Kentucky Heartwood Honors John Walker, Daniel Boone National Forest

Kentucky Heartwood was privileged to present a plaque to John Walker of the Daniel Boone National Forest in recognition of his work to protect and restore the lands of Cromer Ridge in the Daniel Boone National Forest. Along with the plaque, which was presented to John at the DBNF headquarters in Winchester, Kentucky Heartwood presented a letter stating:

"Kentucky Heartwood is honored to present John Walker of the Daniel Boone National Forest with a placard to express our appreciation for his tenacity and creativity in the efforts to protect and restore the lands and surrounding waters of Cromer Ridge. The efforts of John Walker and fellow Daniel Boone National Forest personnel in this undertaking exemplify an ethic of land stewardship harkening to the roots of the U.S. Forest Service, and offer a heartening look forward to an agency with a renewed focus on mending the damage of past transgressions on the landscape."

Cromer Ridge is an area in the Rockcastle River watershed that has been degraded almost unimaginably by decades of illegal off-road vehicle use. The Forest Service has been working to remove the off-roaders and rehabilitate this area, in large part to control the vast amount of sediment flowing into the Rockcastle River and Woods Creek Reservoir. Kentucky Heartwood visited the site as part of our Spring Hike and was so impressed by the work being done that we felt acknowledgement of the important work being done there was more than appropriate.

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