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Expert speakers, music and family fun featured during Heartwood group’s spring council at Coker Creek Village this weekend

Staff photo by Ben Benton / Local conservationists are worried erosion from a proposed logging project along Tumbling Creek, a trout stream in the mountains west of Copperhill, Tenn., could cause significant damage to environment. Members of Tennessee's chapter of the Sierra Club hope to get the U.S. Forestry Service to stop or scale back the project. Conservationists say trees along the stream include massive hemlocks, beech trees, mountain laurel and rhododendron, and lots of other hardwoods like oak, maple and hickory.
Staff photo by Ben Benton / Local conservationists are worried erosion from a proposed logging project along Tumbling Creek, a trout stream in the mountains west of Copperhill, Tenn., could cause significant damage to environment. Members of Tennessee's chapter of the Sierra Club hope to get the U.S. Forestry Service to stop or scale back the project. Conservationists say trees along the stream include massive hemlocks, beech trees, mountain laurel and rhododendron, and lots of other hardwoods like oak, maple and hickory. Staff photo by Ben Benton / Local conservationists are worried erosion from a proposed logging project along Tumbling Creek, a trout stream in the mountains west of Copperhill, Tenn., could cause significant damage to environment. Members of Tennessee's chapter of the Sierra Club hope to get the U.S. Forestry Service to stop or scale back the project. Conservationists say trees along the stream include massive hemlocks, beech trees, mountain laurel and rhododendron, and lots of other hardwoods like oak, maple and hickory.

By Ben Benton 4 min read

For outdoors enthusiasts, conservationists or people who simply love nature, a regional meeting of like-minded folks set this weekend at Coker Creek Village in the Cherokee National Forest offers expert speakers, music and family fun.

photo Davis Mounger, co-founder of Tennessee Heartwood

“This year’s lineup is going to be one of our best ever,” Tennessee Heartwood spokeswoman Sheryl Campbell said this week in a news release. “The sheer diversity of workshops and events has something for everyone. From native wildlife nature walks in Bald River Gorge to wilderness survival skills to our Saturday night barn dance, there’s going to be nonstop fun.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION

To find more information about registration and the schedule of events, contact Davis Mounger at 423-8988-4717 or wdmounger@yahoo.net or Sheryll Campbell at 423-693-4729 or campfamily63@gmail.com or visit https://heartwood.org/2019-forest-council/ online.

The Heartwood Annual Spring Council has been held in a different forest each year for the past 29 years. Heartwood, a group that describes itself as “a grassroots coalition of conservation and sustainable living groups from around the eastern United States,” includes representatives from chapters in Tennessee and Kentucky who will participate in events, according to officials.

Spring council organizers said Heartwood “has chosen to shine a light on the south zone of the Cherokee, which has benefited from a recent success in protecting Tumbling Creek, a native trout stream, from what would have been a high-impact logging project.” Officials also noted the recent passage of a congressional bill to add protection to thousands more acres in the Bald River Wilderness.