Category: outdoors

art, Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, donate, Hugs, outdoors, Sustainability

Radical Public Service: The Chattanooga Urbanist Society

Editor’s Note: This article uses the pseudonym ‘Bill Johnson’ in place of the CUS founder’s actual name in order to maintain anonymity.

Written By Sarah Chesek

Bill Johnson of the Chattanooga Urbanist Society drops off a new bench at a bus stop on Main Street in Chattanooga, TN. Monday, February 20, 2023. (Photo By Seth Carpenter)

Anonymous. Urgent. Civic Action. Under no authority but their own citizenship, the Chattanooga Urbanist Society dropped off “illegal” benches and repaired bridge guardrails. Tired of watching the city’s infrastructure go unaddressed, the founder of CUS realized the cost of inaction—someone possibly falling–—was far worse than possibly being caught. 

“Chattanooga Urbanist Society is a group that exists to take direct action to protect and uphold the rights of pedestrians, cyclists, and make the public realm a better place to experience in Chattanooga,” stated Bill Johnson, founder of Chattanooga Urbanist Society.

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Animals, Chattanooga, community, Environment, Love, outdoors

Birds of Prey

By Haley Bayer

Alix Parks engages with Telly, a non-releasable Black vulture, in their usual handshake. Saturday, November 25, 2022. (Photo by Haley Bayer) 

Past the bustling noise and city lights of Chattanooga lies a home on Signal Mountain for all types of birds of prey on their way to recovery.

That home belongs to Alix Parks, the owner of Happinest Wildlife Rehabilitation and Raptor Rescue, 501c3 non-profit That used to accept everything from squirrels to rabbits, raptors and even songbirds. But after training a few other rehabilitators on other species, Happinest has become strictly a raptor rehabilitation center. 

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Chattanooga, community, Daily Life, Environment, Health, outdoors, Sports, UTC, women

Row As You Grow

Written by Anna Truss

Filmed by Jake Redfern and Madison Van Horn. Edited by Jake Redfern.

“Shoulders, ready, up,” calls the coxswain as the team of rowers lifts the boat onto their shoulders.

Kay Hughes and her team were moving their boat to a different dock to prepare for the Head of the Hooch regatta in early November. Even after 10 years of rowing, the thrill has not died for Hughes.

“We had so much fun and people started posting pictures and the camaraderie and the group coming together, it really is truly a team sport,” Hughes mused.

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Chattanooga, community, Family, outdoors, Photography, Sports

Life on the Ramp

Written By Niah Davis

Dani Harris catches some air while rollerskating on her backyard ramp. Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (Photo by McKenna Pegrim).

Dani Harris, a Colorado native, has been roller skating practically since birth. Nowadays, the 27-year-old loves nothing more than to grab her skates and pull off some of her favorite tricks on her home ramp. 

“I grew up skating, not at the park, but just with my parents outside of the house or to the grocery store and at the rink,” she says. 

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art, Chattanooga, community, Family, Healing, outdoors

Legacy in the Cedar

Written By Hannah Blair Hurt

Video By Cassandra Castillo.

If you happen to find yourself deep in the woods of Dunlap, Tennessee, you may come across the smell of burning timber, the peaceful chirping of birds and Steve McBryar wielding his chainsaw, ready to carve his next piece of work. 

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Chattanooga, community, Environment, History, outdoors, Photography

To Preserve and Protect

By David Whalen

Caleb Timmerman stands at St. Elmo Boulders. Wednesday, April 6, 2022. (Photo by David Whalen)

The Southeastern Climbers Coalition (SCC) is a grassroots non-profit coalition with only three employees. Although, throughout the past 29 years they have had hundreds of helping hands working to conserve and preserve publicly accessible climbing areas in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama.

Caleb Timmerman recently became that third employee in the form of marketing director for the SCC. Here he helps tell the story of climbers and conservationists who have fought to keep public land accessible to all. 

“Access to outdoor rock climbing in the southeast is never guaranteed,” Timmerman says. “It takes a community of people who care deeply about this outdoor resource to come together and form a coalition to protect that access.”

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Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, Environment, outdoors

Caving Cautiously

By Maggie Weaver

Captain Brandon Powers of Chattanooga Hamilton County Rescue Services pulls out a radio used in the field to communicate with the rescue team. Monday, April 11, 2022. (Photo By Maggie Weaver)

It’s estimated that over 2 million people visit caves annually in the United States. Brandon Powers is one of them, having been an avid caver for over two decades. He has been working with Chattanooga Hamilton County Rescue Services since 2016 and now holds the rank of captain.

“Caving, in general, is a sport that I feel like a lot of people don’t have a tremendous amount of information about, and you can find yourself way over your head real quick,” says Captain Powers.

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