A Normal Day on the Mountain
By Marc Evans, KNLT Board Chair On a recent visit to Pine Mountain I decided, as I often do, to drive a little bit on the Little Shepherd Trail before heading home. As you may know, there is no “little bit” on the Little Shepherd Trail, so I often argue with myself about whether or […]
KNLT Protects Another Key Tract of Pine Mountain
Kentucky Natural Lands Trust recently protected another key tract of Pine Mountain with the purchase of 53 acres of pristine north face forest adjacent to Blanton Forest State Nature Preserve. The tract provides important fall “swarming habitat” for federally endangered Indiana and Northern long-eared bats, and offers key forest habitat for a wide array of […]
A Deep Ecologist Remembered
We wanted to offer a few words of remembrance for Doug Tompkins, a renowned conservationist who died in Chile last week in a kayaking accident. Doug had a remarkable life filled with adventure and many notable accomplishments including founding North Face and Esprit, protecting vast stretches of Chile and Argentina and establishing the Foundation for […]
KNLT Fall Artists’ Retreat 2015
KNLT, in collaboration with writer Erik Reece, and visual artist and writer Zoe’ Strecker, recently hosted our second artists’ retreat. We invited over 20 artists to Pine Mountain for the weekend to engage them in our Pine Mountain Wildlands Corridor project and to show them the splendor of the mountain in hopes they would be […]
New Preserve Protects the Rare & Endemic Kentucky Glade Cress
Kentucky Natural Lands Trust (KNLT) has purchased 54 acres of conservation land in Bullitt County protecting the rare Kentucky glade cress, a tiny plant that is found nowhere else in the world except Bullitt and Jefferson counties. It is considered rare because of its limited range. KNLT Board Chairman Marc Evans discovered this population of […]
Thinking Like a Mountain
We recently honored Hugh Archer for his 10 years of outstanding service as executive director of the Kentucky Natural Lands Trust. Hugh was a founding member of KNLT in 1995 and became director in 2005. KNLT Board Chair Marc Evans presented Hugh a picture of a green-eyed wolf. This image was originally created for our […]
The Flying Snakes of Knobby Rock
by Marc Evans, KNLT Board Chair, and Tom Dupree, Sr., businessman, philanthropist & founding member of KNLT’s Board It was the spring of 1992. I was just starting to explore a large tract of what appeared to be old growth forest on Pine Mountain, in Harlan County, Kentucky. As the ecologist for the Kentucky State […]
KNLT Protects an Additional 982 Acres of Pine Mountain
KNLT recently purchased 982 acres on the southern slope of Pine Mountain in Harlan County expanding our Salt Trace Gap preserve to 1,948 acres. This new tract of land is within the original preserve plan for Blanton Forest. KNLT negotiated the sale of this tract with two different generations of the family landowners. After 17 […]
Kentucky Dream, a New Coffee that Supports KNLT’s Work
In June 2015 Heine Brothers’ Coffee launched Kentucky Dream, a new blend of coffee that supports The Forecastle Foundation and their Kentucky conservation partners. KNLT is thrilled to be part of this partnership and applaud their commitment to support conservation efforts in Kentucky. Kentucky Dream, a fair-trade, 100 percent organic Nicaraguan coffee blend now available […]
Christina Lee Brown Receives the One Square Mile Award from KNLT
Christina Lee Brown of Louisville was recently presented with the One Square Mile Award by Kentucky Natural Lands Trust for her contributions to expand the protected areas on Pine Mountain in southeast Kentucky. The One Square Mile Award honors those who have made donations that meet the financial level needed to purchase a minimum of […]
KNLT Spring Artists’ Retreat 2015
KNLT, in collaboration with writer Erik Reece, and visual artist and writer Zoe’ Strecker, recently hosted an artists’ retreat on Pine Mountain. The outing was aimed at engaging a diverse group of artists around our Pine Mountain Wildlands Project in hopes that the beauty of the mountain and our efforts to protect it would inspire […]
WWF Living Plant Report
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) released its biennial Living Plant Report in 2014 documenting a startling decline in vertebrate (e.g. mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes) populations worldwide. WWF’s Living Planet Index (LPI), a measure of trends in thousands of vertebrate species populations, showed a decline of 52 per cent between 1970 and 2010. This means […]
Blanton Forest Expands with KNLT’s Help
The Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission (KSNPC) recently purchased 386 acres in Harlan County, which was dedicated as an addition to Blanton Forest State Nature Preserve during the commission’s March meeting. The tract was originally purchased by KNLT and held until it could be added to the state preserve. This addition connects two previously noncontiguous […]
KNLT & the Royal Visit
KNLT staff members were honored to have been included in the events held for the Royal visit to Louisville last week. Our staff had a unique opportunity to briefly discuss our work on Pine Mountain with Prince Charles. He asked several question and was particularly interested in knowing whether the Monarch butterflies use the mountain […]
KNLT Expands the Largest Conservation Effort in the Commowealth’s History
Kentucky Natural Lands Trust, a statewide land trust, is working on the largest landscape conservation effort in the Commonwealth’s history with a campaign to protect thousands of additional acres on Pine Mountain. Fourteen projects covering more than 9,000 acres of significant natural areas are targeted, significantly furthering the goal of a large contiguous protected wildlife […]
Thomas Dupree, Sr. Receives KNLT’s One Square Mile Award
Thomas P. Dupree, Sr. of Lexington on Monday was presented with the One Square Mile Award by Kentucky Natural Lands Trust for his contributions to protect Blanton Forest on Pine Mountain in southeast Kentucky. The One Square Mile Award honors those who have made donations that meet the financial level needed to purchase 640 acres. […]
Forecastle Foundation Helps Protect Pine Mountain
We would like to thank the Forecastle Foundation for their continued support. We recently received a generous donation that will help in our efforts to protect land in our Pine Mountain Wildlands Corridor project, the largest conservation effort in Kentucky history. The foundation The Forecastle Foundation was established to rebuild the world’s natural awesome and […]
KNLT Protects Land Adjacent to Archer Benge SNP
In celebration of Earth Day, we are happy to announce that KNLT has purchased the first of several targeted conservation lands adjoining one of Kentucky’s most remote and wild areas, the Archer Benge State Nature Preserve. The state nature preserve covers 1,864 acres along the Laurel Fork in Whitley County and provides important habitat for […]