is now recognized as “the godmother of the New Urbanism movement,” gave a lecture to a crowd of nearly 200 people on the topic of “Man and His Environment” at the Alumni Memorial Hall, according to Jack Neely, who heads the Knoxville History Project.
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Hellbent: Conservation Fisheries saves what we don’t typically see
Conservation Fisheries Executive Director Bo Baxter (second from right) leads young students in an inventory of Little River fish. The “Stream School” collaboration with Little River Watershed Association gets kids in creeks and rivers. Michael Mollish /Tennessee Valley Authority
‘It’s very good for the soul.’ Bo Baxter and Conservation Fisheries focus underwater to save our Southern fishes.
This is the latest installment of an occasional series, Hellbent, profiling citizens and organizations who work to preserve and improve the Southern Appalachian environment.
KNOXVILLE — For more than 35 years, an obscure nonprofit headquartered here has grown into one of the most quietly successful champions of ecology and environmental restoration in the Eastern United States.
Conservation Fisheries, which occupies a 5,000-square foot facility near the Pellissippi State University campus on Division Street, has spent nearly four decades restoring native fish populations to numerous waterways damaged years ago by misguided governmental policies.
In fact, the mid-20th century saw wildlife officials frequently exterminating key aquatic species to make way for game fish like trout.
“It was bad science, but it was the best they had at the time,” said Conservation Fisheries Executive Director Bo Baxter. “A lot of the central concepts of ecology, like food webs and communities, were not developed back then.”
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Roll up your sleeves and clean our Tennessee River waterways on April 15
KNOXVILLE — Volunteer registration is open for the 34th Ijams River Rescue on Saturday, April 15, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. A severe weather date is set for Saturday, April 22.
Ijams Nature Center’s annual event removes tons of trash and tires from sites along the Tennessee River and its creek tributaries. Sites are typically located in Knox, Anderson, Blount and Loudon counties.
“During this cleanup, between 500-1,000 volunteers come together to make a tangible, positive difference in their community,” Ijams Development Director Cindy Hassil said. “It’s eye-opening to participate because you really get to see what ends up in our waterways. Hopefully it makes people more aware of how they dispose of trash and recyclables, and inspires them to look for ways to reduce the amount of waste they create.”
There are cleanup sites on land, along the shoreline (boots/waders recommended) and on the water (personal kayaks/canoes required).
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The real Wild Ones and others are geared for a Chattanooga symposium
The Tennessee Valley Chapter of The Wild Ones is accepting registrations for the spring workshop and symposium at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga University Center, set for March 17 and 18.
The nature journaling workshop is Friday afternoon, March 17, and will be conducted by Jannise Ray, author of “Ecology of a Cracker Childhood.”
The symposium takes place on March 18. Speakers include:
- A keynote address by Thomas Ranier, landscape architect and author of Planting in a Post-Wild World.His talk is titled “The Residential Garden in a Post-Pandemic World.”
- Janisse Ray, Author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, will give a talk titled “Why the Climate Needs Trees and Why Every Tree Counts.”
- Kristen Wickert, Social Media Educator, and Plant Pathologist, will speak on “Fungi and their Relationship with Plants.”
- Leslie Edwards, the author of The Natural Communities of Georgia, speaking on the Fascinating Communities of NE Georgia and SE Tennessee: From Sandstone Cliffs to Cedar Glades.
- Adam Bigelow, owner, and operator of Bigelow’s Botanical Excursions, speaking on “Native Plants for the Vegetable Garden.”
The Wild Ones will hold their Native Plant Sale and Expo at the First Horizon Pavilion on March 25. Ten regional native plant nurseries will participate, along with several local and regional exhibitors and vendors. Food will be available from food trucks.
The Wild Ones is a national organization focused on native plants and natural landscaping. The Tennessee Valley Chapter is organized in Southeast Tennessee.
— Ray Zimmerman
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Get a free virtual science lesson in the Smokies this Thursday
A rundown about science efforts in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is set for March 2.
You can learn about myriad scientific studies ongoing in the Smokies from the comfort of your own home.
The park and Discover Life in America are presenting this virtual event from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Register for free on Zoom.
Attendees will “learn about a wide variety of scientific topics, from natural history and weather to geology and more, from researchers currently working in the Smokies,” according to an announcement from DLIA.
The schedule is likely to change, but a tentative schedule is available on the DLIA website.
— Ben Pounds
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(Quick update): Orange STEM: UT links East Tennessee students with Science, Technical, Engineering and Math studies
High school students from across East Tennessee got to check out the latest career offerings in fields like robotics and virtual reality at the Jan. 21 Big Orange STEM event. JJ Stambaugh/Hellbender Press
The TN Lunabotics, science and sustainability get together at BOSS event
Updated March 2023 with notes from a reader:
My name is Allison, and I am a teaching volunteer with Students For Research. I am reaching out because our class found your website very useful while researching STEM resources that can help students discover the various aspects of science, technology, engineering and math. Many of our current students are interested in learning more about how topics associated with STEM work, especially in relation to online research, either for school or for their future careers. Your website ended up being featured by our students, so we wanted to notify you and say thank you!
As a part of the assignment, one of our students, Becky, did some research on her own time and found this informative page for more STEM using this resource. The team found it helpful as it provided guidance on how libraries can introduce children to STEM and continue to provide resources as they progress through their education.
I was hoping you would be able to include this resource on your website, even if it's only for a short time. I think your other visitors might find it helpful, and it also helps our group of students cite appropriate resources and stay engaged whenever outreach yields positive feedback everyone can see. Please let me know if you would be willing to add it so I can share the exciting news with Sophie and the rest of her fellow students. I appreciate your help!
KNOXVILLE — What do environmental, social and economic sustainability have in common?
There are numerous ways to answer that question, but for those who pay close attention to education or economics it’s an accepted fact that the future belongs to societies that invest heavily in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
That’s why educators at all levels are pushing students towards those subjects at every opportunity, as was evidenced Jan. 21 at Big Orange STEM Saturday (BOSS) at the University of Tennessee.
About 150 high school students picked from communities across East Tennessee spent much of their Saturday at John C. Hodges Library, getting a first-hand taste of what awaits them should they choose to pursue careers in STEM through the UT system.
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The electric-vehicle revolution brings environmental uncertainty at every turn
As demand for electric vehicles soars, several roadblocks have emerged
This article was originally published by The Revelator.
Manufacturers, governments and consumers are lining up behind electric vehicles — with sales rising 60% in 2022, and at least 17 states are considering a California-style ban on gas cars in the years ahead. Scientists say the trend is a key part of driving down the transportation sector’s carbon emissions, which could fall by as much as 80% by 2050 under aggressive policies. But while EVs are cleaner than gas cars in the long run, they still carry environmental and human-rights baggage, especially associated with mining.
“If you want a lot of EVs, you need to get minerals out of the ground,” says Ian Lange, director of the Energy and Economics Program at the Colorado School of Mines.
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You can help Knoxville become a wood-powered tree city
This is a basic breakdown on the social benefits associated with robust tree canopy in cities, including the city center of Knoxville, shown here. Knoxville City Government
City kicks off ambitious project to expand the tree canopy that benefits us all
KNOXVILLE — The people in this city sure seem to love their trees.
There is at least one tree for every two people who live within the city limits, but officials say they want to add even more over the next 20 years.
How many should be planted is currently up in the air, as is the right mix of species and where they should go.
Those are just some of the questions that will be answered in coming months as the Knoxville Urban Forest Master Plan is developed by officials from the city and the non-profit group Trees Knoxville in conjunction with several other agencies and interested citizens.
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Hellbent Profile: If you pollute the Tennessee River, Chris Irwin is coming for you
Chris Irwin poses by the Tennessee River as a TVA vessel makes its way downstream. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press
From the courthouse to the river, Chris Irwin strives for purity
This is the first installment of an occasional series, Hellbent, profiling citizens who work to preserve and improve the Southern Appalachian environment.
KNOXVILLE — Chris Irwin scarfed some french fries and drank a beer and told me about his plans to save the Tennessee River.
We sat at a riverside restaurant downtown between the bridges. Not even carp came up to eat a stray fry, but a mallard family hit the free starch hard.
I asked him what he saw as we looked out over the river in the still heat of late summer.
“You know what I don’t see?” he said. “People swimming.” It was truth. Nobody was fishing either, in the heart of a metro area pushing a million people. Signs warning against swimming and fishing weren’t readily visible, but he said an instinctive human revulsion likely makes such warnings unnecessary.
“We all know it’s an industrial drainage ditch.”
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Food myths hurt Mother Earth
Save money and our planet with tips from Cheddar News
The average American family of four annually spends more than $2,000 on food they never eat!
Nearly one in nine people suffer from hunger worldwide.
Agriculture contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation and soil degradation.
Climate change increases crop losses.
One third of all food produced in the world is lost or wasted.
It’s not just the food that’s wasted.
Consider the energy wasted to grow, process and transport it.
That all contributes to climate change, food shortages and to the rising costs of food, energy and health care.
Food waste stresses our environment, humanity and the economy.
— EarthSolidarity™
ORNL tips to run your
car more efficiently
About
About
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Hellbender Press
The Environmental Journal of Southern Appalachia
(ONLINE version 0.9)Copyright © 2020-2023 Hellbender Press | Foundation for Global SustainabilityP.O. Box 1101Knoxville, Tennessee37901-1101865-465-9691This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Editor and PublisherThomas FraserEditorial BoardBo BaxterJasen BradleyChris KaneWolf NaegeliLauren ParkerAmanda WomacHellbender Press: The Environmental Journal of Southern Appalachia is a digital environmental news service with a focus on the Southern Appalachian bioregion. It aggregates relevant stories from across the news media space and provides original news, features and commentary.
Espousing the “Think Globally, Act Locally” ethos of FGS, Hellbender Press promotes the conservation and study of the environment and protections for air, water, climate, natural areas, and other resources that are critical to human health and a robust, resilient economy.
The Hellbender also champions civil and human rights, especially in matters of environmental justice, equity of access to natural resources and the right to a clean environment.
Hellbender Press is a self-organizing project of the Foundation for Global Sustainability’s Living Sustainably Program. All donations made for Hellbender Press to FGS are tax-deductible. We offer a free environmental news and information site, but grants and charitable contributions are encouraged and needed to support our work. Much of the content is provided on a volunteer basis by individuals and organizations that share a common cause.
Hellbender Press encourages the submission of original and relevant articles and photography for consideration to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
For more details on the history and objectives of Hellbender Press, watch the interview of Thomas Fraser in Knoxille Community Media’s “Serving Knoxville” series.
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Our name
The hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis), a native salamander, is an indicator species. It requires clear, oxygen-rich water to respire, find its prey, and reproduce.
The presence of hellbenders in a stream indicates good water quality and a healthy intact ecosystem.
Hellbender Press aspires to help you discover the degrees of resilience and sustainability of your community, our bioregion and planet Earth.
Hellbender Press informs about what is beneficial for life — here and elsewhere.
It also points out where we must do better to rescue and restore what can still be saved.
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Foundation for Global Sustainability
FGS is a transdisciplinary educational non-profit advocacy organization. It works to restore the balance between human activities and the natural life support systems of the Earth.
FGS publications, special reports, events and outreach inform and educate the public about vital regional and global issues and how they interdepend.
FGS monitors and addresses social and environmental issues in the Upper Tennessee Valley and the Southern Appalachian Mountains. It fosters and supports conservation initiatives, including
— action committees that address egregious assaults, on our natural heritage for example, which require temporary assistance only
— campaigns by other nonprofits, such as
- Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
- Endangered Species Coalition
- Southern Appalachian Man and the Biosphere
- Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center
- Tennessee Environmental Council
- Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning
- East Tennessee Quality Growth
- Technical Society of Knoxville
- Advocates for the Oak Ridge Reservation
— groups that want to address systemic problems in a systematic fashion. Among the latter, three evolved to establish themselves as independent 501(c)(3) organization:
- Tennessee Clean Water Network
- Oak Ridge Environmetal Peace Alliance
- Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project, which since merged with, and assumed management responsibilities for, the Wild South network.