Former Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander has received the 2026 Robert Sparks Walker Lifetime Achievement Award, the top honor in the Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Awards presented by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. The announcement came September 14, 2026, from Gov. Bill Lee.
“Throughout his lifetime of service, Sen. Alexander has been devoted to preserving our great outdoors,” said Gov. Lee. “His commitment to conservation and protecting our state and nation’s irreplaceable natural beauty will have a lasting impact for generations to come.”
Alexander said while he is grateful to receive the award, he should have been honoring Gov. Lee. “Like Bill Haslam before him, Bill Lee has been a conservation governor,” he posted on Facebook.
“[Lee] expanded and improved maintenance of state parks, used agricultural easements to create more conservation land, encouraged economic development in non-brownfields instead of greenfields, built mountain biking trails on National Forest Service lands, and persuaded the legislature to appropriate $12 million for the Institute for Conservation Leadership and the Sciences at Maryville College to train a new generation of outdoor leaders.
“… More Tennesseans have hunting and fishing licenses than vote in our party primaries. It is good to have leadership that preserves these outdoor experiences for ourselves and the next generations.”
Alexander, a seventh generation Tennessean, lives in Maryville where he was born and raised.
As Tennessee’s governor from 1979 to 1987, Alexander made environmental stewardship a priority, issuing executive orders that protected wetlands, conserved wild American ginseng and coordinated statewide outdoor recreation planning.
A signature achievement is the protection of the Rocky Fork watershed. Beginning in 2006, he helped secure more than $30 million to conserve the roughly 10,000-acre landscape, including 2,076 acres that became Lamar Alexander Rocky Fork State Park in 2015.
He also shaped the 2018 Tennessee Wilderness Act, establishing or expanding wilderness areas totaling 19,556 acres, including the Upper Bald River Wilderness, protecting sensitive ecological areas and ensuring long-term access to backcountry experiences.
Nationally, Alexander played a key role in passing the Great American Outdoors Act in 2020, delivering significant benefits to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Cherokee National Forest, securing permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and creating a $9.5 billion restoration fund for America’s public lands.
His belief in community-driven stewardship inspired Homecoming ’86, a statewide initiative that grew into more than 6,000 local projects involving parks, trails and cultural restoration.
Robert Sparks Walker was a founder of the Chattanooga Audubon Society who turned his childhood home and surrounding farmland into a wildlife sanctuary. Learn more here.
Photo and info for report from the TN Department of Environment and Conservation.
Notes & quotes
Lakemoor Hills Garden Club will celebrate its 70th anniversary on Friday, September 25, 2026, from 3-5 p.m. at Lakemoor Legacy Park and Gardens, located on Circle Lake Lane off of Maloney Road in South Knoxville. Refreshments will be provided, and information on the club’s history will be available. The event is open to all.
Outdoor Knoxville lists hundreds of activities, many free, all outdoors.
Quote: The U.S. Senate is like a split screen TV. On one side is the “dysfunction screen” where headline seekers spread controversy. On the “function screen,” are senators creating laws that most of them can vote for and citizens accept. “Senators on the ‘function screen’ produce a better outcome but make less news, just as a plane landing safely makes less news than a plane crashing.” — Lamar Alexander, quoting from his new book, The Education of a Senator.
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Sandra Clark compiles obituary links and writes the Let’s Talk series for KnoxTNToday – Let’s Talk – Outdoors archive. Follow KnoxTNToday on Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn. Get daily articles in one place with our free newsletter. Send comments to news@knoxtntoday.com/.
