Seven Islands State Birding 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.

• Two electric vehicle charging stations have been installed at the Seven Islands entrance parking lot.
• Seven Islands State Birding Park has extensive native grasslands that provide a habitat for birds and other wildlife.
• Park rangers enhance and protect the ecosystem through regularly conducted controlled burns.
• The park has over 130 acres of native pollinator habitat and is working to create two official Monarch Waystation Sites which would meet the entire life cycle needs of monarch butterflies during the butterflies’ annual migration through North America. They also plan to begin beekeeping.
• An exciting new partnership with the American Chestnut Society was forged in 2015.  This partnership has resulted in the establishment of an American Chestnut seed orchard at Seven Island State Birding Park. Planting will continue through the next few years. Thousands of blight-resistant chestnut seedlings will be planted. These seedlings will be systematically exposed to the blight over time and culled until only the strongest and most resistant trees remain. These remaining trees will be used as parent plants and their seeds will be harvested and shared to establish new orchards with the goal of restoring the American Chestnut to the North American forest ecosystem.