Ongoing External Rewilding Projects

Southeastern Grasslands Institute (SGI) - Clarksville (Austin Peay State University)

Status: Actively seeking volunteers and donations

SGI works to bring back native grasslands across the Southeast, partnering with agencies, funders, and volunteers to reverse grassland loss. It is headquartered at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville. Volunteers hand-harvest native seed and clean seed at the Clarksville native seed lab. In 2026, SGI secured a record award from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's America's Ecosystem Restoration Initiative which, combined with matching contributions, brings the project total to $10 million. It will restore roughly 2,500 acres of Central Tennessee grassland over four years, including six anchor sites totaling 1,500 acres across four Middle Tennessee counties, and will add 13 staff based in Clarksville.

Help rebuild the South's forgotten grasslands. The Southeastern Grasslands Institute in Clarksville needs hands for native-seed harvesting and seed-lab cleaning sessions, feeding a $10 million restoration effort that will bring back roughly 2,500 acres of Middle Tennessee grassland over the next four years. No experience required.

Harpeth Conservancy - Greater Nashville

Status: Actively seeking volunteers and donations.

Founded in 1999, Harpeth Conservancy is a science-based organization working for clean water and healthy river ecosystems in Tennessee. Volunteer restoration work includes river cleanups, invasive plant removal, and native tree planting. Its citizen water-quality monitoring program runs May through September, with volunteers tracking E. coli in recreational waterways to feed a predictive model for public water safety.

Tennessee's rivers are among the most biodiverse on Earth, and Harpeth Conservancy is on the front lines protecting them. Join river cleanups, native-tree plantings, and invasive-species removals across Middle Tennessee, or become a citizen scientist tracking water quality from May through September. Your weekend can mean cleaner water and healthier habitat.

Cumberland River Compact / Root Nashville — Nashville (Davidson County)

Status: Actively seeking volunteers, planting captains, and donations.

Root Nashville is a public-private campaign, led by Metro Nashville and the Cumberland River Compact, to plant 500,000 trees across Davidson County by 2050. The Compact hosts two citywide volunteer planting events each year (spring and fall) and runs a Neighborhood Planting Captain program, with applications reviewed each April. Davidson County residents can order up to three free trees for their own property (ordering typically runs June 1 through August 31), and larger properties can request 10 or more through the community reforestation program.

Every tree planted in Nashville cools the city, filters stormwater, and protects the Cumberland River. Root Nashville needs volunteers to dig, plant, and mulch, or to become a Neighborhood Planting Captain spreading free trees through your community. Davidson County residents can also claim up to three free trees for their own yard, delivered to the door.

Readyville Dam Removal - East Fork Stones River, Readyville (Rutherford/Cannon County)

Status: Funded and underway; led by Tennessee Wildlife Federation with partners.

After the historic Readyville mill was destroyed by a tornado in 2023, the dam is being removed to restore the river's natural flow, with 1,200 feet of riverbank stabilized to support cleaner water and stronger habitat. This is a privately owned stretch of river, restored through partnership rather than public acquisition.

A river is getting a second chance. With the historic Readyville mill gone, partners are removing the old low-head dam on the East Fork Stones River to let the water run free again, reconnecting aquatic habitat, cutting sediment pollution, and rebuilding 1,200 feet of streambank. A model for how Middle Tennessee can restore its rivers one barrier at a time.

Trace Creek Restoration - Stephens Valley, Williamson County (Cumberland River Compact)

Status: Construction complete; in long-term monitoring.

After decades of farming left the creek unable to support aquatic life, the Compact led a restoration that raised the streambed, reconnected the floodplain, and replanted native trees, grasses, and wildflowers. All 44 acres are protected by a permanent conservation easement held by the Compact, covering 2.6 miles of restored stream. It is one of the largest suburban stream restorations in Tennessee history, and stream health will be monitored for seven years.

In a Williamson County neighborhood, 44 acres along Trace Creek have gone from an impaired, eroding waterway to thriving habitat, with 2.6 miles of stream restored and the whole site protected by a permanent conservation easement. A blueprint for urban-edge stream restoration, and proof that degraded creeks can come back.

Lake Sturgeon Reintroduction - Cumberland River (Gallatin / Sumner County) & Tennessee River

Status: Ongoing; occasional public release events.

Lake sturgeon were wiped out of Tennessee waters after dam construction through the 1900s. The Southeast Lake Sturgeon Working Group, formed in 1998 as a partnership of more than a dozen nonprofits, universities, and state and federal agencies, has released roughly 430,000 sturgeon into the Tennessee and Cumberland watersheds since 2000. Eggs come from wild spawning fish in Wisconsin's Wolf River. In November 2025, TVA and TWRA captured 20 sturgeon near Gallatin to assess their health, and biologists now expect natural spawning as the earliest-released fish reach maturity.

Picture a nine-foot fish that can live 150 years and whose lineage predates the dinosaurs, gone from Tennessee for a century. After 25 years and roughly 430,000 juveniles released, the lake sturgeon is back in the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers and closing in on spawning naturally again. One of the South's great comeback stories, with public release events that let students and volunteers send baby sturgeon home.

TennGreen Land Conservancy - Nashville (statewide reach, strong Middle TN presence)

Status: Seeking volunteers, landowner partners, and donations.

Founded in 1998, TennGreen is the oldest accredited statewide land conservancy in Tennessee. It assists landowners with restoration including grassland management, native tree planting, invasive species removal, and wetland enhancement. Volunteers at its Belle Forest Cave & Arboretum preserve have removed tree-of-heaven, privet, wintercreeper, and both amur and Japanese honeysuckle to give native plants room to recover.

Tennessee's oldest accredited statewide land conservancy protects large, connected natural areas where people and wildlife thrive. TennGreen pairs conservation easements with hands-on restoration, and welcomes volunteers for invasive-removal days at its preserves. A direct way to protect wildlife corridors and critical habitat across Middle Tennessee.

Red-cockaded Woodpecker Reintroduction - Savage Gulf State Natural Area

Status: Habitat restoration underway; releases targeted for 2028.

The red-cockaded woodpecker was extirpated from Tennessee in 1994, the last bird observed in the Cherokee National Forest. TWRA, TDEC, and USFWS are restoring roughly 1,200 acres of upland pine and oak-pine savanna at Savage Gulf to bring it back. The habitat work began as an effort to protect the federally threatened white fringeless orchid and was expanded to serve the woodpecker as well. Prescribed fire and pine-woodland restoration come first, with birds targeted for release in 2028.

A bird Tennessee hasn't seen since 1994 is coming home. Through controlled burns and the restoration of 1,200 acres of pine savanna at Savage Gulf, biologists are rebuilding the open, fire-shaped woodlands the red-cockaded woodpecker needs, aiming to release birds by 2028. The same fire that brings back the woodpecker also protects a threatened orchid, which is how habitat restoration usually works: fix the system, and everything in it benefits.

TSU Tiger Bay Wetland Green Infrastructure - North Nashville

Status: Funded and in progress.

The Cumberland River Compact, with Metro Water Services and Tennessee State University, received $976,250 in American Rescue Plan funds to enhance the stormwater function of the TSU Tiger Bay Wetland through neighborhood-scale green infrastructure. The wetland drains a large portion of North Nashville, filtering pollutants and sediment before the water reaches the Cumberland River, and supports frogs, turtles, snakes, bald eagles, herons, and migrating songbirds.

In the heart of North Nashville, an urban wetland does quiet, vital work, soaking up stormwater and filtering pollution before it reaches the Cumberland. A $976,250 partnership between the Cumberland River Compact, Metro, and TSU shows how green infrastructure can heal a watershed from inside the city limits. -

Tennessee Wildlife Federation - Habitat Conservation (statewide; HQ Nashville)

Status: Seeking landowner partners and donations.

The Federation's Habitat Conservation team works across all four of Tennessee's major habitat types: wetlands, grasslands, forests, and streams and rivers. As of its mid-2023 reporting, it had more than 40 active restoration projects, had enhanced and protected more than 15,000 acres, and had planted over 500,000 trees. Tennessee landowners can apply to find out whether their property is a fit.

With most of Tennessee privately owned, healthy wildlife depends on landowners, and the Tennessee Wildlife Federation makes it happen. From wetland and stream restoration to grassland and forest recovery across dozens of active projects, the Federation partners with private landowners and agencies statewide. Own land that could become habitat? They want to hear from you.

The Nature Conservancy in Tennessee - Dam Removals & Wetland Restoration (statewide)

Status: Ongoing; donor- and partner-supported.

TNC has protected almost 470,000 acres in Tennessee since 1978. Recent wins include the removal of Harms Mill Dam on the Elk River in October 2025, the largest dam removal in state history, reconnecting more than 1,100 stream miles for 46 species of greatest conservation need including the endangered boulder darter; and the removal of the Lower Citico Creek Dam, reconnecting more than 38 miles for 67 fish and mussel species. At Quarry Bog Preserve in Shady Valley, TNC has launched a second wetland restoration for the federally threatened bog turtle, part of more than 140 acres of restored wetland in the valley.

The Nature Conservancy is reconnecting Tennessee's rivers and restoring its wetlands at landscape scale. Recent dam removals have reopened more than a thousand miles of habitat for endangered darters, madtoms, and mussels, and the work continues on mountain bogs that shelter the threatened bog turtle. Big, lasting wins for biodiversity.

Middle Fork Bottoms State Park - Restored Floodplain (West Tennessee)

Status: Recently completed; serving as a regional blueprint.

Depleted, flood-damaged farmland was transformed into the 860-acre Middle Fork Bottoms State Park through a partnership of The Nature Conservancy, TWRA, and the West Tennessee River Basin Authority, restoring marshy wetlands and streams and planting 250,000 hardwood trees. It is now used as a template for floodplain restoration in West Tennessee, Western Kentucky, and Eastern Arkansas.

Once eroded, flood-ravaged farmland, Middle Fork Bottoms is now an 860-acre state park with wild turkeys, great blue herons, and endangered bats, built on restored wetlands and a quarter-million new hardwood trees. Powerful proof that we can design land to flood, work with nature instead of against it, and bring an ecosystem all the way back.

Cumberland Plateau Dynamic Forest Restoration - Catoosa WMA & Lone Mountain State Forest

Status: Ongoing; multi-partner coalition.

The Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society, with TWRA, the Tennessee Division of Forestry, The Nature Conservancy, Tennessee Wildlife Federation, Copperhead Environmental Consulting, and the Appalachian Mountains Joint Venture, developed a 44,697-acre focal area to diversify forest structure. The landscape is dominated by uniform, closed-canopy forest 80 to 120 years old; the plan restores young forest across 15% of the area and open woodland/savanna across 9% over two decades. Focal species include ruffed grouse, American woodcock, golden-winged and cerulean warblers, wood thrush, prairie warbler, northern bobwhite, elk, and wild turkey.

The Cumberland Plateau holds one of the largest unbroken forests in the eastern U.S., but a uniform, closed canopy leaves little room for young-forest wildlife. This coalition is restoring a dynamic mix of forest ages across nearly 45,000 acres to bring back grouse, woodcock, warblers, elk, and more. Forest management as biodiversity recovery, at landscape scale.

Tennessee State Parks Conservancy - Land Protection for New State Parks (statewide)

Status: Seeking donations and volunteers.

The Conservancy raises private money to acquire and protect land that becomes public state parks, alongside funding park access and education. With donor support and the Tennessee Heritage Conservation Trust Fund, it has secured roughly 472 acres along the Buffalo River, including a 451-acre tract in Wayne County with forested bluffs, gravel beaches, and the darkest night sky in Tennessee, plus key tracts on the Clinch River including a 21-acre access point at Horton Ford in Hancock County. Both parks are expected to open by the end of 2026.

The surest way to protect habitat is to buy it before it's lost. The Tennessee State Parks Conservancy raises private money to acquire land that becomes public state parks, and is bringing two new ones online: nearly 472 acres on the free-flowing Buffalo River, and access points on the biologically rich Clinch. Land protected forever, and open to every Tennessean.

TWRA Habitat Programs, Grants & Clean Streams Grant (statewide)

Status: Active funding opportunities.

TWRA offers programs supporting native grassland restoration, riparian and wetland habitat, and aquatic connectivity. Its Clean Streams Grant helps cover supplies and disposal costs tied to stream-cleanup efforts.

If you're organizing on-the-ground conservation, TWRA has funding to help. Programs support native grassland restoration, wetlands, and aquatic habitat connectivity, and the Clean Streams Grant can cover supplies, cleanup costs, and outreach for community stream projects across Tennessee. Check the current application window before you plan around it.

Center for Native Grasslands Management - University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Status: Research and applied restoration.

The Center researches grassland and savanna restoration technique, including patch-burn grazing and woodland/savanna restoration. Its avian work found red-headed woodpecker nest success above 80% in restored savannas, while the birds were absent from undisturbed control stands, and tracked how prairie warbler nest survival responds to prescribed fire.

Bringing back Tennessee's lost grasslands takes good science. UT's Center for Native Grasslands Management researches how fire, grazing, and savanna restoration revive habitat for declining birds like prairie warblers and red-headed woodpeckers, turning research into practical tools for restoring native grasslands across the region.