Division of Forestry
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry serves Tennesseans by protecting, conserving, and enhancing our state's 14 million acres of publicly and privately owned forested land. How we do that...
- Forest health monitoring, initiatives, and assistance
- Wildfire prevention, mitigation, and suppression
- Technical and financial forest landowner assistance
- Urban & community forestry programming
- State forest stewardship and management
- Reforestation solutions
- And much more...
Participate in the White Oak Acorn Collection Effort
This program began as a partnership between the Tennessee Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry’s East Tennessee Nursery, the University of Tennessee and the Tennessee Forestry Association. The program was founded to help address the decline of white oak regrowth in Tennessee’s forests. The program is part of a large-scale effort to restore white oak populations in forests across the state.
The public is welcome to participate in this effort, whether they own wooded land or not, by helping to collect white oak acorns that will be planted at the nursery. The seedlings the nursery grows are used by many organizations and individuals to supplement natural forest regrowth and to support conservation, reforestation and land management goals.
Individuals, civic organizations, forestry groups, landowners and youth organizations who would like to participate can learn how to collect, store and deliver acorns for inclusion in the program by visiting the Tennessee Forestry Association's website.
For assistance in identifying the correct tree species, interested parties may reach out to their local Division of Forestry area forester using the division's staff directory.
Quick Links
The forest products industry has a substantial impact on Tennessee's economy. As 83% of forests in Tennessee are privately owned, strong forest products markets are the best incentive for many landowners to keep their forests as forests.
Diverse, competitive, and sustainable forest products markets are a strong motive for family woodland owners to keep their forestland intact and forested. Active forest management, which includes timber harvesting, increases disturbance and diversifies forests so they can be more resilient on the Tennessean landscape.
Tennessee Matters is a half hour weekly Public Affairs program from the Tennessee Radio Network hosted by John Clark. This episode features an interview with Tim Phelps, TDF Public Information Officer, and with Larry Pitts, Tennessee Forestry Association Workforce Development Coordinator, to talk about Tennessee forests, the forest industry, and August/September statewide wildfire conditions.
The Tennessee Division of Forestry plays a critical role in wildfire prevention, mitigation, and suppression in Tennessee. Visit our wildland fire-focused website at TNWildlandFire.gov to learn more about:
Forest health monitoring, management, and assistance is a key element of the Division of Forestry's work. Visit our forest health-focused website at ProtectTNForests.org to learn more about:
A the vast majority of wildfires in Tennessee are caused by humans, primarily through escaped debris burns. That's why it is important to practice safe debris burning and obtain a permit before burning between Oct 15 and May 15.
Visit our website at BurnSafeTN.org to learn more about:
The East Tennessee Nursery, located in Delano, Tenn., produces over 3 million native tree and shrub seedlings each year and offers them for sale in bulk and at affordable prices. These seedlings are available to public and private entities and are ideal for conservation and reforestation projects.
Learn about the nursery and purchase seedlings at PlantTNTrees.org.
