The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) announced today that 13 of the 32 state parks that achieved Platinum status in the Go Green With Us program are located in Middle Tennessee. This marks the highest number of Platinum parks in the program’s history.
Greer Tidwell, deputy commissioner for TDEC’s Bureau of Parks and Conservation, praised the parks’ efforts and commitment to environmental protection. The parks underwent evaluation in sustainability categories such as energy efficiency, maintenance and hospitality, water conservation, and recycling and waste reduction, among others, to earn recognition levels ranging from Bronze to Platinum. The Go Green program started in 2015 as a recycling initiative and became mandatory for all Tennessee State Parks in 2018.
The Middle Tennessee parks that received Platinum status are:
- Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park
- Bledsoe Creek State Park
- Burgess Falls State Park
- Cedars of Lebanon State Park
- Henry Horton State Park
- Long Hunter State Park
- Montgomery Bell State Park
- Old Stone Fort State Park
- Pickett CCC Memorial State Park
- Standing Stone State Park
- Radnor Lake State Park
- Rock Island State Park
- Sgt. Alvin C. York State Park.
As Earth Month coincides with the announcement, park visitors are encouraged to learn about their favorite park’s Go Green initiative and how they can participate in the program. The Go Green program was awarded the National Association of State Park Directors’ 2022 President’s Award.
