11 Sustainable Cities and Communities (162)
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Little River dam-removal project flowing forward, specific timeline TBA
Written by Élan Young
Peery’s Mill Dam on the Little River is slated for removal by the Army Corps of Engineers for environmental and public safety reasons. Elan Young/Hellbender Press
Army Corps still committed to Little River dam removal for ecological and safety reasons, but timeline uncertain
TOWNSEND — The remainders of two low-head dams on the Little River in Blount County, Rockford Dam and Peery’s Mill Dam, are slated for removal by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) following the release in July 2023 of a Project Report and Environmental Assessment that investigated the lower 32 miles of the Little River.
The Corps confirmed this week that plans are moving ahead to remove the two dams.
Peery’s Mill Dam was the site of 4 separate drownings in the last 15 years, giving it the notorious reputation as the deadliest dam in Tennessee in the past quarter century. Late last month, three women had to be rescued from the churning waters there, prompting questions from the community about the status of the Corps’ removal effort.
Little River Watershed Association president Andrew Gunnoe says that watershed advocates are eager for the dam removal project to move forward because doing so would provide both ecological and community benefits.
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- peery’s mill dam rescues
- why are dams bad for the environment
- rockford dam
- blounty county commission
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- elan young journalist
Follow some protocols during No-Mow May or risk the sting of a city codes violation
Written by Thomas Fraser
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.
Resisting the alien invasion: Oak Ridge work party highlights threat of invasive plants
Written by Ben Pounds
Regina Santore with the Wild Ones Smoky Mountains Chapter puts garlic mustard into a bag during an April volunteer event along a greenway in Oak Ridge. Ben Pounds/Hellbender Press
Volunteers fight exotic and invasive garlic mustard on Oak Ridge greenway
OAK RIDGE — Plants from around the world are overrunning the Southeast’s wild places, causing problems for native flora and fauna.
It’s a problem that’s grabbed the attention and work of dedicated organizations. One of them, the Tennessee Invasive Plant Council has many strategies to solve this problem: volunteer weed-pulling events, guides to help gardeners find native plants from which to choose, and even legislation. Its vice president, Jamie Herold, has many thoughts on the issue. She was eager to share them over pizza after a morning of pulling one such invasive, garlic mustard, at an event in Oak Ridge organized by Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, and Greenways Oak Ridge.
The event involved pulling garlic mustard, a plant originally from Europe, from the edge of the woods behind apartments on West Vanderbilt Avenue. This area includes the Wildflower Greenway, a trail full of wildflowers that locals have been eager to protect from the garlic mustard’s domination.
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- biodiversity
Want to help wildlife? TWRA to host huge habitat-improvement event
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.
Chattanooga Earth Day Week continues
This image of Earth captures the 2017 eclipse shadow. NASA
Get dirty. Get wet. Have fun. Love your mother.
Celebrate our planet’s beauty and bounty at one of many Earth Day events in the region this weekend and beyond. You can pick up trash, kayak a river and even get sustainable fashion tips and tricks.
The official observation of Earth Day 2024 is Monday, April 22, but ways to give back and respect the Earth abound for days before and after. Here’s a sampling of observations and activities. And remember: Every day should be Earth Day.
Knoxville
— Little River Watershed Association plans its annual cleanup and paddle for 12-4 p.m. Saturday, April 20. Participants will put in at Peery’s Mill near Townsend and remove trash from the river for about three hours before taking out at Sevierville Bridge. Albright Grove Brewery will offer beer after the cleanup. A limited number of kayaks are available for use, and a shuttle is available. Get more information and sign up here.
— Keep Knoxville Beautiful will hold the South Knoxville Community Cleanup from 9 a.m. until noon Saturday, April 20 starting at Mary Vestal Park, 522 Maryville Pike, Knoxville. The group is removing litter from South Knoxville streams, roads and parks. All reserved spots are full, but Amanda Seale, director of programs for Keep Knoxville Beautiful said her group still welcomes help from anyone who shows up.
— The third annual Fleurish: A Sustainable Fashion Event (and Fundraiser) at Ijams Nature Center will bring eco-friendly and sustainable Punk vs. Funk designs to the runway Sunday, April 21. Tickets are $30 and are available at Ijams.org/fleurish. All proceeds support Ijams Nature Center. The cocktail hour from 6 until 7 p.m. will feature photo ops on the “green” carpet, education stations and information about conservation efforts in the fashion realm, as well as a cash bar featuring punk and funk signature cocktails, and food from Coffee & Chocolate, Cafe 4, and The Kennedy. The fashion show will feature clothing with sustainable, reused and recycled materials from 25 designers. Following the fashion show, attendees will be able to meet the artists, designers, and models on the nature center’s hillside. Brent Hyder and Duck Experience will provide live music. Ijams Visitor Services Director Sarah Brobst said there may be some surprise elements as well.
“Fleurish shows how the average consumer can make changes to their day-to-day lives while never losing sight of the beauty of nature and the human experience,” she said. She encouraged the audience to come dressed in their favorite punk or funk fashions.
— The University of Tennessee will host an Earth Day Festival from 11 until 2 p.m. April 22 at the Student Union Plaza.
“Come meet campus and community organizations, enter some giveaways, participate in sustainable activities, and more!,” according to organizers. Other Earth Week events will continue on and near the campus that week. A full list of them is online.
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- little river watershed association
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- ijams nature center
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- duck experience
- sarah brobst
- chattanooga parks and outdoors
- chattanooga national park city
- chattanooga earth day events
- knoxville earth day events
- asheville earth day events
- adventure library
- greenway farms
- buncombe county sports park
- lake julian
- green built alliance
- earth day 5k
- south knoxville litter cleanup
Apathy threatens the planet. How do we get people to care?
Written by David Shiffman
Hellbender Press editor and publisher Thomas Fraser takes a break during a kayak run on the Pigeon River. A new study bolsters the idea that one way to turn people on to the importance of nature is to get them outside. Jeremy Fraser/Hellbender Press
New research backs up conventional wisdom that getting people outdoors inspires them to conserve nature.
This story was originally published by The Revelator.
The natural world faces many threats, but to many environmentalists, none are so baffling and heartbreaking as public apathy toward those threats.
How do we get more people to care about the natural world so they’re moved to stand up and defend it? The answer is complex, of course, because humans are complex. But part of it can be found in a simple truth: Some people don’t care much about the natural world because they haven’t experienced nature directly.
For years experts have pointed to a potential solution: Getting people to spend more time in nature, they say, can help make them care more about threats to our environment and adopt more pro-environment behaviors.
Observe, upload and preserve during the City Nature Challenge
Written by Thomas Fraser
KNOXVILLE — People across 13 counties in East Tennessee are urged to record animals, plants and fungi they observe for four days in late April.
City Nature Challenge 2024 is international, but the Knoxville-area challenge includes anyone in Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Claiborne, Grainger, Jefferson, Knox, Loudon, Morgan, Roane, Scott, Sevier and Union counties. It will run April 26 through April 29 via the iNaturalist app, which is available on Google play or the App Store. While the focus is largely centered on urban areas, participants don’t have to live within a city or town to record their observations.
Participants can upload photos from a digital camera to the iNaturalist website even if they lack a smartphone. Zoo Knoxville, Tennessee Butterfly Monitoring Challenge, the city of Knoxville, Ijams Nature Center, Sierra Club, South Doyle Middle School and Discover Life in America are partnering to support the project. No experience is needed to participate. Results will be announced on May 6.
Knoxville’s new alternative transportation leader will start with traffic calming
Cody Gentry
KNOXVILLE — Transportation Engineering Specialist Cody Gentry is the city’s first Vision Zero coordinator.
As the city’s first Vision Zero coordinator, Gentry will oversee efforts by multiple city departments and community groups, including Bike Walk Knoxville, to improve roadway safety and meet the Vision Zero goal, which City Council unanimously endorsed in 2021.
Gentry has worked in the city’s engineering department for 17 years, most recently as a key member of the Neighborhood Transportation Safety Program. The neighborhood-driven program seeks solutions to vehicle speed and traffic safety concerns on residential streets.
“I’m eager for Cody to lend his significant experience to our Vision Zero efforts and find multi-modal solutions to road safety across Knoxville,” said Mayor Indya Kincannon. “We must work together across multiple city departments and community groups in order to reach our goal of ending deadly crashes by 2040. Cody is the person to bring those components together.”
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Knoxville hires new sustainability director to help clean up the city
Written by Paige M. Travis
New director comes from Nashville; decarbonization of city a central duty
Paige Travis is a public information specialist for the city of Knoxville.
KNOXVILLE — Mayor Indya Kincannon appointed Metro Nashville Decarbonization Manager Vasu Primlani as Knoxville’s next director of sustainability.
Primlani has more than three decades of experience in sustainability and has received awards for environmental innovation, including the EPA’s Environmental Achievement Award.
“Vasu has an incredible track record in this field,” Kincannon said. “Her experience and creative thinking will help Knoxville meet our goal of an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050.
“I am also impressed with her focus on equity. We must adapt to climate change in a way that is just, equitable, and helps everyday people and small business owners save money too.”
Knox County is trying to fix what we broke at Plumb Creek
KNOXVILLE — Knox County government announced the kickoff of the Plumb Creek Park Stream Enhancement Project, a strategic effort aimed at revitalizing the water quality and ecosystem of Plumb Creek, a tributary of Beaver Creek, supported by federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act.
(Eds. note: Every Republican representing Tennessee in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House voted against the act that provided the money.)
Plumb Creek Park, located at 1517 Hickey Road, features a disc golf course, playground, shelter, walking trails and an 8-acre dog park.
The project, which began this month, is expected to wrap up in December and include a comprehensive set of restoration activities. Work includes removing obstructions such as culverts and debris; controlling invasive species; stabilizing stream banks; and installing stream structures to improve habitat quality, erosion, and sediment control measures.
Some sections of the park will close temporarily during construction. The dog park will remain open.
This project is funded in part by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a federal initiative to aid state and local governments in mitigating the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
— Knox County
Experts and citizens plan and commiserate over TVA’s lack of public process
Written by Élan Young
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.