Tennessee Heartwood-2025 Accomplishments
SPIEL Conference
Tennessee Heartwood is cofounder of the Southeastern Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (SPIEL). SPIEL brings together public interest environmental attorneys, scientists, grassroots environmental advocates, academics, and students to network and share ideas, skills, and research and through presentations, hands-on workshops, caucuses, outdoor learning, and discussions in a community-building weekend of fellowship at the idyllic University of the South in Sewanee, TN.  The 2nd annual conference was a huge success, with over 160 attendees from all across the country. We’re already planning SPIEL 2026.
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1st Annual Land Between the Lakes Biodiversity Surveys of the Core Areas
The LBL is home to thousands of acres of protected forest called the Core Areas. Originally designated under the World Biosphere Program decades ago, many of the original surveys and documents that made these areas worthy of distinction have been lost. While a few of these areas, like the Devil’s Backbone State Natural Area, are well known, there are many others -sometimes only a few acres in size- that have no survey records at all. Last April, over 20 volunteers spent the weekend exploring some of these-little known place for plants, animals, historic sites, and more. Gathering this information helps LBL rangers learn more about these special places. We will be hosting the 2nd Annual round of surveys April 25-26 this year.
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Conecuh Oil and Gas Drilling Documentary
This April, we went to the Conecuh National Forest to make a short documentary about a proposal by the Forest Service that would open 96% of the forest to oil and gas drilling. We did our best to pack in both the beauty and importance of the forest and the urgency of the public to take a stand against this proposal. As is discussed in the video description, a lot is at stake:
• The Conecuh proposal would leave 96% of the forest open to federal oil and gas leasing.
• Oil and gas drilling creates toxic fluid discharges that can affect aquifers, surface waters, and drinking water.
• In a recent analysis of the potential for new drilling, the Forest Service admits “Given the limited history of gas production in the Conecuh National Forest, pipeline infrastructure would need to be installed to service new wells.”
• Pipelines contribute to forest fragmentation, the encroachment of invasive species, and trash dumping.
• Oil and gas drilling will also require intensive water use, which may deplete drinking water supplies and affect rivers, streams, lakes, springs, species and ecosystem health in the Conecuh.
• The Conecuh and Yellow River systems of the forest are designated critical habitat for many of these species, including several mussels.
• The Conecuh is also an important recovery area for other Threatened and Endangered species, such as the Red Cockaded Woodpecker, Indigo Snake, and Gopher Tortoise.
• Alabama’s national forests rank number one in the country for diversity of fish, turtles, mollusks, and crayfish. Alabama’s national forests are nationally and globally significant biodiversity hotspots.
The Forest Service has not reached a decision yet. Check out the video and links to where you can have your voice be heard.
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State Forests Reform
We continue our long-term monitoring of problems with management of our 16 State Forests. To help raise awareness of the issues of heavy logging and succession of mixed hardwood and hardwood-pine communities to poplar and invasives, Southwings gave us and a reporter at the Chattanooga Times Free Press a flyover of Franklin and Prentice-Cooper, two of the most heavily logged forests. We have also been analyzing the data from our Freedom of Information
Act request of logging plans and sale data over the last few years. We are exploring ways to reach out to the state legislature to address issues and to offer reforms detailed in our State Forests Reform presentation.
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Cherokee National Forest
We spent a couple of days in the Unicoi district to explore and survey the Sugar Mountain Project, a relatively smaller timber sale than is typical for the district. We identified places of high stand diversity and potential old growth and denning trees, and other concerns we had on some of the stands that were going to be logged. In our comments, we also offered to assist with the maintenance of the spruce restoration at Whigg Meadow, which began a decade ago, as we go there yearly to participate in the annual migratory bird banding we like to check in on the progress of the saplings.
Land Between the Lakes Forest Wide Analysis
The LBL is one of the first forests to undertake projects under the changes to NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) protocols for federal lands. The Environmental Assessment for the Area-Wide Non-Native Invasive Species Eradication Project for the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area addresses primarily the presence of loblolly pine that was planted in the 1950s-1960s by TVA as the LBL came under their control during the forced removal of the local people. As this is a forestwide project, we spent a great deal of time discussing this project with the Forest Service and provided extensive comments.
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Roadless Rule
The Roadless Rule of 2001 was a national directive to help provide additional protection for wild, unloaded areas of National Forest that were otherwise unprotected. The current administration has been working to rescind this rule. We were interviewed by multiple media outlets, including the Chattanooga Times Free Press and Knoxville News Sentinel, about the importance of the Roadless Rule for the long term ecological health and sustainability of our nation’s National Forests.
