Henry Horton 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.

• The park restaurant and the Friends of Henry Horton State Park composting all food waste from the restaurant instead of sending it to the landfill.
• The park also has several food-producing gardens in the park, some of which supply the park’s restaurant with fresh produce. The other gardens have plots available to community members and the park supplies tools and gardening expertise. The park has a small farmers’ market in the summer where any of the produce grown in or near the park can be sold.
• The park enhances the ecosystem through controlled burns, beekeeping, encouraging growth of native plants, and permeable pavement on the river access and on the Greenway Trail, which allows water to filter through it while minimizing stormwater runoff.
• They also have bikes for rental as an alternative way to see the park.
• The golf course is part of the internationally-recognized Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program and Groundwater Guardian Green program, which means that their course enhances the natural landscape and wildlife habitat while also improving efficiency and minimizing potentially harmful impacts of golf course operations. Several of the park’s program components include electric mowers and golf carts which are quiet and do not disturb wildlife, targeted watering, and digital irrigation monitoring.
• They are also part of the TVA’s Green Power Switch.