Dollywood joins Tennessee Aquarium effort to limit the introduction of cigarette butts to our shared waterways.

“As all humans need access to clean water, it’s an incredibly important treasure to protect.” — Dr. Anna George, Tennessee Aquarium vice president of conservation science and education.

Cigarette butts are everywhere, and are perhaps so familiar they go unnoticed by the millions of people who pass them on our streets and roads.

Not only are they unsightly, they contaminate our water resources — the puddles after a sudden rainstorm, the streams that flow through our landscapes, and the stormwater drains that ultimately lead to the Tennessee River. The butts quickly break down, polluting water with “tiny plastic fibers and a devil’s cocktail of chemical compounds,” according to the Tennessee Aquarium.

Associated Press: Activists say TVA spent ratepayer money to sue over pollution restrictions

A coalition of environmental groups alleges the Tennessee Valley Authority provided millions of dollars in dues to a trade group resistant to air-pollution control measures.

TVA officials say the utility's membership in the Utility Air Regulatory Group was a way to help it navigate the complexities of federal pollution regulations, but documents obtained by the clean-air coalition via a Freedom of Information Act request show the now-disbanded trade group spent $3.5 million on legal fees between 2015 and July 2018. TVA CEO Jeff Lyash told Congress in 2019 the utility had paid UARG $7.3 million since 2001.

The committee that approved the legal expenses was co-chaired at the time by a senior TVA manager, and in lawsuits, "the UARG frequently argued against tighter air pollution and climate regulations," according to the AP.

The Knoxville-based Southern Alliance for Clean Energy was among the environmental groups calling for a review of TVA's relationship with the UARG and other trade groups.

(SACE executive director Stephen Smith is a member of the board of Foundation for Global Sustainability. Hellbender Press is a self-supporting project of FGS). 

RiverLine dedicates itself to recreation and retrospect on the storied Tennessee River

In many respects, the United States and Native American nations before it were carved out by paddle blades.

Rivers provided transportation, communications, sustenance and avenues for exploration. They were the genesis of cities large and small.

Americans grew apart from the rivers that watered and nurtured a modern nation, their connections cut by outward growth and industrial development along riverbanks.

Only recently have the great continental rivers again become the centerpieces of redevelopment and modern recreation. One such effort officially launched in Knoxville on May 21 aims to further connect communities in four states with their river again.

A bale of turtles watched from logs embedded in the sediment of the Tennessee River (or more precisely, Fort Loudoun Lake) at Suttree Landing Park near downtown as officials from Knoxville to Paducah, Kentucky celebrated the creation of the Tennessee RiverLine, which will establish continuous paddling, hiking and biking trails along the 652-mile length of the reservoir-regulated river.

The initial effort, which will include enhanced launch and takeout sites, signage and navigational aids, 60 publicly available kayaks, campground enhancement, and publicity, is largely funded by a $400,000 investment shared between the University of Tennessee and Tennessee Valley Authority. The National Park Service is also a partner in the project.

Seventeen private and public groups of the RiverLine Partnership are committed to furthering the development of the trail, including the Nature Conservancy. Other supporters include Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area and the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga.

“These partners have brought so much to the city of Knoxville,” said Mayor Indya Kincannon specifically of UT and TVA during her public remarks at the well-choreographed event in the well-groomed park with the downtown skyline visible under a clear, blue sky to the northwest. 

“The Tennessee RiverLine is a continuation of our vision for what makes a healthy city: (which includes) parks and recreation,” she said, also touting the economic, therapeutic and spiritual benefits of ready access to outdoor recreation.

“During this past year, we’ve had a really hard time, dealing with the pandemic, and one thing that has helped me, and so many members of this community, is being able to be outside: being on the river, being in our parks,” Kincannon said. 

“That has helped us get through some challenging times, and that’s going to help us into the future.”

Eva Millwood holds Brood X cicadas on her property in South Knoxville in this submitted photo.

We will see a groundswell of East Tennessee 17-year cicadas as the heat comes on.

We have been hearing about it for weeks, online and on TV and in print. After 17 years underground, millions of cicadas are going to climb out of their burrows, shed their juvenile skins, unfurl their wings and fly up into the trees for one last grand jester of panache and reproduction and death. You even read about Brood X cicadas in Hellbender Press.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency posted a recent Instagram photo of a wild turkey jake with a crop stuffed full of cicadas, and there are reports of cicadas emerging en masse in parts of Tennessee. But your local searching self may ask: Where are they?

Insects are largely ectothermic. That means their body temperature comes from the surrounding air, water or ground temperature. The periodical cicadas need a ground temperature of roughly 68 degrees, eight inches deep to become very active. And we really have not had that for a sustained length of time.

Last week seemed to be destined to be the first big week of the emergence of Brood X. Monday started strong but the weather turned unusually cool for early May with daytime highs in the low 60s. Some of the cicadas started to ease out but it was primarily dozens, not hundreds or thousands, and certainly not 1.5 million per occupied acre. And remember, they are not everywhere. 

Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Monday announced that Alan Sumeriski, a veteran park infrastructure manager in the nation's most-visited national park, will take the helm as deputy superintendent.

“Alan is a well-respected senior leader in the National Park Service with over 30 years of experience in managing some of the most complex operations in the National Park Service and I’m honored to select him as the next deputy superintendent of the Smokies,” Superintendent Cassius Cash said in a press release announcing Sumeriski's new assignment. “As acting deputy superintendent, Alan has consistently provided strong and innovative parkwide leadership to help us meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.”

Sumeriski has served as the heavily visited national park's facilities management chief since 2007. His first assignment was as an engineering equipment operator for park service units in the Washington/Baltimore area.

“Alan provides leadership for over 150 permanent and seasonal staff who care for 384 miles of roads, 146 bridges, 152 historic cemeteries, 27 water and sewer systems, 10 campgrounds, 11 picnic areas, 848 miles of trails, and over 100 historic structures and landscapes,” according to a park release.