Austin Peay State University’s Southeastern Grasslands Institute (SGI) is leading a $10 million project to restore native grasslands across Middle Tennessee, including a major makeover for Shelby Bottoms in Nashville.
“Most Tennesseans don’t really stop and consider that we had grasslands at all,” Southeastern Grasslands Institute Co‑founder Dwayne Estes said.
Historically, Tennessee was home to around 8 million acres of native grassland. Today, only about 1 percent remains. The landscape at Cornelia Fort Air Park in Nashville — now dominated by non-native plants — looks very different from what was here centuries ago…