NFC Launches Tennessee Chapter

NFC is excited to announce the launch of our new Tennessee chapter. This expands NFC’s South Region, and coverage as a whole, further west than we have ever been, and gives us a 16-state contiguous footprint from Maine to Alabama…

Tennessee has a abundance of native fishes, including both warmwater and coldwater freshwater species, as well as saltwater species. Tennessee is also a critically important wild native brook trout state, including Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Special thanks to our new Tennessee team: Chair Michael Kesselring, Vice Chair Cody Bain and Members at Large Chachi Averitt, Mark Brown, Arran Kerr, Capt. Adam Motes, and Kyle Rowe.

And thanks to National Vice Chair - South Matthew Lewis, Technologist Ben Brunt, and National Chair Emily Bastian for helping to get everything in place.

It seems quite fitting that after 5 years of being NFC’s official fish, we finally have a chapter in the state where this beautiful brook trout was caught. While the fish is likely gone, its genetics likely live on.

NFC’s official fish, caught from a small stream in the Tennessee part of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. (Diana Mallard)