TDEC budget hearing: commissioner touts parks investments, Duck River planning and nuclear regulatory steps

Commissioner David Salyers, speaking to the Finance, Ways and Means Committee on March 11, 2025, outlined the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s (TDEC) budget priorities, highlighting plans to eliminate the parks’ deferred maintenance backlog, fund regional water planning for the Duck River, and create a state regulatory framework for nuclear fusion and related technologies.

Salyers said the proposed budget includes funding to address the parks maintenance backlog and to fully staff several newly established parks. He told committee members that nine new state parks have been approved by the governor and the General Assembly and that the budget would fund three new parks (Dry Branch in Perry/Hickman/Lewis counties; a Cherokee Removal memorial park in Meigs County; and a Blueway State Park on the Clinch River), along with staffing for two already-named parks.

On water planning, Salyers described a $24.5 million budget item, saying about $20 million would be focused on the Duck River for engineering, hydraulic modeling and to incentivize regional cooperation among utility districts and municipalities. He said the Duck River is among the most ecologically diverse freshwater rivers in North America and…