Action Alert Archive (107)
NC authorities mulling relaxed regulations on Pigeon River pollutants
Knox News: Sam Venable: Now is not the time to backslide on Pigeon River health
Good piece here on a renewed threat to the Pigeon River, which threads from North Carolina into Tennessee. Your friendly neighborhood Hellbender Press editor was a raft guide there for a while — people loved to be on that river, and it is a true environmental and economic success story.
But after years of environmental improvements to the river and accompanying economic gains, the state of North Carolina is considering relaxing standards for a nearby paper mill’s pollutants.
The state is considering loosening the discharge standards for the paper mill’s current owner. A public hearing on the matter is set for April 14.
Chickamauga Lake cleanup
Mar 6 9 a.m.–1 p.m. EST
Cleanup at Chickamauga Lake of the Tennessee River
Possum's Creek, Harrison Bay State Park
Keep the TN River Beautiful with Chickamauga Fly, Bait, & Casting Club
Hands-on volunteer activity
Keep the TN River Beautiful coordinates with TVA, Keep TN Beautiful, TDOT, Keep America Beautiful, and Yamaha Rightwaters
For more information, call (865) 386-3926 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Big South Fork mulls price increase for camping, other uses
WVLT: Public comment sought on fee increases
Bandy Creek, Blue Heron and Alum Ford campground fees would increase costs to between $15 and $140, depending on use. Comments will be accepted through March 22.
Urge POTUS to address the plastic pollution crisis
Greenpeace: President Biden — act now to solve the plastic pollution crisis
Microplastics invade our bodies! A new health concern beyond climate impacts and pollution of our land, lakes, rivers, and oceans.
ScienceDirect: Plasticenta — First evidence of microplastics in human placenta
Also, think about how you can eliminate or reduce your use of throw-away plastics ...
Opponents of Pellissippi Parkway extension cite high cost, environmental damage and changing commuting habits
Written by Lesli Bales-Sherrod
State and local officials want to expand another ‘road to nowhere’ by way of the controversial $200 million Pellissippi Parkway extension in Blount County. Lesli Bales-Sherrod/Hellbender Press
The newest road to nowhere
The former “missing link” of the Foothills Parkway. The “road to nowhere” in Bryson City, North Carolina. Blount County, Tennessee, has its own unfinished road project, without the catchy nickname: the Pellissippi Parkway Extension.This proposed 4.4-mile stretch of four-lane highway would lengthen State Route 162, known as Pellissippi Parkway, from where it ends at Old Knoxville Highway (State Route 33) to East Lamar Alexander Highway (State Route 73/U.S. 321) in Maryville.
State and local government officials, however, maintain the Pellissippi Parkway Extension will address needs such as “limited mobility options in Blount County and Maryville, poor local road network with substandard cross sections (with narrow lanes, sharp curves, and insufficient shoulders), lack of a northwest/east connection east of Alcoa and Maryville, safety issues on roadways in the area, and traffic congestion and poor levels of traffic operation on major arterial roads and intersections,” according to the Record of Decision signed by the Federal Highway Administration on Aug. 31, 2017.
Counting birds and taking names at Seven Islands
Written by Thomas Fraser
Tina Brouwer, left, and Ranger Clare Dattilo look for birds Jan. 3 at Seven Islands State Birding Park. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press
Dozens join annual avian survey at Seven Islands State Birding Park
KODAK, TN — State park interpretive ranger Clare Dattilo led the group slowly but surely across the muddy winter landscape of Seven Islands State Birding Park, taking note of birdsong and investigating undulating flashes of quick color against the backdrop of green cedars and nude tree branches and grasses flattened by the weight of a recent snow.
Even in the dead of winter, woods and fields are filled with life.
The birding park hosted both trained ornithologists and casual birdwatchers to scope out species to include in the annual Audubon Society Christmas bird count. Dattilo was tallying her numbers with a couple of journalists and a long-time friend from college.
Bluff Mountain loomed to the east. The crest of the Smokies, in commanding view on clear days, was shrouded in freezing fog. Ring-billed seagulls flew high overhead while a couple of Carolina wrens chirped in the underbrush.
Bursts of bluebirds and cardinals yielded glimpses of color. Flycatchers and downy woodpeckers concentrated on their rhythmic work amidst the barren winter branches of the huge oaks, hickories and maples that spread across the ridges of the park and into its small hollows. White-tailed deer browsed silently, undeterred and seemingly and correctly unbothered by the birdwatchers.
Save the environment using your phone
Feb 9 7 p.m.
Community science: how you can save the environment using your phone
Mac Post, Ecosystem Ecologist Emeritus (ORNL)
Harvey Broome Group, Sierra Club
Zoom Meeting - Free and open to the public - RSVP
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