Click the donate button to support Kentucky Heartwood. 
​Recurring monthly donations are available and appreciated.​

​OUR MISSION: Kentucky Heartwood seeks to protect and restore the integrity, stability, and beauty of Kentucky’s native forests and biotic communities through research, education, advocacy, and non-violent intervention.

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Kentucky Heartwood is a not-for-profit organization and community of individuals dedicated to the health and well-being of Kentucky's native forests. We are driven by a reverence and respect for wild nature, a love of old trees, and the dream of a future where the rich forests of our region are once again allowed to grow old for their benefit and ours.

​We invite you to become a member of Kentucky Heartwood today.

​The Birmingham Ferry Salvage Project

Quit cutting every tree in LBL. photo by Cindy HinsonPhoto by Cindy Hinson
The Forest Service at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area in western Kentucky has proposed commercial timber harvests on approximately 120 acres in response to a tornado that impacted the area on July 6.

Most of the harvests proposed in the Birmingham Ferry Salvage Project are on the north end in the Birmingham Ferry/Pisgah Bay area near Kentucky Lake and the Cravens Bay area near Lake Barkley. There are several problems with this proposal, and we encourage the public to submit comments in opposition. 

​The Forest Service will also be hosting a field trip in the area on Friday September 16, 2016 at 9:00 am, and meeting at the Birmingham Ferry Backcountry Area parking lot. We encourage people to attend​

​Comments on the Birmingham Ferry Salvage Project are due by Friday, September 30, 2016.

How to comment and more info here.
Kentucky Heartwood's comments (see document below) were sent to the Forest Service on September 16, 2016. Please feel free to refer to the information in these comments as you write your own, but be sure not to use them as a form letter. Form letters are not "counted" by the forest service. They also do not count "petitions."

It is effective to write comments that explain how you personally see the issue, and how it affects you. If you have a cultural connection to the Between the Rivers area, make sure you say so. Cultural ties are very important here. If you hunt, or hike, fish, ride or recreate any other way in LBL, say so in your comment letter. ​

Another idea that was discussed by local residents and Lyon County Judge Executive Wade White, was that downed wood near the road should be made available as firewood for the public. "I also ask the public to help with the cleanup! Did you know anyone wanting to cut wood and leave it for campers may do so by cutting any downed tree in this area.  Also if you want to take that wood outside LBL there is a $20.00 yearly permit.  The Forest Service has welcomed your participation.  You need wood?  Help with the clean up today and we can solve this problem within weeks without logging." White said in a released statement. Here is a local news story about the issue, including video showing the tornado-hit areas participants in the field trip. 

Kentucky Heartwood's comments on the Birmingham Ferry Salvage Project

Millville Community Center
​in scenic Millville, Kentucky 

Saturday, October 8, 2016
​Supper at 6:30; Dance at 7pm

$5 at the door

Details and directions here.

“Live Another Day” by Andy Cook
“Live Another Day” by Andy Cook

Trees are Poems Group Art Exhibit

“Trees Are Poems” will be on display at Cook Studio and Gallery from August 26 – September 26. The opening on Friday begins at 6 pm. A percentage of all sales will be donated to Kentucky Heartwood. The theme is inspired by a passage from "Sand and Foam" by Kahlil Gibran: "Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky. We fell them down and turn them into paper that we may record our emptiness."

Event details are on Facebook, as well as in this lovely article about the Cooks, the event, and how our work inspired the painting, below, called “Live Another Day,” by Andy Cook. The painting was inspired by a photo taken by Tina Marie Johnson, who is coordinator of Kentucky Heartwood. It’s of a shortleaf pine that grows in the Daniel Boone National Forest and happens to be the third oldest tree of its kind on the plant at 319 years old. It stands in a forest that was proposed for logging in 2010. ​After a public campaign led by Kentucky Heartwood members, the logging project was withdrawn. This tree stands because people cared and stood up to protect our public forest.

Cook Studio & Gallery is located at 1832 Frankfort Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky 40206

Endangered Species Mural Celebration in Berea
See more photos here

Thank you to all who came to the celebration. It was so fun! Special thanks to Berea Tourism, especially Kerri Lee Hensley. Zoe Speaks played (including some songs from their new album!), and everyone really enjoyed their performance. Sylvia Johnson did an awesome job painting faces, and Eryhn Phillips provided a sweet orchid-themed craft project. Berea Mayor, Steve Connelly, gave warm remarks. We also heard from Jim Scheff of Kentucky Heartwood, and Tierra Curry from the Center for Biological Diversity. Artists Roger Peet and Tricia Tripp did the mural design and painting. "The art project is part of a nationwide effort sponsored by the Center for Biological Diversity to create public murals of endangered plants, animals and birds that are special in their regions."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article90195207.html

Save Beaver Creek Wilderness - Stop the Greenwood Project

Greenwood daniel boone national forest logging wilderness
The U.S. Forest Service, on July 18, 2014, proposed the largest timber sale on the Daniel Boone National Forest in a decade. The Greenwood Vegetation Management Project in McCreary and Pulaski counties proposes, among other management actions, more than 3,600 acres of commercial timber sales. Public comment period for the Greenwood project ended August 18, 2014. ​Click here to learn more.

Old Growth Forest website for Kentucky

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Kentucky Heartwood's project, dedicated to the past, present, and future of old-growth forests in Kentucky, featuring information, photos, and maps of a growing number of old-growth forests. 

​Visit and learn more about Kentucky Old Growth.

The Little Egypt Heritage Trail​: An alternative vision for a remarkable forest

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Learn more about our proposal to develop a hiking and equestrian trail system that promotes the cultural and natural history of Rockcastle County.

We Saved Pisgah Bay! 

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After more than a year of hard work, Kentucky Heartwood and our allies with the Coalition to Preserve Land Between the Lakes succeeded in convincing the Forest Service to withdraw the Pisgah Bay Project and more than 4,000 acres of commercial logging! Click here to learn more.

LBL Draft Scenery Management Plan withdrawn

Thank you to everyone who sent in comments! Click here to learn more. 
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The Forest Service proposed that this commercially leased farmland at LBL provides visitors with a better recreational experience than natural forests. Do you agree? (Photo Credit Tennessee Heartwood)

Logging has begun in Upper Rock Creek

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Click here for more info & pictures. 
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​If this upsets you as much as us, please consider becoming a member or donating to Kentucky Heartwood so that we can have the resources to effectively challenge these projects!

Special thanks to the Fund for Wild Nature and Patagonia for continued support of our work!

The View from Lick Creek
An Interview with Robert Stevens

The View from Lick Creek, produced by Chris Johns in 2007, captures an interview with Robert Stevens, who was 86 years old at the time. In this film, Robert examines the history of the USDA Forest Service and voices his concerns about  management of the Daniel Boone National Forest, including the dangers of using fire and toxic herbicides as management tools.

The View from Lick Creek Part I

The View from Lick Creek Part 2