Percy Warner's First Fall After Fern: The Trail Edges Belle Meade Walks Changed Most

Winter Storm Fern hit Percy Warner hardest along its trails and roads, the parts of the park people actually use. The deeper forest came through in better shape. That's why the recovery has looked the way it has since spring. This fall it has moved off the chainsaw and onto the trail edges, where opened canopy is letting in light and invasive plants are taking advantage of it.

For anyone who enters at the Belle Meade Boulevard end of the park, this is the season when that shift shows most. The leaves are turning, the trails are mostly open, and the woods along the paths look different.

The Damage Followed the Trail Lines

In early February, ecologist Terry Cook flew a drone over the parks. Friends of Warner Parks reported his estimate that more than 2,000 trees were lost along trails and paved roads. That figure covers trees along the trails and roads. It is not a count for the whole forest. Cook also explained why the losses were concentrated there. Trees deeper in the forest tend to handle ice storms better because they grow together, share a canopy, and have more shelter from the wind.

The trees along a trail or road have no neighbors on one side. They grow out toward the light and catch more wind. When Fern brought ice, those were the trees that came down. The February update warned about "hangers," broken limbs or partly fallen trees caught in the canopy above. They look stable and can drop without warning.

The damage reached the buildings too. Falling trees and limbs damaged roofs on several Warner Park Nature Center buildings and on the Bob Brown Field Station. In February the Nature Center was closed until further notice. Every tree removal had to be documented for the city to qualify for FEMA and other disaster assistance. Because of that, only Metro-authorized and contracted professionals were allowed to do the early cleanup, and volunteers were told to wait.

Reopened in Weeks

Friends of Warner Parks announced on February 26 that Edwin Warner's trails and facilities were open. Percy Warner took longer and reopened on Saturday, March 21. The Friends called Fern the most severe weather event in the parks' history. Cleanup that many expected to take months took weeks. Metro Parks led the work, with Nature Center staff, the S.W.E.A.T. crew, volunteers, and contracted crews from Save A Tree, Davey Tree, Bartlett Tree Experts and Tanksley. The Nashville Banner covered the reopening and the closures that remained.

Seven months later, most of the park is back in its usual routine. A few areas left the March closure list without a formal reopening announcement.

The bike trails are the one area where status changes day to day. The October 12 SORBA entry also flagged a large branch over the trail on the second climb of Hookman. Riders should check the SORBA Mid-TN current conditions page on the morning they ride. Both parks are open daily from sunrise to 11 p.m. The Nature Center at 7311 Highway 100 is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

More Light at the Trail Edge Means More Invasives

The fallen trees are mostly cleared. What they leave behind is light. Where a tree fell along a trail, the shade it cast is gone, and fast-growing invasive plants are the first to fill the gap.

This summer's S.W.E.A.T. crew saw it firsthand. Friends of Warner Parks' summer recap quotes Paul Fowler, Director of Resource Management:

"Due to canopy disturbances from Winter Storm Fern, there was an unprecedented need for extensive vegetation management and spot invasive plant removal along trails this season."

The S.W.E.A.T. program has employed seasonal crews in the parks for 35 years. This summer's crew, led by crew chief Asher McDaniel, worked for eight weeks. Their projects included:

• Finishing the storm debris cleanup at Dripping Springs
• Removing trees, repairing bridges and armoring slopes
• Building and installing new trail signs
• Turning the Luke Lea tip pit into a working drain
• Planting trees

Most of that work happened on or right beside a trail. The fall program calendar continues it, and the public is invited to help.

The Fall Calendar Leans Toward the Trail Edges

The Nature Center's fall 2026 schedule includes the usual seasonal programs. Two volunteer sessions target invasive plants along the trails. The first, Vol Call: Hiker's Euonymus on October 17, aimed at "new growth in areas previously cleared." That session has already passed. Here is what is still ahead:

1. Saturday, October 24, 10 a.m. to noon. Ask a Master Gardener. University of Tennessee Extension Master Gardeners of Davidson County take drop-in questions at the Nature Center. No registration required.
2. Saturday, October 24, 1 p.m. Nashville's Native Orchids, with scientist Soraya Cates Parr. Ages 13 and up. Registration is open.
3. Friday, October 30, 5:30 to 8:30 or 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. A Haunted House in Warner Woods. A short trail hike into the forest, a nature mystery, a campfire and ghost stories. Ages 16 and up.
4. Saturday, October 31, 10 to 11:30 a.m. Creature Casualties. Nature trivia with candy prizes. Ages 8 and up.
5. Sunday, November 1, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday in the Park, the annual Friends of Warner Parks luncheon.
6. Saturday, November 7, 10 a.m. to noon. Vol Call: Pullin' Party, the second invasive-plant session, led by Paul Fowler. Ages 16 and up. Register at warnerparks.org.
7. Saturday, November 7, 4:45 to 7 p.m. Searching for Owls of Warner Parks, with Graham Gerdeman. The walk covers the Little Harpeth River and the forest edges of Ridgefield in Edwin Warner. Registration opens October 24.
8. Saturday, November 14, 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Early Winter Birds of Edwin Warner Park, also with Gerdeman, through the park's meadows, trails and forests. Registration opens October 31.

Nature Center programs register by email at [email protected] or by phone at 615-862-8555. The Pullin' Party is a working session on the problem Fowler described, and it is open to anyone 16 or older.

Clare's Meadow Is the Planned Version of an Opening

Fern opened gaps in the canopy that no one planned. Clare's Meadow, near Mossy Ridge, is an open area that was planned and is maintained. Friends of Warner Parks describes it as an overgrown field restored into one of the parks' newest native grasslands. The meadow provides habitat for birds, butterflies, bees and other pollinators. It sits in Percy Warner near the junction of the Mossy Ridge Trail, blazed red, and the Cane Connector Trail, blazed red and white. Its native grasses and wildflowers bloom from late spring through fall. The Friends say similar grassland restorations are underway at the Burch Reserve and in Edwin Warner Park.

The storm gaps and the meadow show what happens to open ground in this forest. The meadow gets managed for native species. A storm gap that nobody tends is where Fowler's crew has to keep pulling invasives.

A fall walk on the Mossy Ridge Trail passes trail edges that took storm damage and also leads to the meadow.

If the storm changed your regular route through Percy Warner, I'd like to hear which stretch, whether it's along Mossy Ridge or near the Belle Meade Boulevard entrance. I'm Michael Sanford, and I follow how the Warner Parks change from season to season. Let's Connect.