Green Interchange Inc - Green Interchange

The Green Interchange Mission

Green Interchange’s mission is to plant trees and establish and sustain natural systems for healthier communities, economies, and quality of life. We plant trees near roadways, waterways and in other public and private spaces. We currently operate in Tennessee with a vision of offering our programs nationally in the future. Learn more about our mission, our work, and our impact.

Green Interchange plants trees and restores natural systems to grow healthier communities, stronger economies, and a greener Tennessee.

Imagine a Tennessee where every road leads to renewal, every stream runs clear, and every neighborhood enjoys the shade of native trees. Our communities flourish under a thriving canopy—bringing health, beauty, and balance back into daily life.

No politics--everyone wins when we plant trees!

We're looking for volunteers in Memphis and Knoxville for Plant a Bigger Tree this fall!

This fall, Green Interchange is bringing Plant a Bigger Tree for Tennessee back across the state, and we need hands—yours, specifically—to help us! In October and November, we're handing out native trees to residents across the state, and we're specifically looking for Knoxville and Memphis volunteers to help with exactly that: no shovels, no soil, no experience required. Just you, a few hours, and a bunch of trees waiting for someone to carry them home. Whether you've volunteered with us before or you've never planted a single thing in your life, this one's for you—show up, say hello, and hand somebody their next tree!

Knoxville: Oct 29th (Thursday) 4:00 - 6:00 pm CST
Memphis: Early November, exact date TBD

Dr. John McFadden: A New Chapter

Six years ago, Green Interchange was an idea. Today, it's a foundation—one built tree by tree, partnership by partnership, volunteer Saturday by volunteer Saturday—strong enough to carry Tennessee's forests and waterways forward for years to come.

That foundation exists because of Dr. John McFadden, who has announced he'll be stepping down as CEO effective December 31st, 2026.

We don't think there's a way to summarize what someone builds over six years without shrinking it, so we won't try. What we can say is this: the reforestation work happening across highway interchanges and urban canopies throughout Tennessee, the riparian restoration along our creeks, the growing list of communities gaining real access to nature—none of it started as an organization. It started as a conviction that this state's land and water were worth showing up for, again and again, long before anyone else was convinced too.

We're deeply grateful for that conviction, and for the leadership that turned it into something lasting.

As we begin the search for our next CEO, we're hopeful you'll help us find them. This is a role for someone who wants to lead an organization that already runs—not build one from nothing—and who understands that the spreadsheet and the shovel are, in the end, the same work. If that's you, or someone in your network, we'd love for you to see the full position description linked below.

Tennessee's forests don't ask who gets the credit. They just keep growing. We intend to keep showing up for them—with the same care, the same partnerships, and the same quiet stubbornness that got us this far.

Napier Green Streets: Grow and Gather
Community Garden Workday Update
June 20, 2026

This past Saturday, twelve volunteers gathered at Claiborne Family of Faith Church in Napier to plant pollinator seeds across the remaining eight raised beds—zinnias, black-eyed Susans, monarda, and other species were chosen specifically to support the twenty beds already established this spring.

Beyond planting, the Soil Soldier and Green Interchange crew staked, pruned, and weeded existing beds and cleaned up trash across the property. The work is part of Green Interchange and Recycle Reinvest's broader effort to transform Napier from a food desert into a food oasis.

Napier Green Streets: Grow & Gather

Pop by and check out our progress at other events in the next few weeks!

If you have a young person who would like to become one of the Soil Soldiers helping our efforts in Napier, check out Recycle Reinvest’s page below for ore information on how to sign up!

July 25th - Summer Garden Maintenance & Harvesting Day
August 8th - Fall Crop Preparation Day
August 15th - Community Planting & Beautification Day

More Info On Joining the Soil Soldiers!

From Creek to Cattle: Join our Farmer Partnership Program

At Green Interchange, we know that healthy farms start with healthy water and healthy land—and we're here to help Tennessee farmers protect both. From Creek to Cattle is our farmer outreach initiative, connecting working farms with the streambank stabilization, riparian restoration, and conservation funding resources they need to keep their waterways clean, their livestock healthy, and their land intact for generations to come. Whether you're dealing with an eroding bank, water quality concerns, or just want to know what resources are available to you, we'd love to be a resource!

Visit our site below to learn more about how Green Interchange can help your farm thrive.

From Creek to Cattle: More Information

Thurgood Marshall Middle School Outdoor Classroom

At Thurgood Marshall Middle School, Green Interchange is putting the finishing touches on something pretty special -- an outdoor classroom built around a food forest and herb garden, designed specifically for the school's culinary program. A food forest is exactly what it sounds like: a diverse, self-sustaining ecosystem full of edible plants, fruits, and vegetables that mimics the way a natural forest grows. After three years of tending and waiting, the apple trees are finally beginning to bear fruit — real ingredients that students can bring straight into the kitchen. Alongside the food forest, an herb garden fills the air with basil, rosemary, and mint, giving students a hands-on introduction to the plants they'll actually cook with.

The impact goes well beyond the kitchen. This outdoor classroom functions as a living laboratory where science, agriculture, and nutrition stop being abstract subjects and start being something students can touch, smell, and taste. Green Interchange sees this as a model worth replicating — a proof of concept for what environmental education can look like in schools across Tennessee when you give young people real soil to work with and real food to grow. Healthy eating habits, environmental stewardship, and genuine curiosity about the natural world: this is what it looks like when all three show up in the same place at the same time.

Plant a Tree for Tennessee 2026 is Officially Over!
Together, We Planted Nearly 5,000 Trees

This spring, Tennesseans showed up for their trees. Green Interchange's Plant a Tree for Tennessee 2026 campaign moved 4,890 native trees across the state—our strongest campaign performance yet. Seven species, one mission: getting the right trees into the right hands, rooted in Tennessee soil. Eastern Redbuds, Wild Plum, Roughleaf Dogwood, Buttonbush, Sycamore, Ninebark, and American Beautyberry are now quietly doing what native trees do best — feeding pollinators, sheltering songbirds, stabilizing watersheds, and storing carbon for decades to come.

The numbers tell one story. The trees tell another. What started as a seedling sales campaign became something more indelible—proof that when you make it easy for people to act, they will. Every $2.99 tree represents a neighbor who chose to plant something that will outlive them.

That's not a transaction. That's a legacy.

And don’t forget to look out for Plant a BIGGER Tree for Tennessee 2026—we’ll be offering 1-inch caliper trees, and we can’t wait to see so many familiar faces back out there planting with us.

How to care for your trees

Excited for Plant a BIGGER tree?

Del Rio Update: French Broad River Restoration

When Hurricane Helene tore through East Tennessee and Western North Carolina, it didn't just damage homes and businesses — it stripped thousands of trees from riverbanks across the region, leaving the French Broad River exposed, unstable, and deeply scarred. The Tennessee Division of Forestry identified roughly $60 million in forest damage to the East Tennessee area alone. Green Interchange, alongside the Tennessee Environmental Council and other partner organizations, answered that need with "Re-Root the River" — a community planting event focused on Del Rio, Tennessee, where volunteers came from across the state to put native trees and live stakes back into the ground along the battered riverbanks.

The event put the Tennessee Environmental Council's cumulative tree-planting total at 1,060,500 trees — with about 500 planted along the French Broad that day alone. But the impact goes beyond the numbers. As Dr. John McFadden, Green Interchange's CEO, put it: "tree roots are to the creek bank like rebar is to concrete" — holding the structure together while also filtering pollutants from stream water, rainwater, and floodwaters. These trees are small now. In a few years, they'll be doing the quiet, indelible work of holding a river together.

Dry Fork Creek Update

Earlier this year, Green Interchange got to work on Dry Fork Creek in Hermitage, Tennessee — a waterway the state had already flagged for carrying too much sediment. $30,000 was put toward actually fixing the problem at the source, instead of installing a new treatment system that would need expensive, sustained maintenance. Led by Dr. John McFadden, our team stabilized 135 linear feet of crumbling streambank that was eating away at tree roots and creeping dangerously close to the homes sitting right above it.

Think of it like rebuilding a foundation — but for a creek. We regraded the slope, anchored the bank with cedar logs and erosion control matting, and swapped out a rotting railroad tie wall for a brand new cedar timber retaining wall. And the best part? We're not done!

This fall and winter, native trees and live stakes go into the ground along the restored bank. No concrete, no chemicals — just roots doing what roots have always done. Holding things together, filtering the water, and slowly bringing a little of the good stuff back.

Lytle Creek Tree Planting Recap

On December 4, 2025, Green Interchange and community volunteers came together to plant 65 native trees along Lytle Creek in Murfreesboro. This restoration effort will help stabilize streambanks, improve water quality, and strengthen habitat along this important tributary of the Stones River.

Lytle Creek plays a key role in the Cumberland River watershed, and planting native trees helps reduce runoff, filter pollutants, and build long-term resilience for both the creek and the surrounding community.
We’re grateful to the Arbor Day Foundation for sponsoring this project and to every volunteer who helped make a healthier watershed possible—one tree at a time.

Live Staking Stewardship Workshop & Training:
Thanks for Coming Out!

Another amazing day on the Nolichucky River! Nearly twenty volunteers came out, waders on and ready to roll — and we got all 1,900 live stakes in the ground. We even watered the trees planted back in October.

Live staking is a powerful, low-cost way to rebuild riverbanks and boost biodiversity, using cut stems that root right into the soil. Our species for the day: box elder, American elderberry, arrowwood viburnum, buttonbush, red twig dogwood, and eastern cottonwood.

Huge thanks to our partners — Appalachian Watershed Alliance, Nolichucky Outdoor Recreation Association, Nolichucky Restoration Project, and Keep Greene Beautiful. Great people, great conversations, and real connections made.

Grateful for this community. If you believe in this work, please donate if you can — every dollar supports restoration right here in East Tennessee.

donate to restore the river

Special Thanks to Our Community Partners

How We Work

Simple and Effective.

We plant trees where they have maximum impact along roadways, waterways, and in "other ways" such as public spaces or other places. Trees and other natural infrastructure offer outstanding benefits, for instance:

"Noise and vegetative barriers can reduce downwind pollutant concentrations near roads."
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

"Forested stream banks act like a sponge, filtering out excessive nutrients, sediment, and other
pollutants that run off from the land that would be damaging if they entered a stream. "
- Christina Catanese , The EPA Blog

Join the Effort!

The work of restoring Tennessee's tree canopy doesn't happen behind a desk. It happens in the dirt—stream side, neighborhood by neighborhood, root by root. Whether you want to plant native trees, spread mulch, or simply show up and see what urban canopy equity looks like on the ground, there's a place for you here. This work belongs to all of us.

Donate

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