What if Chattanooga used moss to improve its air quality?
That question was at the heart of a conversation between Chattanooga resident Janie Kraft and Ringgold resident Calvin Forbis at an event hosted by Chattanooga National Park City.
Having spotted Kraft working on a moss-focused concept and having also ruminated on the potential of the plants, Forbis began collaborating with Kraft during the Thursday event.
“I moved out of town for awhile, and when I moved back to town, I was telling Calvin, I recognize the amount of air pollution,” Kraft said about Chattanooga in an interview.
There were plenty of conversations like the one between Kraft and Forbis at the event at the iFixit office on 12th Street. Several dozen people — among them outdoor enthusiasts and advocates, educators, community activists, even a poet — filled the space to discuss ideas for green-focused civic projects that could improve Chattanooga’s quality of life and help the city live up to its National Park City status.
The designation is issued by a London-based nonprofit and is unrelated to the U.S. National Park Service. Chattanooga officially received the designation in April 2025, becoming the first National Park City in the Americas.
(READ MORE: What does it mean for Chattanoogans to live in a National Park City?)
As Chattanooga enters its second year as a National Park City, the municipality is handing off stewardship of the initiative to the community and launching a “seed drive” program to receive and support green projects, each of which it known as a seed.
“We got National Park City because of the work that we’ve done,” interim Parks and Outdoors Administrator Brian Smith said by phone. “Now, we’re doing the work because we are a National Park City.”
A seed could be an air pollution-fighting, moss-based project like the one Kraft and Forbis discussed. A seed could be a map of edible fruit trees in the area or the formalization of a trail. A seed could be a new park.
Whether the ideas are big or small, National Park City leadership has a goal to receive 100 seeds through March, Smith said. From there, National Park City will work with the community to fine-tune ideas, whittling the seeds down to 10 projects by April with the aim of bringing them to fruition this year.
Community members can submit seed proposals and drum up support for them at npcseeds.org.
National Park City
Seed drive timeline
— Seed workshop: 4:30-7:30 p.m. March 25 at the downtown Chattanooga Public Library, 1001 Broad St.
— Seed expo: 11 a.m.-7 p.m. April 11 at the Chattanooga Choo Choo, 1400 Market St.
— Seed pitch night (ticketed event): 6-9 p.m. April 24 at Studio Ours, 1401 Fort St.
— National Park City Festival: April 25 at Greenway Farm, 4960 Gann Store Road
More info: chattanooganationalparkcity.org or npcseeds.org
The city, through its Parks and Outdoors Department, spearheaded the effort to get Chattanooga the international designation, highlighting the work of the municipality’s myriad nature-minded nonprofits as well as the city’s transformation from polluted industrial town to premier outdoor destination.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga buying land for new park in East Brainerd)
With a transition from city leadership to community leadership, local nonprofit Friends of Outdoor Chattanooga will act as the steward of Chattanooga National Park City initiatives. Founded to support the work of the city’s Outdoor Chattanooga division, the nonprofit will act as fiscal sponsor for the seed drive, raising funds to support projects, Smith said.
As Chattanooga National Park City ramps up for its second year, leadership has invoked Chattanooga Venture, a 1980s community group that made recommendations for the city’s future.
“What I believe is that we’re capturing the same spirit of Venture, just with new tools and technology and a sense of entrepreneurship that we can teach to everyone,” said David Littlejohn, the founder of advertising agency Humanaut, who is serving as a creative director for Chattanooga National Park City.
People are asking, “When can I get on the field and play?” to make a difference like Venture, Littlejohn said in an interview. A lot of the necessary resources exist, and all that’s needed is connection and communication, Littlejohn said.
In their conversation Thursday, Kraft and Forbis discussed the Via Verde project in Mexico City, where plants were installed on columns along a highway to create vertical gardens intended to help clean the city’s air.
Forbis is familiar with Chattanooga’s history of air pollution, he said. But for the Arizona transplant, Chattanooga looks good by comparison. That doesn’t mean Forbis isn’t thinking of how Chattanooga can still improve.
“I always want to look towards the future,” Forbis said, “and if we can do better then I want to do better.”
Contact outdoors reporter Sam Still at sstill@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6579.