Work We’re Proud Of…
The Nashville Tree Conservation Corps works throughout the community in myriad ways to support its mission to promote, preserve, protect and plant trees in Nashville.
LEGISLATION
In 2022, NTCC provided case study analysis, technical comments and stakeholder input for Council Member Angie Henderson's two bills to revamp cluster lot zoning and provide new protections for natural features in these subdivisions, including mature trees. The legislation won final approval from the Metro Council in May.
In 2019 & 2020, NTCC worked closely with Council Member Henderson — providing a 50-page vision and scope document — to help pass a new tree ordinance, the city’s first canopy-preservation bill in more than 10 years. The ordinance, which took effect in August 2020, sets new standards for tree-density replacement requirements in multi-family and commercial projects.
NTCC's policy committee partnered with Council Member Jeff Syracuse and affected Metro departments to develop an ordinance that would offer greater protections for trees on city-owned land in Nashville. The bill became law in 2021, two years after the Cherrygate scandal prompted a push to protect our public trees.
In 2018, our report, “Generation of Canopy Loss,” was instrumental in getting former Mayor Megan Barry to sign Executive Order 40, shifting the focus on tree loss in Nashville and making canopy-enrichment and protection a priority.
ADVOCACY
In a case that drew national attention, NTCC successfully urged the Nashville Symphony to reconsider its plan to remove dozens of trees at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center downtown, where a huge flock of purple martins had roosted. A carefully negotiated plan saved many trees owned by Metro and called for replacement of any trees taken down.
In 2019, NTCC co-chair Jim Gregory coordinated an online petition to protest Metro's planned removal of 21 cherry trees at Riverfront Park for the three-day NFL Draft event. After more than 80,000 people signed the petition, the Cherrygate controversy became a major issue in the 2019 mayor’s race and prompted backpedaling from the NFL and Metro.
We consulted on the planning of Centennial Park’s Phase 2 landscape restoration plan, where nearly 100 trees were initially slated for removal. We were able to help Metro Parks lessen the impact on existing trees and increase the tree replacement schedule.
NTCC leadership regularly advises neighborhoods and individuals when significant trees are put at risk by questionable development practices. The Tree Corps advocates for the use of negotiation, down-zoning and development redesign whenever possible to save trees.
NTCC successfully lobbied the Metro Council to block the proposed sale of a forested 11-acre parcel of green space in the Haynes-Trinity community by proving that the city was using a hyper-inflated appraisal for the land.
With the help of Council Member Mary Carol Robertson and local activist Karen Brown (formerly on our board), we documented and quantified widespread tree-planting violations, including photos that showed where, according to current code, trees should have been planted but weren’t.
TREE PLANTING
Our annual Farm-to-Yard Tree sale, launched in 2017, delivers hundreds of quality trees each year directly to Nashville homeowners, providing a cost-saving means to build our local tree canopy. These specially selected trees come from Tennessee tree farms.
NTCC has conceived, designed and planted the Shelby Avenue Arboretum, which lines both sides of historic Shelby Avenue and adjacent streets with trees of varying shapes, sizes and colors. The project is funded by private fund-raising, as well as city, state and federal grants.
After a tornado tore through Nashville in March 2020, NTCC launched Operation Overstory to address the loss of tree canopy from the storm. Hale & Hines Nursery, a family tree farm near McMinnville, pitched in with the donation of more than 1,500 trees for the effort to replant trees in Nashville.
