Coal Creek Farm owners partnered with The Nature Conservancy, Tennessee Parks and Greenways Foundation, American Whitewater, and Tennessee State Parks to help Soak Creek become Tennessee’s first State Wild and Scenic River in 15 years. Coal Creek also donated land to allow for the Cumberland Trail State Scenic Trail to be built through the river gorge alongside the scenic river.

As part of this, the owners asked that the resource be more available to the public with supporting facilities for paddlers, hikers, cyclers, and families. This scenic designation helps to promote the region as an ecotourism destination and outdoor recreation hotbed.

Piney River is a Wild and Scenic treasure. Coal Creek Farm owners was part a collaborative effort to gain the Wild and Scenic designation for the river. Environmental groups, government, neighbors, and landowners shared a common goal and achieved it.

Read about the Wild and Scenic River designations and George Lindemann’s stories on paddling.

• Expand protection for Tennessee’s rivers
• Catching a Wild Elephant: Tennessee’s Piney River
• With 50th anniversary of Scenic Rivers Act, let’s double number of protected waterways 

Coal Creek Farm is developing a protocol that will help restore native grasses and in doing so bring back native birds and more cost-effectively feed cattle. This controlled burn protocol is already demonstrating the possibilities.

Conserving the Plateau

Success in the Cumberland Plateau hinges on conserving and restoring key wildlife habitat in the face of pressures that include:

• fire suppression
• tree disease and pest infestations
• agricultural runoff
• stream modification
• introduction of non-native species
• unsustainable farming, timber and mining 

The Region

The Nature Conservancy is well-positioned to face these pressures. We share a science-driven, collaborative approach that includes pursuing mutual goals with agency partners on public lands, working with private landowners to sustainably manage their working farm or forest, and building on lessons learned at TNC’s system of Tennessee nature preserves.

In recent years, TNC has marked several achievements in the Cumberland Plateau, most recently with a transaction that secured 253,000 acres of Central Appalachian forestlands spread across two parcels, one located in Southwest Virginia and one along the Kentucky and Tennessee border. In addition to storing millions of tons of carbon, these properties comprising the Cumberland Forest Project—one of TNC’s largest conservation efforts in the eastern U.S.—secure critical habitat and natural corridors for diverse wildlife while providing a variety of recreation opportunities for people throughout the region.