Tennessee Wild Blog

Blue Ridge Two Lined Salamander in Big Frog Wilderness

Twenty five years ago tomorrow, with a stroke of his pen, President Ronald Reagan added nearly 34,000 acres of wilderness in Tennessee's Cherokee National Forest.  The Tennessee Wilderness Act of 1986 was signed into law on October 16, 1986.  This law created the Sampson Mountain, Big Laurel Branch, Pond Mountain, Unaka Mountain, and Little Frog Wilderness areas, and expanded the (then) two year old Big Frog Wilderness by 3,000 acres.

In 2011 Tennessee Wild partnered with the Cherokee National Forest to offer snorkeling trips on three freshwater rivers in East Tennessee.

Last night while performing a Google search, I came across a Podcast discussing the Tennessee Wilderness Act.  The host of the Podcast was from a state far from Tennessee.  The facts?  Well, they were hard to find during the course of the 30+ minute interview. 

On May 27, 2011 Senator Alexander reintroduced the Tennessee Wilderness Act of 2011 after it failed to get a hearing in the 111th Congress. The bill which is co-sponsored by Senator Bob Corker expands acreage in five existing wilderness areas including the Big Frog, Little Frog, Joyce Kilmer Slickrock, Big Laurel Branch, and the Sampson Mountain Wilderness areas. It also creates the first new wilderness area in Tennessee in 25 years; the Upper Bald River Wilderness. 

At Tennessee Wild, we love music.  We can often be found tabling at music festivals around Tennessee like Chattanooga's Riverbend & Riverfront Nights, Johnson City's Blue Plum Festival, and Manchester's one and only Bonnaroo.

The Civil Wars' Song, "Birds of a Feather (Live at the Ark)"Will Be Sold via the Patagonia Music Collective with Net Proceeds Going Directly to the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition

Flags at half staff - AP photo

In March 2009, I flew to Tucson, Arizona to attend a gathering of wilderness activists from across the USA.  I didn't spend much time in the city.  Shortly after arriving, we were whisked away in a van to Rex Ranch in Amado, Arizona.  I spent an amazing handful of days in the desert, networking and learning how to be a more effective advocate for wilderness.  While there, some of us went birding in

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As I type this, the Tennessee Wilderness Act of 2010 hangs in the balance in the current Congress. As Congress debates taxes and unemployment insurance, extremist anti-environment legislators from states other than Tennessee have been emboldened by the last election, and are ramping up the rhetoric.

Action Alert

Your help is needed to pass the Tennessee Wilderness Act of 2010.

Our friends at Campaign for America's Wilderness have put together a video from Wilderness Week - which was held in late September in Washington, DC. In the video, Tennessee Wild Field Organizer Jeff Hunter is seen explaining the value of going to Washington, DC.  Special thanks once again to photography guru Bill Hodge with Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards for his two photos (shown between 3:25 - 3:38). Check it out!