The Cumberland Plateau

Carved by time and water, the Cumberland Plateau—the world's longest expanse of hardwood-forested plateau—boasts varied elevations, topography, soils and microclimates. With portions remaining remote and rugged, the Cumberland Plateau is a global hotspot for amphibians, cave fauna and vascular plants, and some of our nation's greatest variety of fish and mollusks, including laurel dace, purple bean and Cumberland pigtoe. Shortleaf pine and oak forests, interspersed with open woodlands and grasslands, welcome birds such as northern bobwhite, prairie warbler, brown-headed nuthatch and Bachman's sparrow.


CONSERVING THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU

Success in the Cumberland Plateau hinges on conserving and restoring key wildlife habitat in the face of pressures that include:

1. fire suppression
2. tree disease and pest infestations
3. agricultural runoff
4. stream modification
5. introduction of non-native species
6. unsustainable farming, timber and mining

The Nature Conservancy is well positioned to face these pressures due to our science-driven, collaborative approach that includes pursuing mutual goals with agency partners on public lands, working with private landowners to sustainably manage their working farm or forest, and building on lessons learned at TNC's system of Tennessee nature preserves.

In recent years, TNC has marked several achievements in the Cumberland Plateau, most recently with a transaction that secured 253,000 acres of Central Appalachian forestlands spread across two parcels, one located in Southwest Virginia and one along the Kentucky and Tennessee border. In addition to storing millions of tons of carbon, these properties comprising the Cumberland Forest Project—one of TNC’s largest conservation efforts in the eastern U.S.—secure critical habitat and natural corridors for diverse wildlife while providing a variety of recreation opportunities for people throughout the region.

SOURCE:  The Nature Conservancy

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Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee

Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Bristol is among the most popular tracks on the NASCAR schedule because of its distinct features, which include extraordinarily steep banking, an all-concrete surface, two pit roads, different turn radii, and stadium-like seating. It has also been named one of the loudest NASCAR tracks.

Bristol Motor Speedway is the fourth-largest sports venue in America and the tenth largest in the world, seating up to 146,000 people. The speeds are far lower than is typical on most NASCAR oval tracks, but they are very fast compared to other short tracks due to the high banking. Those features make for a considerable amount of car contact at the NASCAR races as the initial starting grid of 40 vehicles each in the Cup and Xfinity Series, and 32 in the Truck Series, extends almost halfway around the track, meaning slower qualifiers begin the race almost half a lap down.

Grandstand in 2007

The drag strip at this facility has long been nicknamed "Thunder Valley". Both NASCAR Cup Series races held at Bristol are for 500 laps; the spring race (historically a day race; however, the 2006 race ended under nighttime conditions because of Standard Time and the late afternoon start) is sponsored by area grocery chain Food City and considered one of NASCAR's top 10 annual races.[2] The late summer race (the popular night-time race, considered "the toughest ticket in NASCAR" to obtain) has rotated among several sponsors. From 2001 to 2015, Newell Rubbermaid sponsored the race, first under its Sharpie brand (2001–2009) and then its Irwin Tools brand (2010–2015). From 2016 to 2021, Bass Pro Shops became primary sponsor of the summer race, with the National Rifle Association as a secondary sponsor. In 2022, Bass Pro Shops became the sole entitlement sponsor of Bristol's September NASCAR Playoff Race.

The old scoring pylon in August 2007

Bristol is a fertile ground for other levels and types of racing; NASCAR Xfinity Series races often draw more than 100,000 spectators, making it one of the best-drawing Xfinity venues, and resulted in Fox televising the race nationally from 2004 to 2006 and ABC doing the same in 2007 and 2008.

In 2004, it was the first Busch Series race of the season televised on broadcast network television, and the race, which had been 150 laps in 1982, 200 laps in 1984, and 250 laps since 1990, was a 300-lap race in 2006.  READ MORE...

East Tennessee Bluegrass

A Guide to the East Tennessee Bluegrass Association
By Evie Andrus 


While it is true one can find bluegrass most anywhere these days, it takes on a new meaning here in Knoxville. Many of the legends call this region home and the culture is steeped in Appalachia. From porches to barn dances, bluegrass was the music folks gathered around. One only has to look around see the influence these mountains have on bluegrass music.



The East Tennessee Bluegrass Association (ETNBA) strives to promote and advance traditional bluegrass music through education, outreach and community for all generations. Formed back in 2018 after a lunch meeting between founding members Evie Andrus and Jodi Harbin, the association quickly gathered musicians from around the region who shared their passion. 

With a mission statement that focuses on building community, preserving traditional bluegrass, and furthering the education of pickers (aka musicians) ETNBA has become a staple in the bluegrass scene of the Knoxville region.



One of the biggest ways we achieve our mission is by hosting jams around town. Be it out at Ijams Nature Center in SoKno, up at Sleepy-Eyed John’s in Clinton or downtown at Visit Knoxville you are able to find music being made almost every weekend of the month. We at ETNBA strive to maintain a traditional jam at all times, which means we welcome the standard bluegrass instrumentation (fiddle, banjo, acoustic guitar, bass, dobro) and ask that people refrain from amplification. 

We pass song choice around in a circle and everyone gets the chance to choose a song to play with the group, which keeps in the tradition of a bluegrass jam. One does not need to be a member of ETNBA to join in any of our jams, just ready to make some music and have some fun.    READ MORE...