Champion the environment and the Highland Rim Forest
Article by Antoinette Oleson • 2 minute read
This article highlights the environmental and civic importance of Nashville's Highland Rim Urban Forest—a continuous green corridor linking major parks like Radnor, Warner, Beaman, and Bells Bend through key residential neighborhoods. It emphasizes how these forested areas not only safeguard biodiversity, climate stability, and scenic character but also support Nashville’s stated planning goals as outlined in the NashvilleNext and Plan to Play initiatives.
Neighborhoods play an integral part of maintaining the forest
Specific residential neighborhoods in Nashville are located in Nashville's Highland Rim Urban Forest. The NashvilleNext Plan contains the agenda to "Champion the Environment" by expanding Nashville's green and open spaces. These residential neighborhoods serve to link four Nashville Parks with a wildlife corridor and protect Nashville's tree canopy.
Protecting the environment through zoning
Middle Tennessee is home to one of the Southeast's most immense, continuous swaths of woodlands. This grand forest graces the crescent of hills known as the Eastern and Western Highland Rim that arcs across the state, wrapping either side of the circular basin where Nashville sits. The western portion of this geologic feature sweeps the left edge of the Metropolitan Nashville Davidson County boundary. It contains four of our most popular parks: Beaman, Bells Bend, Warner, and Radnor. The rolling green backdrop cradles the west side of Nashville, including parts of West Meade from Radnor to Beaman and through Whites Creek and Joelton and beyond. The NashvilleNext General Plan and our parks Plan to Play set out bold agendas to "Champion the Environment" by expanding Nashville's green and open spaces. We've planned for it; let's implement the plans to protect and expand these areas. Maintaining the single-family zoning and minimum lot sizes in these urban neighborhoods is integral to protecting Nashville and allowing us to reach our stated climate goals.
Nashville's Highland Rim Forest, linking Radnor, Warner Parks, West Meade, Bells Bend, and Whites Creek, protects our land, air, waters, wildlife, scenery, and children's future. For more than a decade, numerous conservation organizations have worked to secure conservation easements linking these existing parks with West Meade hills, including private conservation easements on West Meade properties containing a cave and a waterfall.
One of the most extensive urban forests in the world
This green infrastructure corridor is identified in NashvilleNext. If we follow through on our already agreed-upon plans, Nashville will have one of the most extensive urban forests in the world. Many of these populated residential areas are not conducive to density development as they are prone to landslides and extreme runoff. The fragile, heavily treed West Meade hills contain steep properties and underground springs with an abundant diversity of wildlife and the large lots necessary to preserve our essential tree canopy.
A healthy wildlife corridor
The parks contained within the Highland Rim Forest creates the integral wildlife corridor that links the three parks, preserving and allowing wildlife to flourish. Without this corridor, wildlife can become isolated in small areas, causing inbreeding and sickness.
Nashville's open space vision represents public priorities expressed during public forums and is based on the latest peer-reviewed science, GIS research, and analysis.
Sources and further reading reading on this subject can be found at nashvillehighlandrimforest.org