Chuck Sutherland

Some photos from around Putnam County this morning. It's a bad situation for lots of people. Homes and lives have been lost. I feel nothing but sorrow today. These were the most painful photos I've ever taken. If you feel moved to provide assistance, donations, or anything at all, please email helpnow@putnamcountytn.gov. They will coordinate with you. While Governor Lee's declaration of a state of emergency will help allocate funds to help those in need, it won't be a quick process. We need good neighbors to help. Stay safe y'all.

Stages of a cleanup Identify an illegal dump site or graffiti ridden location Secure landowner permission Build your team Build partnerships Set a date Gather volunteers Resolve legal and logistic issues Contact the media Obtain supplies Execute the cleanup Conduct a post-cleanup analysis Identify an illegal dump site or graffiti ridden location It may be that you already know a place that needs to be cleaned. If you don't talk with local officials and folks who spend time outside. Someone can point you to a place in need. Knowing where to clean is only part of the process though. You need to know whose property you would be working on. If you're in Tennessee, you can use the Tax Assessor webpage to explore who owns what. Alternately your friendly neighborhood GIS professional can help you get at this information. Secure landowner permission You'll want to reach out to the landowner early on in planning to make sure they are fine with you proceeding. ...

On Good Friday I joined my friends at the Cumberland Trails Conference for a day of trail building. I wasn't alone, college students from two universities were there on their alternative spring break assisting with trail building. A group of about 40 people descended on a segment of trail on Renegade Mountain (more correctly, but less well known as Haley Mountain) in Cumberland County, Tennessee. I was shown how to use the tools, mattock and McLeod , and given some loppers and clippers to groom roots from the trail. Thus began hours of swinging a mattock to remove duff from the trail surface and bench it out. Side by side we stood (out of the swinging death zone of a deadly tool) breaking away and moving duff and soil to the trail specifications. The Cumberland Trail has very particular specifications to the quality of its trail, which is probably why in the segments I have seen, it is the very best trail in the state in terms of quality. Briefly, the specs are that the tra...