Nashville is home to world's largest urban forest. Conserving Highland Rim Forest is key

Just over a year ago, guest columnist, Kathleen Williams, founder of the TennGreen Land Conservancy, challenged our mayoral candidates to “champion the environment” through the implementation of conservation measures already put forth in several Metro plans.

Little did we know that the woodlands draping the hills that embrace much of our city form the largest continuous forest found in any major city of 500,000 on the globe.

With most of the forest located on privately owned parcels, it is important to elevate the awareness of the rich biodiversity of wildlife, clean waters, and the air-filtering trees that are entrusted to those of us living here today. Research shows that simply placing a name on such woodlands in cities can help create the stewardship needed to protect them.

Awareness itself can help stem the fragmentation and destruction of habitat and corridors, often taken for granted until they become degraded and beyond repair. Nashville has a grand “temperate zone” rainforest, an increasingly invaluable asset as the city grows.

A special new logo has been created by the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp.

It's pivotal to integrate woodlands into city and state conservation plans

To celebrate Nashville’s Largest Urban Forest status, promotional materials for visitors will feature the public amenities available in several parks that lie within Nashville’s Highland Rim Forest. Showcased under the new logo being introduced here, Metro’s Beaman, Bells Bend and Warner Parks, as well as Radnor Lake State Park, are all nestled within Nashville’s Highland Rim Forest.

In concert with our wonderful parks and greenways, we hope Nashville’s Highland Rim Forest will evoke the preeminence of Music City’s green setting.

Conserving Nashville’s Highland Rim Forest is integral to the city’s other sustainability measures.

Urban tree replanting and improved transit can both help mitigate the environmental costs of growth. Measures to grow household density in districts designed to meet it allow us to preserve lower density in woodland, farmland, and on steep slopes. We must look at sister cities and neighboring counties for their protections regarding clearcutting and slopes to determine what can be done in Nashville. All sustainability efforts work best in tandem and in concert. A most effective, immediate, and low-cost climate resiliency measure is the simple act of protecting maturing, natural forest ecosystems as the accumulated soils and vegetation mass act as a giant carbon sink.

Nashville’s forest connects to the greater western Highland Rim Forest, identified by the state as a “Conservation Opportunity Area.”

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency protects key habitats identified as Conservation Opportunity Areas as part of its State Wildlife Action Plan. The “Western Highland Rim Forest” is one such priority area. It includes the Davidson County woodlands we speak of today and spans roughly a dozen counties to the west and south of Nashville. Because of development pressures, the Nashville Highland Rim Forest portion of this Conservation Opportunity Area is especially vulnerable. A number of creative alternatives need exploring to keep this exceptional urban habitat intact.

Let’s keep this going.

A small core team collected around Kathleen Williams’s ability to see the forest for the trees. We operate under the “Alliance to Conserve Nashville’s Highland Rim Forest." As we have learned more about the importance of integrating these woodlands into our city and state conservation plans, more than thirty-five local and international, environmentally focused organizations have signed on as partners.

More: How one Middle Tennessee mom, daughter are working to protect family land for generations

Explore stewardship opportunities with land owners

Preserving intact forests offers one of the planet’s greatest buffers to climate instability. Beyond this global service, retaining a forest of this scale in the midst of a city buys local Nashvillians future opportunities we can’t fully imagine today.

Now is the time to explore stewardship options with current landowners in dialogue with conservation groups and visionary planners. A combination of natural characteristics and land use patterns have presented Nashville with a chance to do something special that most any city would envy.

Nashville’s latest Urban Tree Canopy assessment indicates a 674-acre decline in Metro’s tree canopy between 2016 and 2021. We need your help to deter further fragmenting of these woodlands and hillsides. Please visit the Alliance’s website listed below and add your email to join our growing number of supporters.

Nashville is at a pivotal point. We hope you will be a part of our effort to take active steps toward passing along a healthy environment where nature is integrated into equitable, diverse, and biocentric neighborhoods for the generations that follow.

The Alliance is organized under the Southern Conservation Partners, a 501c3 that elevates nature through exceptional stewardship across 13 states. Visit nashvillehighlandrimforest.org.

Judson Newbern holds a master degree in landscape architecture from Harvard University and volunteers with nonprofits having served as deputy vice chancellor of Facilities & Environmental Affairs at Vanderbilt University for over 30 years. Email him at judson.newbern@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Highland Rim Forest must be preserved and protected