The Duck River runs through our regional backyard, and supports an ecosystem so rare it puts most of the world’s rivers to shame. Now, state lawmakers have taken a significant step to keep it that way.
Legislation sponsored by Speaker Pro Tempore Pat Marsh, R-Shelbyville — who also represents Moore County — cleared the General Assembly this week and heads to Governor Bill Lee’s desk for his signature. House Bill 1510 extends scenic river protections to specific stretches of the Duck, Buffalo, West and East Piney Rivers, as well as several creeks including portions of Beaverdam and Swan — giving state regulators new tools to keep high-impact development, including landfills, away from the most sensitive stretches of these waterways.
The stakes are real. As The Lynchburg Times reported last year, the Duck River supplies drinking water to more than 250,000 Middle Tennesseans and is considered one of the most biologically diverse rivers in the world — home to more than 150 fish species and around 50 varieties of freshwater mussels, some found nowhere else on earth. Tennessee Tech researchers have called those mussels the “liver of the river,” quietly filtering and sustaining an ecosystem that humans depend on just as much as the wildlife do.
That ecosystem is under pressure. Central Tennessee’s rapid population growth is pulling more water from the river while sending more runoff, sediment and pollution into it — a challenge the Duck River Watershed Planning Partnership, established by Governor Lee’s executive order, is actively working to address.
HB 1510 adds a layer of legal protection to that effort. Under the bill, any new boundary established along the newly designated Class II segments requires notarized consent from property owners — a provision designed to ensure private landowners aren’t bypassed in the process.
Marsh, whose district includes Shelbyville and the heart of Duck River country, called it “a major victory for conservation” and an essential safeguard for future generations. With Lee’s signature, it becomes law. •
About the Lynchburg Times: We covers regional news because Moore County doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Carved out of portions of Franklin, Bedford, and Lincoln counties, Moore County sits at the center of four surrounding counties — and what happens in Bedford, Lincoln, Coffee, and Franklin counties has a way of finding its way here. An informed community is an engaged one, and engagement starts with knowing what’s happening in your own backyard. If this kind of coverage matters to you, consider supporting The Lynchburg Times at lynchburgtimes.com.