Volunteers celebrate two full trash boats at the end of the cleanup on Nickajack Lake o the Tennessee River that pushed KTnRB over its milestone of 1 million lbs. of trash removed from the Tennessee River watershed!

More than 5,000 volunteers have helped the river cleanup nonprofit, Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful®, to reach a milestone of 1 million lbs. of trash removed from the Tennessee River watershed since the organization put its first boat in the water in 2019.

A volunteer rides along in the trash boat on the stunning Chatuge Lake. KTnRB cleaned the shorelines of both Georgia and North Carolina at this cleanup!

The million-pound milestone was officially reached at an October 19th cleanup on Nickajack Lake of the Tennessee River in Chattanooga, Tenn. during the 8th annual ‘Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month (KTnRWB Month) presented by TVA.’

The cleanup series portion of the month’s campaign resulted in 30,627 lbs. of trash removed by 75 volunteers from cleanups held in all seven states of the Tennessee River watershed.

By the end of November, Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful (KTnRB) has worked with 5,293 volunteers to remove 1,017,672 lbs. of trash to date.

Volunteers work to load a 2,000-lb. spreader tire onto the KTnRB boat at a cleanup on Kentucky Lake of the Tennessee River in Golden Pond, Ky.. How did they get it on, you might ask? Physics!

“Though our mission is to educate and inspire others to take action, it’s our volunteers who actually inspire us everyday, so we see this milestone more as something that was achieved by 5,000 individuals working together for their collective river community,” said Kathleen Gibi, KTnRB Executive Director. “This is a big win for all of the communities within the watershed and it just goes to show what a difference community volunteers and partners can make!”

TVA team members enjoy the Fall colors while riding in the KTnRB trash boat to the next cleanup site on South Holston Lake in Abingdon, Va.

OCTOBER 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 events, the national nonprofit Living Lands & Waters amplified the cleanup efforts by bringing two of their 30-foot boats.

This year, the October awareness campaign included a total of eight scheduled river cleanups that touched the shorelines of all seven states in the Tennessee River watershed.

Oct.1 Knoxville/Louisville, TN Fort Loudoun Lake 15,496 lbs. 28 volunteers

Oct. 7 Harrison, TN Chickamauga Lake 1,921 lbs. 11 volunteers

Oct. 11 Iuka, MS/Counce, TN/Waterloo, AL Pickwick Lake 2,091 lbs. 10 volunteers

Oct. 12 Golden Pond, KY Kentucky Lake 4,112 lbs. 10 volunteers

Oct. 18 Chattanooga, TN Nickajack Lake 4,330 lbs. 12 volunteers

Oct. 19 Guntersville, AL Guntersville Lake Cancelled due to weather

Oct. 24 Hayesville, NC/Young Harris, GA Chatuge Lake 1,158 lbs. 1 volunteer
Oct. 28 Abingdon, VA South Holston Lake 1,159 lbs. 3 volunteers

TOTAL 30,627 lbs. 75 volunteers

Volunteers on Pickwick Lake of the Tennessee River clean load an entire dock part-by-part into the KTnRB trash boat. The dock washed ashore on Mississippi’s shorelines, which faces Alabama’s shorelines across the river.

PROCLAMATIONS

Another tradition for KTnRWB Month is to obtain proclamations from elected officials declaring the month for the river. Gibi said that October presents the perfect opportunity to push KTnRB’s ultimate goal of empowering the community to make a difference, pointing to their slogan: ‘Your river. Your impact.’

“This touches on the fact that, whether aware of it or not, whether positively or negatively, no matter the level of effort, you’re impacting your watershed every single day,” Gibi said at a waterfront press conference in Knoxville, Tenn. on Oct. 1, 2025 that kicked off KTnRWB Month.

“We are grateful to all of the elected officials who declared October to be Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month, demonstrating leadership that looks out for their part of the river and beyond.”

This year, 11 elected officials from four states, four counties, and three cities made the proclamation, including:

Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon presents her proclamation to Kathleen Gibi, KTnRB Executive Director, at a press conference kicking off KTnRWB Month on Oct. 1, 2025.

Gov. Bill Lee - State of Tennessee

Gov. Kay Ivey – State of Alabama

Gov. Tate Reeves – State of Mississippi

Gov. Andy Beshear – State of Kentucky

Mayor Indya Kincannon – City of Knoxville, TN

Mayor Glen Jacobs – Knox County, TN

Mayor Tim Kelly – City of Chattanooga, TN

Mayor Weston Wamp – Hamilton County, TN

Mayor David Byrd – Grainger County, TN

Mayor Robby Hatcher – Polk County, TN

Mayor Jason Jolly – City of Rockwood, TN

The Living Lands & Waters barge docked in Downtown Knoxville, Tenn. during the 2015 Tennessee River Tour that led to Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful forming and becoming the 1st Keep America Beautiful affiliate in the nation to focus solely on a river.

CONTINUING TO MAKE HISTORY
Gibi said the timing of the million-pound milestone was apropos since 2025 also marked the ten-year anniversary of the 2015 Tennessee River Tour, which ultimately led to the creation of Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful, the 1st Keep America Beautiful affiliate in the nation to focus solely on a river.

The Tennessee River Tour was implemented 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.

Ultimately, the campaign was funded by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Keep Tennessee Beautiful (through Tennessee Dept. of Transportation 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.

One of the many goats that roam freely on Goat island on Pickwick Lake in Iuka, Miss. decided to try to board one of KTnRB’s boats, trying to find a treat in the trash during KTnRWB Month, October 2025.

Volunteers celebrate their trash boat that was completely filled and topped with a massive channel marker at a cleanup on Kentucky Lake of the Tennessee River.

HISTORY OF CELEBRATING KTNRWB MONTH
Gibi said that it was the 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 affiliates as well as the state affiliates of Keep Tennessee Beautiful, Keep Alabama Beautiful, and Keep Mississippi Beautiful also participate and support the campaign.

WHAT’S NEXT
KTnRB is currently pursuing its ‘2025 Goal to Remove 200,000 lbs. of Trash presented by Clayton Home Building Group. With the month of December remaining in the year, the organization has 16,206 lbs. of trash left to collect at river cleanups. The next public cleanup is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 6, on Watts Bar Lake.

To register for upcoming cleanups or to learn more about Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful, please visit www.KeepTNRiverBeautiful.org.