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Research dossier · General Reference

Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation

agency of the state of Tennessee

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ7700063 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) is a Cabinet-level agency first created in 1937 within the government of the U.S. state of Tennessee, headed by the Tennessee Commissioner of Environment and Conservation.

History

The Department of Conservation was first created in 1937 by the State Government Reorganization Act of 1937. All areas used for state parks, monuments, and recreation were brought under a Division of Parks within the department later that year. For a short while in the late 1950s and early 1960s the department existed as the Department of Conservation and Commerce, but it was soon split, with the Department of Conservation regaining its name. The modern TDEC was created in 1991, with programs in the Department of Health and Environment shifted into the new department.

Tasks and organization

TDEC is legally responsible for the protection of Tennessee's air, water, and soil quality.

As of 2006, the department had at least fourteen divisions: the Division of Air Pollution Control, the Division of Archaeology, the Division of Geology, the Division of Ground Water Protection, the Division of Internal Audit, the Division of Natural Heritage, the Division of Radiological Health, the Division of Remediation, the Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste Management, the Division of Underground Storage Tanks, the Division of Water Pollution Control, the Division of Water Supply, the Recreational Services Division, and the Department of Energy Oversight Division. The department also manages Tennessee's state parks and the Tennessee Historical Commission. According to the Gubernatorial Papers housed at the Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville, the department once had a Hotel & Restaurant Division, which currently is managed by the Department of Tourist Development.

Budget, staff

Commissioners, since inception

The first commissioner of TDEC was J.W. Luna, who served under Governor Ned Ray McWherter.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation” as agency of the state of Tennessee. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1937, 1991, 2006—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Tennessee, Department and Environment can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as agency of the state of Tennessee. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7700063. VIAF identifies the subject as 136736214. The Library of Congress control number is no93019190. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1937, 1991 and 2006.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation primary sources, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation archive and Tennessee research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.