The press conference held on Wednesday took place on Volunteer Landing overlooking the Tennessee River in Knoxville, Tenn.
At a press conference held Wednesday at the riverfront park, Volunteer Landing, in Knoxville, Tenn., Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful® (KTnRB) announced alongside local, state, and federal officials that their volunteers will reach this month the milestone of 1 million lbs. of trash removed from the Tennessee River watershed by more than 5,000 volunteers.
The announcement came on the celebration kickoff of the 8th annual ‘Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month® presented by TVA’ that was declared in proclamations made by both Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. Later this month, proclamations will be announced by a growing number of governors, mayors, and elected officials within the seven-state Tennessee River watershed.
This year also marks the ten-year anniversary of the 2015 Tennessee River Tour, which led to the creation of Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful. The Tennessee River Tour was put on by the national nonprofit, Living Lands & Waters, who traveled with their barge, hosting river cleanups in the four states touched by the main stem of the Tennessee River from Knoxville, Tenn. to Paducah, Ky. The idea for the Tennessee River Tour was sparked and championed at the City of Knoxville who invited Living Lands & Waters to come with their barge. It was Ijams Nature Center who kicked off the cleanup tour with their annual powerhouse, multi-county cleanup known as the Ijams River Rescue, an event that many river officials refer to as the first organized river cleanup effort known on the Tennessee River.
“It is an honor to commemorate with Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful, TVA, TDOT and their other partners this milestone that was ten years in the making and started here in Knoxville, right at the headwaters of the river,” said Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon.
Knoxville Mayor Indy Kincannon reads her proclamation declaring October 2025 ‘Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month.’
Ultimately, the campaign was funded by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Keep Tennessee Beautiful (through TDOT funds). At the end of the tour, Chad Pregracke, founder of Living Lands & Waters and 2013 CNN Hero of the Year, sat down with TVA and Keep Tennessee Beautiful leaders, declaring that this was the most beautiful river he had ever been on and the project could not stop with a one-time campaign. From that conversation, Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful was formed as the 1st Keep America Beautiful Affiliate in the nation to focus solely on a river.
“We’re delighted to both celebrate what was started back then and what is to come for the Tennessee River, which impacts the communities it touches, breathes life into our ecosystems, defines our culture, and generates our economy, among too many other things to list,” said Gibi. “This work we get to do to protect this great river alongside thousands of volunteers and hundreds of partners is a true honor.”
A CALL TO ACTION THIS KTnRWB MONTH:
RIVER CLEANUPS
Traditionally, the celebration month includes a river cleanup series tour with KTnRB’s two 26-foot work boats that take volunteers to clean the shorelines. At two cleanups, Living Lands & Waters will amplify the cleanup efforts by bringing three of their 30-foot boats.
This year, the cleanup series will be held in all seven states of the Tennessee River watershed:
October 1 Fort Loudoun Lake in Knoxville, Concord, and Louisville, TN
October 7 Chickamauga Lake cleanup with TDOT Region 2 employees
October 11 Pickwick Lake in Iuka, MS/Counce, TN
October 12 Kentucky Lake in Golden Pond, KY/Dover, TN
October 18 Nickajack Lake in Jasper, TN with Living Lands & Waters
October 19 Guntersville Lake in Guntersville, AL with Living Lands & Waters
October 24 Chatuge Lake in Hayesville, NC/Young Harris, GA
October 28 South Holston Lake in Abingdon, VA
Volunteers are still needed, so please consider registering for a cleanup at www.KeepTNRiverBeautiful.org/upcomingcleanups.
Volunteers hit the first shoreline of the day at the Fort Loudoun Lake cleanup that kicked off “Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month’ following the press conference.
INDIVIDUAL CLEANUP EFFORTS
KTnRB has also challenged its network of 253 river mile adoptees to host their own river cleanups during the month. Keep Tennessee Beautiful has sponsored KTnRB this month to promote their Adopt a Storm Drain program to raise awareness around how most litter reaches our waterways in the first place.
CHANGING THE CULTURE
KTnRB Board President Dr. John Simmons and Programs Coordinator Maddy Wolfenbarger clean a shoreline at the Oct. 1 Fort Loudoun Lake cleanup to kick off ‘Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month.’
Those who are unable to participate in a cleanup can still help to protect the Tennessee River by taking a pledge in KTnRB’s #Pledge4Rivers campaign.
HISTORY OF CELEBRATING KTnRWB MONTH
Gibi said that it was the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) that originally challenged KTnRB to celebrate an awareness month for the Tennessee River. The awareness month was launched in the state of Tennessee in 2018, was announced by then Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, and has now expanded into a seven-state awareness campaign.
Dozens of proclamations from governors and mayors within the Tennessee River watershed have been proclaimed over the years.
As KTnRWB Month is celebrated in different states, local Keep America Beautiful as well as the state affiliates of Keep Tennessee Beautiful, Keep Alabama Beautiful, and Keep Mississippi Beautiful.
A cleanup was held immediately following Wednesday’s press conference, where KTnRB collaborated with Knoxville partners including Ijams Nature Center, Keep Knoxville Beautiful, Keep Blount Beautiful, and the Knoxville Rotary Club at five simultaneous cleanup sites on Fort Loudoun Lake of the Tennessee River in Knoxville.
For more information on Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month presented by Oris, visit www.KeepTNRiverBeautiful.org/ktnrwb-month.