Wildlands Inspire: Joanne Price Spotlight
The Pine Mountain wildlands are home to so many things I love: mountains, mountain life and culture, hemlocks, clear rivers and creeks, black bears, and a diverse population of birds are just the tip of the iceberg.
Central Appalachia Inspired an Orchestral Tour
Wildlands Blog: by Sarah Lempke O’Hare, Director of Education & Community Partnerships, Louisville Orchestra Over the last two years, Sarah and the Louisville Orchestra (LO) team embarked on a unique tour of the Commonwealth, gaining inspiration from the Central Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Kentucky. Read her story below about how the small seed of an […]
Protect Wildlands With a Donation Today
Wildlands Blog: by Kelly Bartley, KNLT Board Chair Spring has arrived and with it we are reminded of one of the many amazing functions of wildlands: a path for birds and other species traveling to spend summer months north of their winter homes. During peak migration, as many as five million birds fly over Kentucky on […]
Alternative Spring Break on Pine Mountain
Wildlands Blog: As part of an immersive, 7-day trip to Eastern Kentucky, students from Georgetown University took to the trails on Pine Mountain this March with Kentucky Natural Lands Trust to learn about the beauty and ecological importance of Kentucky wildlands. And they didn’t just hike. Eleven students like sophomore Miranda Xiong also helped KNLT with […]
A Wild & Stellar Link In the Great Eastern Trail
Wildlands Blog: Pine Mountain is a vital migratory path for birds, butterflies, bears and even plants! It is like a “wild superhighway,” said Preston Lacy, Conservation Director for Kentucky Natural Land Trust (KNLT). The mountain has a spring flux of returning songbirds, fall hawk migration and at times rivers of butterflies. Pine Mountain also has […]
A Weekend on Pine Mountain: A Birder’s Perspective
Wildlands Blog: by Ronan O’Carra, Editor of The Kentucky Warbler, Kentucky Ornithological Society publication This fall The Kentucky Ornithological Society (KOS) hosted a meeting at Pine Mountain State Resort Park and I was glad to be able to attend. It was the second time I have attended a KOS meeting at Pine Mountain and it […]
20 Years of Wildlands Conservation
Wildlands Blog: KNLT is celebrating Donna Alexander and her 20 years of service to wildlands conservation. From Blanton Forest to Warbler Ridge Donna has played a key role in advancing conservation along Pine Mountain and throughout the Commonwealth. She has helped protect over 50,000 acres from the mountains of eastern Kentucky to the sloughs of […]
Eastern Spotted Skunk Research
Wildlands News by Sara Ash, KNLT Advisor The eastern spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius), a diminutive, nimble carnivore rarely seen by humans (Video 1), once occurred over a wide geographical area in eastern and central North America. However, its range and population size contracted over the past several decades. The cause for this decline is unclear, […]
Legacy of Leadership
Wildlands News by Kelly Bartley, KNLT Board Chair The scope, impact and success of KNLT’s conservation movement has grown in large part due to our board leadership. KNLT has been fortunate to have a stellar array of board members from across Kentucky and around the country who have committed themselves to protecting, connecting and restoring […]
Thinking Like a Planet
More than 50 years ago Aldo Leopold defined a land ethic with a call to “think like a mountain,” a holistic view of our place in the ecosystem. More recently J. Baird Callicott expanded Leopold’s concept by defining an Earth ethic with a call to “think like a planet,” a broader view of our place […]
KNLT Welcomes New Board and Staff Leadership
Kentucky Natural Lands Trust is happy to welcome new leadership into our Board of Directors and staff team. Kelly Bartley, an environmental law attorney with Dentons Bingham Greenebaum LLP, was recently elected Board Chair. Nicole Breyette joined the staff team in February as Development Director. The Board also elected a founding member, Bert Lyons, as […]
50th Earth Day | KNLT 25th
Today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and the beginning of the modern environmental movement. So much has unfolded worldwide with this movement over the last 50 years although there is much more work to be done. Here in Kentucky, this movement includes the formation of KNLT, and this year we are celebrating our […]
AmeriCorps NCCC Partnership Continues
Altitude Fatigue, Changing Leaves & Near Constant Motion Sickness by Jared Foster AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps Delta 2 Team Altitude fatigue, changing leaves and near constant motion sickness – this is how AmeriCorps NCCC Delta 2 Team started their time with the Kentucky Natural Lands Trust. Little did they know what the next four […]
Fall Artists’ Retreat 2019
Since 2015 KNLT has been partnering with artists to advance the protection of wildlands. We held our eighth artists retreat on Pine Mountain last fall with a wonderfully creative group bringing the total number of retreat attendees to over 150 since we launched the program. The retreat offers an immersive weekend and engages artists in […]
Blazing Trails & Planting Trees on Pine Mountain
by Mequeil Huggar AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps Coast 4 Team AmeriCorps NCCC Coast 4 team spent their last round in Harlan, Kentucky helping out Pine Mountain Settlement School and Kentucky Natural Lands Trust. The team Coast 4 is made of 8 members all from different parts of the United States ranging from California all […]
Golden Eagles in the Bernheim-Fort Knox Wildlands Corridor
KNLT’s work to protect the Bernheim-Fort Knox Wildlands Corridor is providing key habitat for golden eagles. Researchers have been monitoring two eagles, Harper & Athena, to learn more about how they’re using and navigating the landscape. The pair of golden eagles are using Bernheim as their overwintering base and have also been utilizing the surrounding […]
Mountaintop Air, Snow Filled Trees, & Log Cabin Living
by Rachel Gruebel AmeriCorps NCCC River 5 Team Mountaintop air, snow filled trees, and log cabin living. This is how the River 5 team started their time on Pine Mountain on November 26th. River 5 arrived to Kentucky straight from a disaster relief deployment; they supported the Hurricane Florence disaster response efforts in Bennettsville, South […]
Fall Artists’ Retreat 2018
KNLT held our annual artists’ retreat last fall on Pine Mountain. The retreat brought together an eclectic group of artists with different disciplines from various geographies to engage them in our Pine Mountain Wildlands Corridor project. KNLT held the retreat at the Pine Mountain Settlement School and took attendees on a hike at Bad Branch […]