Allen Gillespie is no stranger to the water. He grew up at the end of a dead-end street with a patch of woods separating him from the river. From an early age, he was traipsing down to the water’s edge to throw in a line.
By the time he was 13 years old, he’d worked enough odd jobs, and learned how to multiply his money through investment lessons at Webb, that he was able to buy himself a boat.
“That initiated this love fishing and the outdoors - backpacking, hunting, fishing - it was a big part of my life,” he says.
After graduating from the University of Tennessee, Allen embarked on a worldwide adventure, traveling through Europe and Africa, and returning to graduate school to study anthropology. Off he went again to places such as Bolivia, Indonesia, and New Zealand. When he wasn’t working, Allen was fishing and exploring the land.
When he realized he needed to put down firmer roots, coming home to East Tennessee was the obvious choice. Then, in 2011, Allen decided to put his money where his passion was and take a chance on opening a fly shop - 3 Rivers Angler.
As passionate as Allen is about fishing, he is equally concerned about the health of Tennessee’s waterways.
“When you think of the cultural norms in East Tennessee, a lot of those involve using waterways as dumping grounds, including industrial waste. You can look at it on grand scales and finite scales,” he says. “We’ve gotten better about regulating waterways on a macro level, but what we haven’t necessarily addressed is the cultural tradition. Every year there’s a clean-up on the Clinch River and they’re pulling 400, 500 tires out of the water.”
In recent years, the health of Tennessee’s creeks and streams have been a concern, not just for the health of fish and aquatic life but also for human safety. Some of the top challenges noted in the 2018 report “TN H2O” from Tennessee's Department of Environment and Conservation are limited access to some places and too much access to others, lack of funds to support amenities and facilities on waterways, and water quality issues, particularly around marinas.
Also on the list of concerns is a lack of “water user education and conservation-minded stewardship.”
Allen believes that the more people who use the waters, particularly as anglers, the more people will see the ongoing pollution problem and start working actively to solve it. For example, the Beaver Creek Kayak Club has a consistently growing number of participants, but part of their passion involves regular clean-ups in the watershed to promote preservation.
Water quality in Tennessee is directly connected to the significant economic impact of water-based recreation and tourism, and Allen wants this fact known.
“We’re just starting to scratch the surface on how to use these waterways. We want to grow users, which grows tourism and the economy,” he says. “Collectively, native Knoxvillians have two edges to the scruffy moniker. We want to be true to our roots, but we have the opportunity to punch above our heads. We have to go to work.”