Big Ridge State Park has completed the Platinum Recognition Level of the TN State Parks Go Green With Us Initiative and Guidelines. The guidelines include multiple areas of environmental sustainability, including education and outreach, water conservation, energy efficiency, waste and recycling, and much more. Congrats to this park for going above and beyond to be excellent stewards of our natural resources.

The mission of the Tennessee State Parks Go Green With Us program is to preserve and protect our state parks through sustainable park operations, resource conservation, and recycling. Program components cover a diverse array of initiatives, including energy and water conservation through equipment and operations upgrades, recycling programs, projects to enhance ecosystem health, and erosion control, among many others.

• Big Ridge State Park is a rustic park that has several historic buildings on site. By design, park construction is simple and does not have significant energy demands. For instance, cabins built in the 1930s don’t have any climate control and have wood stoves for heating.
• Big Ridge has worked to minimize erosion, control damage from stormwater, and sustain the landscape at the campground through improvements with gravel, timbers, and ditches.
• They have also installed trash and recycling dumpsters, removing all individual trash cans and placing signs informing visitors of the locations. Fewer trashcans result in a decrease in the number of trashcan liners required. And that means less waste and a reduction of associated costs.