Displaying items by tag: rails to trails

A volunteer removes invasive plants from an Oak Ridge cedar barren in March 2021 as part of a Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning effort to keep the barren in its natural prairie state. Anna Lawrence/Hellbender Press

Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning pivots to Highlander Trail as it looks back with pride on its past

OAK RIDGE —Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning is celebrating its 60th anniversary and continuing its efforts to protect both the people and public lands of Southern Appalachia.

One of its current initiatives of special note is working in concert with the Trust for Public Land to create the longest rail-to-trail corridor in Tennessee, which will run between Oneida and New River.

The organization began in the summer of 1966 after separate organizations — working to save the Obed River system from a dam and protect Great Smoky Mountains National Park — joined forces for a common purpose.

The group was officially incorporated in October that year, led by famed Oak Ridge geneticist couple Lianne Russell and William Russell.

TCWP can claim among its victories the preservation of Obed Wild and Scenic River and Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, both now part of the National Park Service system. In keeping with the group’s Oak Ridge origins, it helped preserve Oak Ridge’s North Ridge Trail, Cedar Barrens and Worthington Cemetery.