The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has announced the creation of the Office of Outdoor Recreation to further the state’s conservation efforts and to help residents and visitors have more access to Tennessee’s great outdoors.
Gov. Bill Lee made the announcement at the second annual Tennessee Conservation Summit in Nashville last week, where key stakeholders gathered to align priorities and develop further strategies around conservation.
Brian Clifford has been appointed director to lead the office, headquartered at TDEC in Nashville.
“This office will help us leverage Tennessee’s unparalleled natural resources and beauty to improve our quality of life and create lasting memories for Tennessee families and visitors,” Lee says.
“Conservation is a team sport, including federal, state, local and private partners,” Clifford says. “We’re already making great strides to protect and share Tennessee’s great outdoors, and this new office will capitalize on that momentum. The office is one of, if not the most, comprehensive offices of outdoor recreation in the nation, with a strong focus on actually getting things done on the ground.”
The office was created with existing resources to further state conservation efforts without expanding government.
High on the agenda for the Office of Outdoor Recreation is the Tennessee Blueways initiative – focusing on developing high-quality water trails across the state. The plan is to ensure that Tennessee has the cleanest and most accessible system of recreation waterways in the nation.
Comprehensive forest inventory underway
Tennessee’s state forests are undergoing a comprehensive inventory aimed at promoting sustainable forest management.
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry engaged Steigerwaldt Land Services to conduct an in-depth inventory of the state’s 15 state forests.
“Sustainable management of Tennessee’s state forests is a responsibility we take very seriously,” State Forester Heather Slayton says. “The data from this inventory will provide extensive, accurate and up-to-date information that will strengthen our ability to steward Tennessee’s forest resources for future generations.”
The inventory will provide better data about current forest composition, from young, regenerating trees to mature timber. This will allow TDF’s state forest management team to develop growth and yield projections with greater accuracy and will enable the team to plan and manage based on current and future forest volume rather than area.
Growth and yield projections are used to develop forest management plans and determine how much timber can be responsibly and sustainably harvested each year. The new inventory data gives more detailed information to internal and external stakeholders, including timber buyers.
In addition, this data will enable TDF to optimize forest health by resetting timber harvest targets. As trees age beyond maturity, they can weaken, creating entry points for pests and pathogens and making them more susceptible to storm damage. Applying timber harvest targets that are calibrated to current data and changing where, when, and how much harvesting occurs will reduce the number of overmature trees in the forest.
Finally, re-inventorying the state forest system supports TDF’s compliance with the sustainable forest management standards set forth by the internationally recognized Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). TDF is SFI-certified and submits to extensive annual third-party audits to ensure compliance with rigorous sustainable management standards.
Knoxville, Nashville make ‘injury-prone’ list
Families everywhere are making the most of their final days of summer fun. As children continue to fearlessly dive into outdoor adventures and exploration, bumps and bruises are inevitable.
Welly Health PBC, a first-aid brand, turned to the data to identify the most injury-prone cities across the country – otherwise known as the cities that play the hardest.
“Welly is highlighting these injury-prone cities not as a warning, but rather to celebrate and encourage playtime,” says Stephanie Moats Leibke, vice president of Brand at Welly. “Whether reaching the top of a jungle gym, exploring a theme park, climbing a tree, or learning to ride a bike, owies happen. With a little TLC, a quality first-aid solution and a dash of bravery, fun can pick up right where you left off.”
The list contains U.S. cities from all regions of the country, signifying that play is ubiquitous. Cities with high rates of tourism, including the top 3, tend to be injury-prone, as do cities with a high ParkScore (Trust for Public Land, 2023).
Top 15 Most Injury-Prone Cities in the U.S.:
- Knoxville
- Orlando, Florida
- Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida
- Roanoke, Virginia
- Spokane, Washington
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Albany, New York
- Jacksonville, Florida
- Omaha, Nebraska
- Denver, Colorado
- Louisville, Kentucky
- Nashville
- Des Moines, Iowa
- Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Data underpinning the ranking were sourced from IRI multi-outlet POS reporting from May 2023-May 2024. The ranking was compiled by comparing each IRI city market area’s percent share of total U.S. first aid adhesive bandage sales to its percent of the total census population.
Zillow: Concessions offered as rentals cool
More property managers offered concessions on their rentals in July as rent growth slowed, new data from Zillow reveals. The post-pandemic construction frenzy continues to help soften rent growth. More new multifamily units were completed in June than in any month since the 1970s.
The share of rental listings on Zillow offering a concession – a sweetener such as free weeks of rent or free parking offered as an incentive to rent – climbed to 33.2% in July. That’s up slightly from 33% in June and 25.4% a year earlier.
“Builders have stepped up and built an incredible number of homes in response to soaring rents during the pandemic, and renters are now seeing the benefits,” says Zillow chief economist Skylar Olsen. “Rents are still growing, but it’s a far cry from the steep rent hikes of two or three years ago, and renters will find sweeteners being offered by more than half of rentals in some places.”
More than half of rental listings on Zillow are offering a concession in six major metro areas: Raleigh (53.3%), Charlotte (53%), Atlanta (52.2%), Salt Lake City (50.9%), Nashville (50.8%) and Austin (50.5%). Four major metros have a smaller share of listings with a concession than last year, indicating a more competitive rental market.
LP wins APA’s 2023 Safest Company Award
LP Building Solutions has been awarded the 2023 Safest Company Award from APA – The Engineered Wood Association. This honor marks LP’s 12th win in the 16-year history of the award program, including consecutive wins in 2022 and 2023.
The APA Safety and Health Awards is the premier safety award program for North America’s engineered wood products industry. It recognizes operational excellence, aiming to reduce injury and illness rates among member companies. Awards are based on the lowest rates and severity of injuries, the greatest reductions in injuries, innovations to reduce injuries, and the best overall company record.
The Safest Company Award is given to the company with the best average weighted incident rate (WIR), which is calculated based on restricted work, lost time, fatalities and other recordable incidents. In 2023, the industry average WIR was 8.74, while LP achieved an industry-leading WIR of 2.56. LP won in the category for companies with 11 or more mills.
“At LP, safety is at the heart of everything we do,” says LP Chair and CEO Brad Southern. “This award would not be possible without the dedication and determination our team members show every day, every shift, to keep themselves and each other safe. Thank you to all our team members who made 2023 a strong year for safety.”
Community Police Academy slots open
Applications for the fall session of Metro Nashville Police Department’s Community Police Academy are now open.
Sessions for the popular program will be held at the West Precinct, 5500 Charlotte Pike, Tuesday evenings, along with some Thursdays, for 12 weeks beginning on Sept. 3 and running through Nov. 19.
Nashvillians interested in learning about the operations and law enforcement strategies of their police department are cordially invited to apply for this free and informative course.
Participants will learn about police work through the perspective of a variety of guest speakers, including members of the police department’s specialized areas. There will be presentations from the TITANS Unit, Entertainment District Unit, Youth Services, Domestic Violence, Criminal Investigations, Violent Crimes and Traffic Divisions.
In addition, there will be an opportunity to ride along with an on-duty officer and visits to the MNPD Crime Lab, Training Academy and gun range.
Each participant should commit to attending at least nine of the 12 weeks, be a Davidson County resident/business owner at least 18 years old and have no arrest record.
Classes will be held from 6-9 p.m., and the deadline for applications is Aug. 22. Applications can be completed online.
Information/applications
‘White matter’ might aid spinal injuries: study
Injuries, infection and inflammatory diseases that damage the spinal cord can lead to intractable pain and disability. Some degree of recovery may be possible. The question is, how best to stimulate the regrowth and healing of damaged nerves.
At the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science (VUIIS), scientists are focusing on a previously understudied part of the brain and spinal cord – white matter. Their discoveries could lead to treatments that restore nerve activity through the targeted delivery of electromagnetic stimuli or drugs.
As in the brain, the spinal cord is made up nerve cell bodies (gray matter), which process sensation and control voluntary movement, and axons (white matter), fibers that connect nerve cells and project to the rest of the body.
In a recent paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Anirban Sengupta, Ph.D., John Gore, Ph.D., and their colleagues report the detection of signals from white matter in the spinal cord in response to a stimulus that are as robust as gray matter signals.