FALL/WINTER 2014

field notesKENTUCKY

Cliff on Sheltowee Trace, Laurel County © Peggy Yaeger

This letter represents my first communication with you as The Nature Conservancy’s new State Director in Kentucky. As I embark on this new journey in my personal and professional life, some words come to mind: Change. Learning. Discovery. Excitement. Hope.

First, taking on a new role with the Conservancy and moving my family to a new state has been the very definition of change. And I confess that those first few days here in Kentucky felt a bit disorienting and at times even overwhelming.

Initially everything is a question: Where is the Green River? When do I cross into the Central Time Zone? What is the name of that key partner? Like during any change, one is comforted by the familiar: the strength of our staff, the clarity of our mission, the quality of our work, the commitment of our partners, the generosity of our supporters.

During my first months on the job, I learned the most while listening. For example, I listened to a staff member explain how important natural river flows are to mussel populations in the Green River. I also heard a donor express how their contribution to our work in the Kentucky Palisades fulfilled their lifelong dream to conserve a special corner of Kentucky.

I also logged over 1,200 miles on the office Subaru in an effort to discover what we are working on around the state. During my road trip, I witnessed several projects featured inside this issue of Kentucky Field Notes: restoring wetlands in the Mississippi River Bottoms, enhancing the scope and scale of our work in the Green River watershed, and preventing an invasive insect from destroying hemlocks at our Bad Branch Nature Preserve in the Central Appalachians.

Seeing these projects in person, and beginning conversations about the many new opportunities in front of us, makes me excited and hopeful for all that lies ahead.

I am honored to lead the Kentucky Chapter in pursuit of our mission to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. But that’s enough about me and my transition.

I look forward to hearing from you about how we can work together to conserve the places – the forests, rivers, creeks and wetlands – we were lucky to enjoy as kids. I can’t think of a better reason for getting up and heading to work each day.

2 | nature.org/kentucky

Headquarters114 Woodland AvenueLexington, Kentucky 40502859/259-9655

While our Kentucky headquarters is located in Lexington, the Conservancy has established a presence in additional locations key to advancing our mission around the state.

Louisville Metropolitan Area614 W. Main St., #600Louisville, KY 40202502/762-5666

Eastern Kentucky4944 Flemingsburg RoadMorehead, KY 40351606/780-4092

Green River WatershedDavis Bend Nature Preserve255 Sims Cemetery RoadCanmer, KY 42722270/576-4790

Western KentuckyUSDA – NRCS1000 Commonwealth DriveMayfield, KY 42066

nature.org/kentucky kentucky@tnc.org

© Courtesy/David Phemister

DIRECTOR’S CORNER

Meet David Phemister Learn more about the Kentucky Chapter’s new state director at nature.org/davidphemister.

FALL/WINTER 2014 The LilyRock GroupWriting & Editing

Direct Response, Inc.Design

See You Outside,

David Phemister State Director

City of Louisville © TNC Staff

nature.org/kentucky | 3

We are excited to report that Louisville was one of ten cities selected to join the Conservancy’s new North American Urban Network. This distinction comes with two years of full funding dedicated to hiring a Director of Urban Conservation charged with advancing critical conservation work in the city.

This is a key time for the Conservancy to be building capacity in Kentucky’s largest city. Louisville’s ailing tree canopy has earned it the distinction as being one of the hottest cities in the nation. Additionally, cities like Louisville have historically served as a primary introduction point for non-native forest insects and diseases. With a new Director of Urban Conservation, and additional support from the Conservancy’s Healthy Trees, Healthy Cities Initiative, we look forward to making great strides in tackling these important issues.

In the Pipeline

FACES OF CONSERVATION

COMING & GOING

Welcome to new staff and Trustees dedicated to advancing our mission in Kentucky. Cathy Galante Associate Director of Philanthropy

Cathy Galante began working in the non-profit world in 1986 as a secretary with Kentucky’s Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Sixteen years and many hats later, she departed that organization as a director. Since 2004, Cathy worked with corporations on their payroll deduction campaigns as a Vice President at Community Health Charities, and later as the Chief Development Officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kentucky. In her spare time, Cathy enjoys walking, boating, traveling and spending time with husband, Michael, and two grown sons.

“Working in the non-profit world provides an opportunity to meet so many wonderful people who want to help our organizations improve the lives of others. I look forward to helping The Nature Conservancy protect nature for people living in the state I love calling home.”

Marianne Welch Kentucky Chapter Board of Trustees

Marianne Welch lives on a farm in Prospect with her husband, Jim, an executive with Brown-Forman and former Chairman of The Nature Conservancy’s Kentucky Board of Trustees. In addition to that connection with the Conservancy, Marianne comes from a long, multi-generational line of family members involved in conserving land around the country, including in New York and Canada.

“Life slows down for us at the farm, where we engage in the hands-on work of conserving land. Many of our projects have been influenced by the Conservancy. We have a great respect for the organization and are proud of our continued involvement.”

Marianne Welch © Courtesy/Marianne WelchCathy Galante © Courtesy/Cathy Galante

Kentucky Chapter Turns 40Check in at nature.org/KY40 to celebrate forty years of conserving Kentucky!

KENTUCKY

40TH• A

N N I V E R S A R Y •

PROTECT • TRANSFORM • INSPIRE

Weeds• Bush honeysuckle• Privet• Japanese stiltgrass• Crown vetch• Japanese honeysuckle• Sericea lespedeza Insects• Hemlock Wooly Adelgid• Emerald Ash BorerTrees• Tree of Heaven• Autumn olive• Princess Tree

LANDS & WATERS

IN THE WEEDS

Non-native pests threaten Kentucky habitats around the state.During the 1950s, well-meaning travelers brought crown vetch, a member of the pea family, to North America from Europe to control erosion on farm fields and rehabilitate depleted soils. Today, we know that crown vetch can invade a landscape and rapidly choke out native vegetation within a few short years. And the plant is difficult to eradicate, even returning after multiple treatments with herbicides and prescribed fire.

“It is a similar story for many other non-native weeds, insects and even some trees

permanently changed the region’s forest composition in the early 1900s.

In response to crown vetch, HWA and other non-native species threatening some of Kentucky’s most diverse and productive landscapes, the Conservancy is creating an invasive-free buffer around hiking trails at all of our Kentucky nature preserves. We are also going deep to reverse these trends at the following projects:

› Bad Branch Nature Preserve Together with the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission, we apply insecticide treatments into soils surrounding thousands of hemlock trees encompassing 194 acres of the property to combat the spread of HWA.

› Griffith Woods WMA Although the Kentucky Department

of Fish and Wildlife now owns this property, we continue to assist with management activities including the removal of invasive plants like bush honeysuckle which can choke out an entire forest understory if not controlled.

› Mammoth Cave National Park We are wrapping up a five-year

project to remove Japanese honeysuckle, crown vetch, Johnson grass, privet, Sericea Lespedeza and Japanese stiltgrass from a 127-acre site near the park entrance.

› Kentucky River Palisades Our volunteer preserve stewards, Ken

Brooks and Lynne Schwantes, work tirelessly to remove bush honeysuckle, garlic mustard, winter creeper, Japanese stiltgrass and Tree of Heaven from the Sally Brown, Crutcher, Jim Beam and Dupree nature preserves.

Hemlock Wooly Adelgid © Cornell Cooperative Extension Invasive Species Program

4 | nature.org/kentucky

Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission staff applies a hemlock wooly adelgid treatment. © TNC Staff

found at our nature preserves and on other protected lands around Kentucky,” says Chris Minor, the Conservancy’s Director of Land and Fire Management in Kentucky.

For example, lacking natural enemies in North America, the hemlock wooly adelgid (HWA) feeds on tree needles. The tiny Asian insect has spread into Eastern and Carolina hemlocks throughout the southern Appalachians in ways which have earned it a reputation comparable to the chestnut blight which

MOST WANTED

The Conservancy is committed to implementing projects that utilize Farm Bill monies for the following types of projects in western Kentucky:

› Restoring and protecting large, contiguous wetland habitats and bottomland hardwood forests.

› Restoring channelized dredge ditches to halt erosion and trap and filter sediment and nutrients.

› Developing demonstration projects to promote new methods for creating mini-flood plain areas to trap sediment, assimilate nutrients and encourage more natural water flow patterns.

Mississippi River Bottoms Funding Needs

nature.org/kentucky | 5

MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN

Funding sources may change but good conservation remains the same. In recent years, the conservation community became aware that Kentucky’s wetlands declined from 1.6 million acres to about 300,000 acres within the last century – an 80 percent decrease compared to national wetland losses of about 50 percent during the same timeframe. Within Kentucky, most wetland losses resulted from converting native bottomland hardwood forests to agricultural fields in the western part of the state, contributing to declines in migratory bird and bat populations and degraded water quality.

In response, the Conservancy and partners from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Kentucky’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and numerous private landowners teamed up over the past four years to secure Mississippi River Basin

Initiative Wetland Reserve Enhancement Program (WREP) funding for restoration projects in western Kentucky. With that funding source coming to an end, the partners have set their sights on new opportunities for maintaining momentum achieved in this part of the state.

“Recent passage of the new Farm Bill established the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program–Wetland Reserve Easement (ACEP-WRE) program,” says Jeff Sole, the Conservancy’s Director of Conservation Science in Kentucky.

The partners hope that the new source of funding will provide an opportunity to build on their success in restoring and permanently protecting 3,800 acres of critical wetlands in Mississippi River tributary watersheds of Obion Creek, Bayou du Chien and Mayfield Creek.

Obion Creek © TNC Staff

Mississippi Bayous Region Partners

• Private Landowners• The Nature Conservancy,

Kentucky Chapter• Natural Resources Conservation

Service• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service • Kentucky Department of Fish

and Wildlife Resources • Kentucky Division of Water-Four

Rivers Watershed Watch• Graves County Soil and Water

Conservation District• Kentucky State Nature

Preserves Commission • U.S. Geological Survey • Murray State University• Mayfield Creek Interlocal

Cooperative

“The partnerships and landowner interest are in place,” adds Sole. “As a result, we are optimistic that the new ACEP-WRE funding will advance existing efforts to restore wetlands in places where the most benefits for nature and people will be realized.”

“300 Springs” at Green River in Kentucky © Lynda Richardson

Happier in a canoe than behind a desk, the Conservancy’s Green River Project Director Mike Hensley felt daunted by developing a business plan to guide his work over the next five years. Instead of becoming distracted by paperwork and meetings, Hensley approached it as a “soul searching” exercise. He is pleased with the results.

“A lot of my struggle came down to defining the project area,” Hensley reflects. The team – consisting of Hensley, the Kentucky Chapter’s Director of Conservation, Jeff Sole, and colleagues from Virginia and Tennessee – did some deep thinking on the topic. Their conversations received a boost when the Conservancy invited more than 100

PEN-TO-PAPER

Business planning evolves into soul searching at the Green River.

guests to weigh in on the watershed’s health and future at a Green River Summit last February.

In the end, the team concluded that the Conservancy should expand its focus to the entire Green River Basin because, in recent years, mussel sampling revealed that high levels of biodiversity extended much further downriver than previously thought. Historically, the Conservancy’s work focused on the upper Green River

CONSERVATION PLANNING

6 | nature.org/kentucky

The Conservancy’s five-year plan to guide work in Kentucky’s Green River takes place as part of an ongoing partnership with the United States Army Corps of Engineers and will inform a basin-wide study the Corps is completing.

Partnership In Action

in a well-defined area stretching from Green River Lake Dam on the upstream end to Mammoth Cave National Park downstream.

Expanding the project’s focus also reflected the Green River’s role as a major tributary of the Ohio River, which flows into the Mississippi River system and eventually the Gulf of Mexico.

Hensley adds, “By trying to positively affect the Green River Basin as a whole we can improve the overall water quality of these larger systems serving as ecological and economic drivers for a good portion of the country.”

With the project area defined, Hensley and his colleagues moved on to pondering the most significant risks to the basin’s ecological health and resulting priorities.

“These are big questions,” adds Hensley. “We remained realistic about what could be accomplished with available funding, limited staffing, a unique karst geology underlying the landscape, and the outlook and goals of stakeholders sharing the watershed.”

With the soul searching phase complete, Kentucky Chapter staff and key partners are reviewing a draft of the Green River Conservation Business Plan. Their input will inform the final document and associated maps and data. Then, according to Hensley, “the real work begins.”

Conservancy staff members Jeff Sole, Lisa Morris and Mike Hensley participate in Green River Fest. © TNC Staff

Past is Prelude

This year marks 30 years since the Conservancy entered into its first land transaction with the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission (KSNPC). The 123-acre property sold to KSNPC became Metropolis Lake State Nature Preserve to protect habitat for five species of fish listed as either endangered or threatened in Kentucky. Since that time this enduring partnership has resulted in more than 20 land transactions and other conservation projects around the state.

nature.org/kentucky | 7

2014 Kentucky Chapter LEAF interns © TNC StaffMetropolis Lake © KSNPC Staff

Gobbler With Beard © TNC Nature Cam

Wish List

Have you enjoyed the images coming from the nature cam at our Davis Bend Nature Preserve? Then you will be sad to hear that our nature cam was stolen. As a result, we are in need of a replacement, preferably one containing two pieces – one visible component able to wirelessly transmit pho-tos to a second, hidden component. This setup would help to prevent vandalism and theft experienced with previous cameras.

Louisville Loves LEAF

Thanks to Audrey Allen, Karissa Ash, MeaLenea Homer, Victoria Lindsay, Darrah Mitchell and Jasmir Spearman for dedicating a month of their summer to advancing the Conservancy’s mission to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. While they spent a lot of their time nurturing Louisville’s tree canopy, they managed to get their hands dirty around the state!

OUT & ABOUT

Promoting Pollinators

It’s the new buzzword in conservation: pollinator habitat. Pollinators are deemed in trouble across the country which could have a significant impact on wildlife habitat and crop production. We’re happy to report that pollinators were busy as ever during the summer at the Davis Bend Nature Preserve!

Sea of Bergamot Flowers and Lots of Buzzing Bees at the Davis Bend Nature Preserve © TNC Staff

The Nature Conservancy of Kentucky114 Woodland AvenueLexington, KY 40502(859) 259-9655

nature.org/kentucky

NONPROFIT ORG.U S POSTAGE

PAIDLEXINGTON, KYPERMIT NO. 850

Stay Connected Sign up to receive our monthly e-newsletter Great Places at nature.org/kentuckyGPN.

Digital Year In Review Coming out in 2015. Make sure you get it. Send your email to: Kentucky@tnc.org.

© 2014 TNC KY

The Conservancy is a BBB Wise Giving Alliance Accredited Charity – meaning that we meet all of the alliance’s Standards for Charity Accountability.

Visit facebook.com/TheNatureConservancyofKentucky to get the latest conservation news in Kentucky.

Facebook LIKE us today!

Support This Work We work throughout Kentucky and beyond to ensure the natural landscape can provide clean air and water, support local livelihoods, and welcome people to get outside and connect with nature. Help us make sure this important work continues in the Commonwealth by sending your donation in the enclosed envelope.

AKYDA130601600

The Nature Conservancy of KentuckyGift Processing CenterPO Box 6015Albert Lea, MN 56007-6615

The

Coo

k fa

mily

enj

oys

adve

ntur

es a

t th

e Sa

lly B

row

n N

atur

e Pr

eser

ve ©

Ter

ry C

ook

100%

of y

our c

ontr

ibut

ion

will

be u

tiliz

ed to

fund

ons

erva

tion

proj

ects

in K

entu

cky

PASS ON

YOURV A L U E S

Leave a lasting legacy for conservation. Making a bequest to The Nature Conservancy is a simple way to protect the places you value. You can name the Conservancy as a beneficiary of your will, trust, retirement plan, life insurance policy or financial accounts. Anyone can make a bequest and no amount is too small.

For more information:Cadell Walker (502) 762-5666 cadell_walker@tnc.org

THE NATURE CONSERVANCY CANNOT RENDER TAX OR LEGAL ADVICE. PLEASE CONSULT YOUR

FINANCIAL ADVISOR BEFORE MAKING A GIFT. IMAGE COURTESY OF LEXMARK. AKYDA141001600