TN WRRC Projects
Examples of center-sponsored projects include:
- Restoration of damaged urban streams
- Oversight of the nationally implemented Adopt-A-Watershed program in Knox County, Tennessee schools
- Participation in Knoxville's Water Quality Forum
- Supervision of the AmeriCorps water-quality team
- Watershed Restoration Planning
- Production of videos, manuals, CD-ROMS, and other educational materials
- Tennessee Growth Readiness Program
- Knox Site Planning Roundtable
- Erosion & Sediment Control - TNEPSC Erosion & Sediment Control Training and Certification Program
- Stormwater Management - Guide to the Selection & Design of Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs)
Under the Urban Watershed Restoration Project, staff of the WRRC are preventing erosion and nonpoint source pollution, rebuilding degraded habitat, and introducing alternatives to traditional engineering methods. WRRC Associate Director Timothy Gangaware and staff have worked with fellow members of Knoxville’s Water Quality Forum to build riparian corridors along area waterways, to use natural materials to repair “blown-out” land, and to educate area professionals and residents about the benefits of alternative methods and of promoting and protecting watershed health.
Work is funded by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture’s Non-Point Source Program. Specific projects have included creating buffer zones of native trees and plants in a section of World’s Fair Park in downtown Knoxville and behind an apartment complex in south Knoxville, as well as restoring stream banks and revitalizing habitat along Knoxville’s First, Second, Third, Love, Beaver and Goose creeks.
Hands-on workshops organized by WRRC and other forum members train Knoxville-area parks and recreation personnel, greenways coordinators, and engineers to use natural techniques. Says Gangaware, “These projects are helping diverse organizations achieve diverse goals by working together, and we’re improving the environment and people’s lives at the same time.