Leaves You Hopeful is a short podcast series produced by 2023 Dogwood Alliance Fellow Aanahita Ervin. It highlights stories about large institutions - government, private foundations, corporations - misusing forests against the wishes of the local community members. While misuse of forest land is often legal, it is not ethical. These offending institutions are large and powerful. Oftentimes people assume they can’t ask questions. Sometimes, they don’t have the resources to do so.

THIS EPISODE:

Land Between the Lakes (LBL) national recreation area has a history of government mismanagement. The story begins with the 1958 removal of families by the Tennessee Valley Authority to create LBL. It then fast forwards to the perceived mismanagement of lands by the forest service in 2014. A broad coalition of people came together to stop what they thought was a misuse of their forest. They believed a public good was being destroyed in favor of timber companies and an unfamiliar landscape. This episode explores how the history of a land and people can play a pivotal role in events 55 years later.