Knoxville News Sentinel:

A 17-acre addition to Knox County's Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge will be purchased this week by a private foundation set up to expand the area's public green spaces.

The article says the expansion will include a pedestrian bridge across the French Broad River.

Scott Frith is quoted as saying "It's all right here. We should settle for no less than being the cleanest, greenest, most beautiful city in America."

The Legacy Parks Foundation raised funds for the land purchase.

The City of Knoxville will hold a public meeting to seek input on the renovations for the West Hills Park tennis facility. The meeting will be at Deane Hill Recreation Center at 7400 Deane Hill Dr. (off of Morrell Rd.) on Thursday, April 17, at 7:00 p.m.

Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening of New Harvest Park on the site of the former Farmers Market property, 4700 New Harvest Lane, on Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 5:00 p.m.

Directions: From I-640, take the Washington Pike exit (8), and turn northwest. Travel three-tenths of a mile and turn right on Washington Pike. Go one-half mile and turn left onto New Harvest Lane.

You are cordially invited to the Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening of New Harvest Park on the site of the former Farmers Market property, 4700 New Harvest Lane, on Thursday, October 25, 2007 from 5:00 p.m. until ?

Everyone is welcome - tell your friends and neighbors about this great new community resource. Bring your children and let them enjoy the new playground! There will be music provided by The Bluegrass Five and the Knoxville Area Dulcimer Association.

The new park is almost 43 acres and has several unique design features, including a "splash pad" shaped like a riverboat and a playground designed to look like a farm. There is a community building and a covered picnic/amphitheater area, as well as walking trails.

We plan to start a "park Vols" program and want to continue to add features and amenities to the park. Please contact me if you are interested in being a volunteer or have a donation or park idea. Remember - this is YOUR park!

Hope to see you there!

Lisa Starbuck
Northeast Knox Preservation Association

Directions: From I-640, take the Washington Pike exit (8), and turn northwest. Travel three-tenths of a mile and turn right on Washington Pike. Go one-half mile and turn left onto New Harvest Lane.

The American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration and the National Recreation and Park Association have named Tennessee State Parks the best in the U.S.

Tennessee was recently awarded the 2007 Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management. The other two finalists were Georgia and Utah.

Among Tennessee's accomplishments since 2003:

• Reopening 14 parks that had been previously closed;

• Removing access fees from the 23 state parks that had instituted them;

• Acquiring properties with exceptional conservation value from Bowater;

• Partnering with the Nature Conservancy and conservation-minded timber companies to protect 124,000 acres on the Northern Cumberland Plateau;

• Working with community organizations and other partners to open the first Boundless Playground at a state park anywhere in the country at Warriors’ Path State Park;

• Purchasing renewable “Green Power” in all state parks where it’s available.

A panel of parks and recreation professionals judged state park programs on "long-range planning, resource management, citizen support systems, environmental stewardship, program and professional development and agency recognition."

Recently there has been some disagreement regarding parks and park amenities in South Knoxville. An Aug. 29th letter to the KNS editior suggested South Knoxville needs more recreational areas similar to West Knoxville. On September 8th, the KNS printed a Citizen Perspective rebuttal listing many of the parks in South Knoxville.

Yes, South Knoxville does have quite a few parks. It appears the original letter writer might have been also suggesting more park amenities and "destinations", as has West Knoxville.

South Knoxville has over 20 parks comprising nearly 500 acres. Of these 500 acres, approximately 225 acres are almost unusable. IC King Park (120 acres) has been closed for 10-20 years. Is the Stanley Lippencott Ridge Park (22 acres) even accessible by car (i.e. parking area)? Many consider the Fort Dickerson Park (85 acres) a little (lot?) scary and unsafe for families.

West Knoxville has approximately 12 parks comprising nearly 800 acres. Of these 800 acres, all but 16 acres (Keller Bend Park) are very usable.

These parks include City of Knoxville and Knox County parks.

Sure, there are a lot of parks in South Knoxville. I think the letter writer was thinking more along the lines of "destinations" like Concord Park, Carl Cowan and Admiral Farragut Parks, Sequoyah Park, Lakeshore Park, and Ijams Park.

Not that South Knoxvillians need to keep up with the Jones (West Knoxvillians) any more than do North or East Knoxvillians, there could possibly be a little bit of concern as to the lack of South Knoxville park amenties and lack of usable areas already designated as parks. IC King Park could be a great asset to South Knoxville and the Knox County Park system. In addition, Fort Dickerson Park with the close proximety to downtown could be a wonderful historical park destination. There is a lot of potential for both of these areas to be "destinations".

Mayoral candidate Isa Infante held a press conference at around 10:30 this morning at Mary Vestal Park.

Seh's not happy about parks funding, and says it's an example of the way our city government spends too much on the wrong kinds of development.

"The city cannot have it both ways," she asserted. "They cannot collect the citizen's tax money, and also expect them to bring out their own shovels and their own mowers."

More on the story, including an audio snippet of her remarks, at the South Knox · Seymour Times. Link...

The state has halted a proposed commercial development at Norris Dam State Park:

Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) Commissioner James Fyke said that after reviewing the proposal and public input on the project, the state will not allow the development to move forward in the state park.

According to the article, Fyke's letter says "At best, it would be a stretch to describe the proposed lodge as a component of the state park system. Placing a third-party commercial operation within a state park is not a precedent that we wish to set for all state parks."

The article also says that Bredesen refused to sign legislation that would have allowed the use of tax revenues from the proposed convention center/hotel to pay off $14 million in high-risk bonds issued by Campbell County to fund the project.

If these developments are such a great idea, why are taxpayers frequently asked to carry the risk?

Related: Norris Dam State Park

We were over at the park walking pupster yesterday evening and were happy to see that the dog waste stations donated by the Mrs. have finally been installed.

Read more about the project and the history of Springbrook Park...

We were out and about and thought we'd go check out this Keller Bend Park over off Northshore on the "other side" of the lake.

The Knox County Parks and Recreation website lists it as a Knox County park (#19 on the map) with 16 acres and a .5 mile nature trail.

When we got there, we found that the road stops abruptly (our GPS said to keep driving 500 more feet, but there wasn't any more road) and the "park" didn't seem to be there any more.

Read more...

It's probably the second or third snow in the high mountains but "First Snow" sounds better. This image is the Appalachian Trail at Newfound Gap taken this morning. A steady stream of backpackers were making their way to the Icewater Springs shelter and points beyond. What you can't see here is the 30 degree temps and 30mph winds with blowing ice and snow. I'll be thinking of these backpackers tonight up there at that shelter while I'm relaxing in my La-Z-Boy by the fireplace with hot cider watching the Simpsons.

I took a Sunday stroll over the Great Smokies and up the Blue Ridge Parkway a bit today. The leaves are not quite peaked but are looking much better color-wise than the last few years. The image above was taken standing on top of "The Loop" tunnel just above the Chimneys trailhead. The red berries lower right are Jack-in-the-Pulpit fruit. I had to wait a very long time to get this short stretch clear of cars, and still managed to clip one at the very top. Oh well, I've created a gallery of today's pics at this link. Nothing special, just the usual sights along the way. Be sure to scroll right below the thumbnails to see all of them.

Knoxville, Knox County, and the Metropolitan Planning Commission are putting thier gray heads together to devise a master plan for parks, recreation, and greenways.

They've decided to open up the process and allow Average Joe and Jane to supply input.

There's a South Knoxville area meeting scheduled for 6:30 - 8 pm on Tuesday, October 3 at South-Doyle High School.

More details at Link...

Countdown until the word "pagoda" is mentioned begins in three... two... one... *

KNS is reporting a project to restore the "meandering" nature to a portion of Third Creek along the greenway.  I ride this route as often as possible and applaud the city's efforts to improve the creek, although I can't help comparing the move to an individual buying a plasma TV when he can't come up with the rent check.

That aside, I ask all those readers more knowledgeable than I, to help me with some history of the Third Creek area.  What is that mill-like ruin at the bridge about a mile downstream from the Sutherland Avenue entrance? 

According to this WBIR special report, National Geographic Traveler magazine had a harsh assessment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park:

Three-hundred experts graded the condition of 55 North American national parks and the cities that surround them. Problems like traffic, haze and invasive species landed the Smokies in the "Rock Bottom" category.

WBIR got reaction from the Pigeon Forge director of tourism, and he makes some good points in rebuttal but agrees the issues are valid and worthy of discussion.

Here's the National Geographic Traveler article with their rankings. The Smoky Mountains were ranked next to last, with special mention of the gateway towns around the park and their "theme parks, outlets, and billboards." Maybe they were referring to this.