Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland Speaks at the Opening of the Paint Rock River NWR

I attended the opening of the Paint Rock River National Wildlife Refuge on the Plateau in southern Franklin County.

With a donation of 87.37 acres in Franklin County, Tennessee, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was able to officially establish the Paint Rock River National Wildlife Refuge this month. "The Paint Rock River National Wildlife Refuge was authorized for establishment in 2016, with up to 25,120 acres of land that could be obtained through fee title acquisitions or easements. The Service's approach for this project is to delineate a "conservation partnership area" within which it will work with interested landowners and other conservation partners to help protect the aquatic resources and hardwood forests of the upper watershed.

The refuge lies in the Paint Rock River watershed of the Cumberland Plateau, a largely rural area that has a long history of agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing. The Paint Rock River watershed drains into the Tennessee River. Important habitat types in the conservation partnership area include upland hardwoods, in-stream habitats and cave and karst systems."