Welcome to our visioning exercise for East Tennessee! We are grateful to all of our allies who came together to create this vision for our region. Together, in this exercise, we dream big and envision an ideal future for our region, together. Our wide range of ambitious goals include the restoration of riverside plants, increased community engagement, economic investment in native plant nurseries, cleaner waterways, and greater biodiversity for native wildlife. We envision a future where native plants are thriving, and communities are actively involved in stewardship of their habitats. However, we also recognize that there are strengths, weaknesses, obstacles, and threats that we need to address in order to achieve our vision. In this exercise, we will explore potential solutions to overcome these challenges and turn our vision into a reality in the coming year.
PART ONE: What is your ideal vision of East Tennessee in ten years? Dream big!
- Full restoration of riverside plants
- Developers attend native plant meetings and are actively involved
- Paradigm shift and economic investment/development
- Economic barriers removed
- No more mutilation of mature trees
- Native plant nurseries are profitable and an economic driver
- Communication between groups
- Initiative for clean waterways and watersheds
- Greater community engagement and communication
- Return of biodiversity for reptiles and all native wildlife
- More birds and insects
- Teen engagement with science and natives
- Stewardship of habitats is common
- Prescribed burns
- Expand Homegrown National Park
- Stronger tree protection
- Every street tree lined
- Restore trees that were chopped
- Fewer lawns!
- Incentives for developers to use natives
- Third Creek Initiative—all watersheds clean
- 100% recyclable/reusable packaging to cut down on litter
- All invasives removed
- Garden stores only sell natives
- Freeways and ramps are pollinator gardens
- Enjoy what we create
- Big nurseries sell primarily (regionally appropriate) natives
- Wild landscapes are the norm
- Organizations on board
- More education
- Natives on roadsides
- Happy bees and birds
- Greater diversity—less pesticides and herbicides
- Light rail habitat corridor
- Schools involved in native planting
- Normalizing thinking beyond ourselves
- More conscientious behavior toward natives
- Following the latest research on “nativars”
- Native plants are affordable/FREE
- Normal for kids to know natives
- Native ecoregion studies for each neighborhood
- Landscapers are educated on using natives and NOT invasives
- Existing vegetation is preserved, and roadside indigenous vegetation is expanded
- Native plants will flourish; invasives will be rare
- Aggressive kudzu cleanup effort
- Wildlife will be thriving because of plentiful native plants
- Gardens, NOT lawns
- Volunteering services for tending to the gardens of the lesser abled/marginalized
PART TWO: What are the STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OBSTACLES, AND THREATS associated with these visions?
STRENGTHS
- Existing agencies: TWRA, TVA, Knox County Stormwater
- Passion, partnerships, knowledge
- Financial incentives—green developers
- Conservation easements
- Tax deductions
- Community power
- Technology
- Science and data
- Natural curiosity
WEAKNESSES
- Waterways polluted
- Expensive to initiate (not once started)
- Lack of care
- Lack of rules
- Lack of time
- Lack of awareness
- Tightly controlled curriculum
OBSTACLES
- Government bureaucracy
- Lack of communication/inter-agency cooperation
- Economic barriers
- Utilities
- Distance
- Priorities not aligned
- Fear of bugs, etc.
THREATS
- Politicizing
- Rampant, unfettered development
- Government agencies viewing natives as “weeds”
- Development
- Misinformation/disinformation
PART THREE: What solutions can we use to overcome weaknesses, obstacles and threats and achieve our visions within one year?
GROWING, SELLING, AND ECONOMICS OF NATIVE PLANTS
- Share/distribute
- More plant swaps
- Use youth volunteers to distribute/plant/sow seed at low or no cost
- Plant sharing co-op
- Seed collection
- Teach winter sowing techniques
- Free tree saplings grown on the land inside highway exits
KIDS, SCHOOLS, EDUCATION (FUTURE GENERATIONS)
- Education of teachers
- Students bring home information and plants to get parents involved
- Grants for schools to plant natives; educating students about the importance of natives AND ecosystem services
- Community gardens at schools
- Wild plant clubs at schools
- Small summer “expectations” for all economic classes
- Neighborhood land stewardship groups who support the habitat creation and ecological health of both their communities and local schools (Note: There are already several of these groups working in Knoxville neighborhoods)
GOVERNMENT AND NATIVES
- Convince county maintenance crews that natives are good
- Education for elected officials
- Develop lobby to meet with legislators—make it non-partisan (see Changing Climate lobby model)
- Developers need sticks! Other cities and states have stricter rules and developers must comply
- Planning commission and elected officials need to balance environment with regulation: advance Knox planned residential and planned development riparian regulations; better subdivision standards
- We need to lobby! Join Knox Community Planning Alliance
- Elect council and commission based on native plant and tree conservation
TREES AND DEVELOPMENT
- Require city approval for removal of mature trees on private land within city limits
- Tax incentives for owners/developers to leave existing vegetation standing on new developments
- Tree removal fund developers have to pay; profits go to Wild Ones
- Develop incentives (carrots) to change
- Names trees with small placards: “Hello, I’m a [species] and my name is _____”
- Require trees to be planted in ALL developments
- Take Trees Knoxville Master Plan Survey
EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION
- Reach out and engage faith communities and social justice groups
- Recognition for communities committed to stewardship in their landscapes, promoting education
- People like to be pat on the back
- Share, be examples
- No judging, no yelling
- “Adopt-a-Landscape” a la Adopt-a-Highway
- Publicize beautiful native gardens and wildlife habitat (NWF)
- Webpage listing local clubs/events/organizations; crowdsourcing
- Make going native sexy
- Participate in Urban Forest Master Plan in Knox County and in the Knox County Development Planning (“Advance Knox”) now underway. Add in a “bird treaty”
- Engage with children to teach love of nature eg. After school nature clubs, Big Brothers/Big Sisters
- Participate in environmental analyses by NPS in GSMNP
- Foster local/state pride—our native plants make us Tennesseans
- Encourage organizations and individuals to give out seeds as favors, gifts, or promotional items instead of plastic trinkets
- Market native plants as ways to attract watchable wildlife; alternatives to bird feeders that don’t require cleaning and constant upkeep!
REMOVING INVASIVES AND CULTIVATING WILD SPACES
- Make easily accessible reference for which species are invasive, how to identify them, and how to safely and responsibly remove them
- Goats vs. kudzu—goats win
- Invasive walks (similar to trash pickup walks)
- Education and implementing prescribed burns
- Educating about lesser-known habitats—native warm season grasslands
- Next new “Dogwood Trail” devoted to native landscapes and certified wildlife habitat
- Tours of residential native yards
UNCATEGORIZED SUGGESTIONS FROM ZOOM PARTICIPANTS
- Partnering with Native Plant Rescue Squad, Overhill Gardens, etc. to educate about native plant offerings; partner with UT Extension (TN Smart Yards) to raise awareness of benefits of native plants, including research and economic figures
- Partnering with Keep Knox/Sevier/Blount Beautiful, NPRS, UT Master Gardeners, etc. to provide materials, volunteers, resources for existing environmental youth education
- Meet with government officials to advocate for policy changes at the city, county, and state level
- Developers want accreditation in terms of how “GREEN” they are. Wild Ones could create a training/inspection program that developers could earn
- Partnering with UT Gardens, Knox Botanical Gardens, Trees Knox, Master Gardeners, etc.
- Partner with TN Invasive Plant Council. Possibly add that as a portion of the developers’ accreditation program. Possibly dovetail accreditation for realtors into the developers’ certification? Realtors often encourage sellers to remove trees AND native plants if they want to sell their homes, but economically mature trees (obviously, in our case, native trees) increase home values.
- Once people get the hands-on aspect of something tangible they may be more invested in planting more, telling others, and learning
- Trying to get seeds out to people who visit the educational events may help. That could include the school and youth involvement
- One way to educate folks about the value of native plants would be to partner with and increase awareness of the native plantings at our local botanical gardens. KBGA has an Indigenous American interpretive garden, native fruit grove, pollinator garden, pollinator meadow, AND pollinator grove right outside the meeting location. UT Gardens has a Native American interpretive garden and new rain garden feature.
In conclusion, our vision for East Tennessee in ten years is one of a restored and thriving ecosystem where native plants, wildlife, and communities coexist in harmony. Together, with our many participants, we have identified strengths such as existing agencies, passion, partnerships, and financial incentives that can support our vision. However, we also acknowledge weaknesses, obstacles, and threats such as water pollution, lack of awareness, government bureaucracy, and misinformation that we need to overcome. Through education, community engagement, lobbying, and incentivizing sustainable practices, we can work towards achieving our vision within one year. By taking collective action and working together, we can create a brighter and more sustainable future for East Tennessee. Let’s dream big and make our vision a reality!
