Tennessee BRINGING THE OUTDOORS CLOSER TO HOME IN 2026 AND BEYOND
White Oak Connector. PHOTO BY J ADAMS PHOTOGRAPHY
Connecting Everyone to the Outdoors in Tennessee Access to nature isn’t a luxury; it’s essential. You make it possible for Trust for Public Land to protect and create community-centered outdoor spaces that improve health and wellness, increase climate resilience, and bolster social connections. We’ve made incredible progress in the last year. We opened our first community schoolyard in the state. We created welcoming trails and a new park as part of our Urban Parks program. We invested in pre-design research at The Field to ensure that the community is engaged in the landscape’s history and cultural impact as they inform the final design. Your gift to the Tennessee program leverages $10 million of federal funds to protect and create outdoor recreation infrastructure to benefit rural communities. Together, we’re bolstering local organizations to help communities unlock federal and state funding, build partnerships, create parks and trails, and protect public lands and wildlife corridors.
In his new role as leader of the City’s Department of Parks and Outdoors, David will continue to embody our commitment to connecting everyone to the outdoors and will remain a great partner to TPL. You help TPL advance this important work through on-the-ground project delivery in Tennessee and comprehensive systems change across the country. Everything we do reflects our shared commitment to support both people and the places that matter most to them. Thank you for joining us as we connect everyone to the outdoors. With gratitude,
This year we also said farewell to David Johnson, who has led TPL’s parks and schoolyards programs in Chattanooga for over nine years. But he won’t be far! 2 |
TRUST FOR PUBLIC L AND IN TENNESSEE
Noel Durant Tennessee State Director
Appalachia United Outdoors Together with a coalition of over 20 regional partners, TPL is leading the Appalachia United Outdoors (AUO). The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) awarded TPL a $10 million grant to lead this transformative, multistate initiative which will strengthen local economies through outdoor recreation. We will implement highimpact outdoor projects in Alabama, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Tennessee, with a focus on economically distressed and at-risk areas, where outdoor access and its health and economic benefits are often most needed.
Project spotlights In May 2026, we joined Walker County residents and partners to celebrate the opening of the Chickamauga Battlefield Connector Trail, a 2.2-mile cycling and pedestrian pathway that links Chickamauga Battlefield to the historic Town of Chickamauga. We helped the town by overseeing everything from land acquisition and trail design to community engagement and fundraising. The trail also serves as proof of concept for the future Chickamauga-Chattanooga Trail, a 55-plusmile trail loop that would traverse Northwest Georgia and Southeast Tennessee. John Culpepper Chickamauga Battlefield Connector Trail in Walker County. INSET: John, the trail’s namesake (middle), and partners celebrate the trail’s completion. PHOTOS BY J ADAMS
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TRUST FOR PUBLIC L AND IN TENNESSEE
In East Tennessee, we are advancing the Highlander Trail. Stretching 41 miles through Scott, Campbell, and Anderson Counties, this currently defunct rail corridor travels across some of the state’s most iconic public lands—from Big South Fork to Frozen Head. With our partners, we have successfully “railbanked” the corridor, reserving it for an early 2027 acquisition and communitydriven development of a public multiuse recreation corridor for walking, bicycling, running, wildlife viewing, environmental education, and heritage tourism. In Dade County, Georgia, just 20 minutes from Chattanooga, we are working to acquire 660 acres of woodland to create Dade County Community Forest and expand access to Cloudland Canyon State Park. Creating this community forest could help drive nearly $3 million in new economic activity through tourism and small-business growth. Thanks to ARC’s multi-year funding, TPL’s Tennessee office is supporting the Appalachian regions of Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas. In the last year, we hired two new staff members to focus on this program: Land Protection Project Manager Starr Woods and Capital Project Manager Megan Daniel. Across Appalachia, we are putting philanthropic support to use to unlock federal and state funding, build partnerships, create parks and trails, and protect public lands and wildlife corridors where communities stand to gain the most from close-to-home access to the outdoors.
Community Schoolyards Every child deserves access to safe, welcoming outdoor spaces that support learning, health, and well-being. Yet many students attend schools with little access to nature, quality play spaces, or nearby parks. These disparities are especially pronounced in communities that have historically received less investment in public infrastructure and green space. Working alongside students, neighbors, and the school district, TPL transforms these underutilized campuses into vibrant community spaces. These enlivened, modern schoolyards become spaces where children and community members can gather, play, explore, and soak up the benefits of time spent outside—even after school hours. We are partnering with Hamilton County School District (HCSD), the Chattanooga Department of Parks and Outdoors, and other nonprofit partners on three pilot schoolyards. In May 2026, we celebrated the grand opening of the first completed transformation at East Side Elementary Community Schoolyard, the culmination of months of community and student input. The redesigned campus includes more than 50 new trees, updated playground structures, and a turf soccer field where students and local youth sports teams can play. Today, the new schoolyard serves students and more than 3,400 nearby residents, offering a greener, safer place for everyone to play, gather, and belong. Two more HCSD schoolyard pilots are underway at Clifton Hills Elementary and Hardy Elementary. Hardy
East Side Elementary Community Schoolyard ribbon-cutting ceremony in Chattanooga. PHOTOS BY J ADAMS PHOTOGRAPHY
Elementary showcases how private philanthropy yields public investment to build local capacity to care for the community schoolyard once completed. We have turned $100,000 in schoolyards gifts into over $350,000 in public funding to transform this underinvested school campus into an inspiring place for students and neighbors alike. Using public-private funds enables TPL to support community partners as they learn to be the long-term stewards of the schoolyard. We are also sharing the lessons we learned at these pilot schoolyard sites to uplift partners leading other local efforts, such as the school district-led playground redesign at Calvin Donaldson Environmental Leadership Academy to support STEM education offerings. And we are in early conversations with school and government officials about launching our community schoolyards in Fayette County, Kentucky. TRUST FOR PUBLIC L AND IN TENNESSEE
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Urban Parks Access to the outdoors improves physical and mental health, fosters social connection, strengthens climate resilience, and creates opportunities for communities to gather, celebrate, and build relationships. TPL works hand-in-hand with residents and local partners in Chattanooga and Red Bank. By engaging community members through planning and design, we help ensure that parks become welcoming spaces where people feel a sense of ownership, belonging, and pride. The result is not simply a new or refreshed park, but a stronger, healthier, and more connected community.
Ryall Springs Park For the first time in over 20 years, Chattanooga has acquired land for a new park. Identified as an ideal site for a new park as part of Chattanooga’s 2023 Parks and Outdoors Plan, TPL conserved a 15.6-acre lot in the East Brainerd neighborhood to build the future Ryall Springs Park. Residents are informing the future design. The new green space will offer much-needed recreational
amenities, such as nature trails, bird-watching spots, and educational camps. Putting the property in city stewardship also opens new opportunities for habitat restoration and to improve the water quality of Mackey Branch Creek, which runs along its border. Funding for the park was provided, in part, by the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). This marks the first time a city park has received LWCF funding in over 15 years after the city became ineligible for funds. TPL helped the city regain eligibility and apply for the LWCF grant. We also acquired the property and held it until the city was able to take ownership in May 2026. This was also the first new capital park project prioritized in the Parks and Outdoors Plan.
Alton Park Connector The Alton Park Connector—a 1.3-mile walking and bike pathway—will open the door to better neighborhood connectivity, clean and healthy green space, and redevelopment opportunities. Transforming this former rail line into a trail has been a top priority for the city and TPL over the past decade, and we will continue to advocate until it is realized. This summer we completed phases 1 and 2, covering St. Elmo Avenue to Delong Street, constructing highquality amenities that create a physical link to the RiverWalk across the busy Broad Street corridor.
Alton Park in Chattanooga. PHOTO BY J ADAMS PHOTOGRAPHY
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The project faced setbacks due to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision to not proceed with a $20 million grant intended to extend the connector to East Lake Park (phases 3 and 4). We continue to advance the project without these funds, collaborating closely with the City of Chattanooga and local organizations. Despite EPA’s fund rescission, Phase 3 has secured $6.4 million in federal appropriation through the Department of Housing and Urban Development, championed by Congressman Chuck Fleischmann. We are committed to this work and are eager to speak with partners and donors to help make this vision a reality.
Because when we remove barriers like language, culture, accessibility and replace them with trust and genuine belonging, we do not just open up the outdoors. We open up possibilities. Godsey Ridge Trail System In April 2026, TPL and residents of Red Bank celebrated the opening of the Godsey Ridge Trail System. Set along the wooded slopes of Godsey Ridge, the 1.5-mile network of multiuse trails offer hikers and mountain bikers routes varying in difficulty levels to ensure everyone feels welcome—from casual walkers to advanced adventurers. Located across the road from Red Bank’s only community center, this trail is within walking distance of the local middle and high schools and just a 10-minute walk away from home for more than 1,000 residents. The need for physical and cultural accessibility was made clear during the community-informed design process. A beginner-friendly Nature Walk section ensures that first-time users feel at home from their very first step. Other accessible amenities to come include interactive signage with clear language and welcoming graphics that will invite visitors to connect with nature and each other.
Alton Park in Chattanooga. PHOTO BY J ADAMS PHOTOGRAPHY
Stewarded by local organizations, these pathways will remain active, well cared for, and full of recreational activities, such as senior citizen programs, bird watching, and mountain biking. And through TPL’s Walk with Your Neighbor program, we are training eight community members as Nature Walk Instructors. They will lead welcoming beginner-focused walks for their community and partner with immigrant organizations, engage their neighbors, and foster individual confidence in the outdoors. Together, these efforts demonstrate our commitment to investing not only in physical infrastructure, such as trails and public spaces, but also in social infrastructure, the local people who bring these places to life, strengthen community connections, and help their neighbors feel welcome. Because when we remove barriers like language, culture, accessibility and replace them with trust and genuine belonging, we do not just open up the outdoors. We open up possibilities.
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TENNESSEE Volunteer Leadership Committee Elizabeth Hammitt, EPB, Committee Chair
THANK YOU for helping create parks, protect special places, and connect more people to the outdoors throughout Tennessee and beyond.
Franklin Farrow,* Morning Pointe Senior Living Julia Bursch, UTC Research Institute Elliott Davenport, Community Volunteer Allen McCallie, Miller and Martin Rachel Pohl, Unity Technologies Ginny Smith, Bad Beard Events Rob Taylor, CityScape Development Services Caroline Walker, Chase Bank Kirk Walker, Educational Consultant Flossie Weill, Community Volunteer
*Also serves on National Board
1810 E. Main Street #200 Chattanooga, TN 37404
Join us Your gift ensures everyone has access to the outdoors. Every park we create, schoolyard we transform, trail we extend, and landscape we protect is thanks to supporters like you. tpl.org/donate
Noel Durant AVP, Tennessee State Director noel.durant@tpl.org 423.402.5909 Jahmaiah Dones Southeast Associate Director of Philanthropy jahmaiah.dones@tpl.org 470.381.6921
COVER, L ARGE: © ERIN KICE; TOP TO BOTTOM: © DOUG STRICKL AND; © MANDY RHODEN; © BROOKE BRAGGER PHOTOGRAPHY / J ADAMS PHOTOGRAPHY. THIS PAGE: © BROOKE BRAGGER PHOTOGRAPHY / J ADAMS PHOTOGRAPHY