I attended the second of four Streams Done Right Seminars presented by the Little River Watershed Association and the University of Tennessee Environmental Landscape Design Lab. It was a wonderful seminar held on a magnificent day in the park.

This is a result of a project of the Blount Soil Conservation District, supported by Blount Parks and Recreation as well as the Little River Watershed Association, the University of Tennessee Environmental Landscape Design Lab, the City of Alcoa, TVA, and the ALCOA Foundation.

The project is to return some stream banks to a native habitat. It is a pleasure to see all of these organizations working together to better our environment. UT helped out with providing students on “service learning” projects. In addition, a UT intern was retained to maintain the new plantings through the summer.

The seminar was held along the stream in Springbrook Park where a portion of the stream is in the process of being restored to a native habitat. Apparently the project has already been in progress along a portion of the Blount County Green Belt bike trail. The next project is in Farragut.

Sam Rogers, a UT professor and landscape architect was the speaker/presenter. He was very informative and entertaining. Sam was also able to answer nearly every question and there were quite a few. Half of the seminar was spent walking along the stream while the professor was discussing all of the work that has been done, identifying plants, and giving ideas to attendees on how they can create their own riparian zone.

There are two more seminars on the agenda, one this coming Saturday (9/22) and the final will be next Wednesday (9/26). Contact the Little River Watershed Association (LRWA) at 980-2130 to make a reservation. The LRWA will be looking for volunteers in the future to maintain this native habitat.

Oh, and by the way, the picnic lunch was provided by Tomato Head.

Sam Rogers, UT Professor and Seminar Presenter

Seminar Location, the beautiful Springbrook Park

Plant identification

Springbrook Riparian Habitat

Hybrid cars (Prius) and nature go together?

As the seminar came to an end, this bus passed by, Football Power, Road to the Championship. Nature and football. Does that define East Tennessee?