Dolly Parton: ‘We’re just mistreating Mother Nature—that’s like being ugly to your mama.’

Her environmental legacy lives on

Dolly Parton did so much for so many people, across so many causes, that it is easy to overlook one part of her remarkable legacy: she was a champion for the environment.

I wanted to wait until some of the shock and sadness had settled before writing about this side of Dolly. Her passing leaves an enormous hole in the world, but it also gives us a chance to remember the things she did that never received the attention they deserved.

Dolly never made her environmental work about herself. She didn’t need a podium, a campaign slogan, or a television commercial to prove she cared. She just did it.

Her environmentalism came from something much simpler and more powerful than politics. It came from love—love for the mountains where she grew up, love for wildlife, love for clean water, and love for the people and communities of Appalachia.

Dolly once told National Geographic, “We’re just mistreating Mother Nature—that’s like being ugly to your mama.”

That pretty much says it all. She understood that environmental protection wasn’t just about regulations and political arguments. It was about basic decency. You don’t trash your home. You don’t destroy the mountains that raised you. You don’t treat wildlife as disposable. And you don’t forget the people who are struggling when disaster strikes.

A champion for eagles

One of Dolly’s most remarkable environmental legacies was her work with bald eagles.

In 1991, Dollywood partnered with the American Eagle Foundation to establish the Eagle Mountain Sanctuary. The enormous aviary became a major center for bald eagle rehabilitation, education, and conservation.

The partnership helped raise, rehabilitate, and release more than 400 bald eagles back into the wild. Dollywood also provided millions of dollars in support for avian conservation and education.

Think about that. Hundreds of bald eagles, once pushed toward the brink of extinction, were given another chance because Dolly Parton believed they mattered.

She didn’t just sing about the beauty of the Smoky Mountains. She helped protect the wildlife that makes those mountains alive.

Protecting butterflies and the Appalachian landscape

Dolly also supported monarch butterfly conservation and pollinator habitat, establishing areas at Dollywood that provided food and shelter for migrating butterflies and helped track their populations.

Her connection to nature went back to childhood. She grew up surrounded by the woods and mountains of East Tennessee. Those forests, streams, wildflowers and wildlife weren’t abstract environmental issues to her. They were home.

That is why she pushed Dollywood’s development to work with the mountain rather than simply bulldozing it. Instead of flattening the landscape, development was designed around the existing topography and tree canopy. It was a simple idea with an important lesson:

The mountain doesn’t have to move just because you want to build something. That’s environmentalism with common sense.

When disaster struck, Dolly showed up

Dolly also understood that environmental disasters aren’t just about damaged buildings and flooded roads. They are about people’s lives.

When devastating wildfires tore through Sevier County in 2016, Dolly created the My People Fund, providing $1,000 a month to more than 1,300 families who had lost homes or livelihoods.

She didn’t just make a speech. She put money directly into people’s hands.

After the catastrophic flooding caused by Tropical Storm Helene in 2024, Dolly again stepped forward, donating $1 million personally and another $1 million through the Dollywood Foundation to help communities recover, including efforts involving clean drinking water and rebuilding.

For Dolly, environmental protection and helping people were never separate things.

Clean water was personal

Dolly grew up in a family that lived without electricity and running water. Her childhood experiences gave her an appreciation for something many people take for granted: clean, accessible water.

She knew what it meant to live close to a river and depend on the natural world. That experience stayed with her.

It is one reason her environmental legacy feels different from corporate greenwashing. She wasn’t trying to sell an environmentally friendly image. She understood the value of nature because nature was part of her life.

She also supported efforts to improve Nashville’s historic communities and helped create parks, playgrounds, walking paths and bike trails. She supported riverfront cleanup and community improvements that connected people with their environment.

I saw her environmental spirit up close

I had the privilege of meeting Dolly when I was working as a consultant to Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen. What struck me wasn’t just that she was famous. It was that she genuinely cared about people, wildlife and the environment.That is something you can’t manufacture.

Dolly had an extraordinary ability to reach people who might never listen to an environmental activist or politician. She could talk about mountains, rivers, wildlife and community—and make environmental stewardship sound less like an ideological battle and more like what it really should be: taking care of home.

That may be one of her greatest environmental lessons. You don’t have to agree on every political issue to agree that clean water matters. You don’t have to be an environmental activist to understand that eagles deserve a place to fly. You don’t have to be a scientist to know that mountains, forests and rivers shouldn’t be destroyed simply because someone can make money from them. Dolly understood that. And she used her enormous platform to do something about it quietly.

Her deeds live on

We will always love Dolly Parton for the music, the laughter, the generosity and the extraordinary life she gave to others.

But we should also remember the Dolly who helped protect eagles. The Dolly who cared about monarch butterflies and Appalachian forests. The Dolly who understood the importance of clean water. The Dolly who helped communities recover from wildfire and flooding. The Dolly who built around mountains instead of simply tearing them down. The Dolly who helped create parks and trails and improve communities. And the Dolly who never seemed to need credit for any of it. That is the kind of environmental champion we should remember.

Environmentalism isn’t always a march, a protest, or a political speech. Sometimes it is simply recognizing that the land, water, wildlife and communities around us are worth caring for. Dolly Parton knew that.

So the next time you see a bald eagle soaring overhead, think of Dolly. When monarch butterflies begin their migration, think of Dolly. When you walk through the beautiful Smoky Mountains, listen to the rivers and look up at the trees—think of Dolly.

She may be gone, but her deeds live on in the mountains she loved, the wildlife she helped protect, the communities she lifted up, and the people she inspired.

Dolly Parton didn’t just leave us songs. She left us a better world, nd a reminder that taking care of Mother Nature is simply taking care of home.

With love,

Jeff Tittel