Displaying items by tag: knox county stormwater

KNOXVILLE — The 37^th annual Ijams River Rescue on March 21 brought together 584 volunteers to clean up 39 sites, removing an estimated 34,800 pounds (17.4 tons) of trash from the Tennessee River, creeks, streams, and shorelines in Knox, Anderson, Blount, and Sevier Counties.

Volunteers collected 1,273 bags of trash as well as 114 tires and large items, such as traffic barrels, shopping carts, broken windows, and a riding lawnmower. Other finds included 40 feet of barge line, 125 square feet of docking, two toilets, medical equipment, a box of shotgun shells, underwear, and a full plate of food that had been abandoned on a bench.

This year’s cleanup surpassed the 2025 Ijams River Rescue, which removed an estimated 17.2 tons of trash and large items from 34 sites in Knox, Anderson, Blount, and Loudon counties.

The 37th annual Ijams River Rescue was made possible thanks to City of Knoxville Stormwater Engineering, Dow, First Horizon Bank, Tennessee Valley Authority, Borderland Tees, Brunswick Boat Group, Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union, Vulcan Materials Company, Old Sevier District, and Tailwater Properties.

-Ijams Nature Center

The town of Farragut owns the outdoor classroom property on Campbell Station Road at Farragut High School. It’s difficult for students and teachers to use the outdoor classroom as much as they’d like. Ivy Zhang/Hellbender Press

An educational outing to a living laboratory by the high school is considered a field trip

Hellbender Press intern Ivy Zhang is a junior at Farragut High School. She plans a career in journalism and digital media. 

KNOXVILLE  — The best place to learn about the natural environment is not in a classroom. It’s outside.

Teachers and students at Farragut High School said the school’s outdoor classroom improves academic performance and there is a schoolwide desire to utilize it even more as an educational resource.

Students show more interest in learning when they are outside in a calming, natural environment, teachers said. And for those studying the biological sciences, outdoor classrooms serve as a living laboratory for the study of soils, trees, plants, animals, insects and other natural resources.