Kentucky Heartwood
  • Home
  • News and Events
    • Forest Blog
    • Stonecoal hike
    • Music Festival 2022
    • Newsletters
    • Past Events >
      • Hemlock volunteer days
      • Red Hickory and Herbal Medicine Hike
      • Red Hickory Hike April '22
      • Music Festival 2021
      • Bat Meter Deployment Field Trip 2021
      • Virtual Membership Meeting 2021
      • The Three R's with Davis Mounger
      • White fringeless orchid mural
  • Forest Watch
    • South Redbird Project
    • Jellico
    • Blackwater (Cave Run Lake)
    • Red River Gorge
    • Pine Creek Forest Restoration Project
    • Greenwood
    • Beaver Creek Commercial Harvest
    • Land Between the Lakes >
      • Birmingham Ferry Salvage Project
      • LBL Scenery Management Plan
      • LBL Video Project
      • Pisgah Bay Project >
        • Pisgah Bay Comment Letter
    • Climax & Little Egypt >
      • Crooked Creek Photos 2011
      • Crooked Creek Photos 2010
    • Forest Plan Amendment
    • Upper Rock Creek Logging >
      • Rock Creek Hike, November 2009
  • Get involved
    • Volunteer
  • Contact
  • Email Alerts
  • Links
  • About
    • Council & Staff

kentucky heartwood

We need forests we can get lost in; trees that make us gape; streams we can drink from.
​Wild places sustain and define us; ​we, in turn, must protect them.

Old Growth, Growing for the Future

Picture
​Kentucky Heartwood is pleased to announce our web project, www.KentuckyOldgrowth.org. The website is “Dedicated to the past, present, and future of old-growth forests in Kentucky.”

This work in progress features information, photos, and maps of a growing number of old-growth forests in Kentucky and other forests containing numerous old-growth trees. In the coming months, additional material will build the website into a resource for information on old-growth ecology and recovery. And we hope that the forum becomes an interactive place for people to share information and ask questions.

Many people are fascinated by old-growth forests, but with so little remaining in Kentucky and the rest of the eastern U.S., few people have the opportunity to see or learn about them. Education about our old-growth forests, and what makes them special and different from younger forests, is important as we look toward the conservation and recovery of old-growth in our region. We hope the website helps in this effort.

Old-growth forests are known for and identified by a suite of structural characteristics that distinguish them from younger forests. The most obvious of these are large and old trees. Other characteristics include multiple age classes, layering and gaps in the canopy, greater amounts of downed rotting wood, and large snags. Each of these characteristics adds a layer of complexity that lends to the forest’s richness and beauty.

When forests are heavily logged the structure of the forest changes radically. Over time, however, the processes of stand development, succession, and natural disturbance can move the forest through several developmental phases, arriving again at an old-growth condition.

We hope that you’ll visit the website, and be part of our efforts bring old-growth back to Kentucky.

  • Home
  • News and Events
    • Forest Blog
    • Stonecoal hike
    • Music Festival 2022
    • Newsletters
    • Past Events >
      • Hemlock volunteer days
      • Red Hickory and Herbal Medicine Hike
      • Red Hickory Hike April '22
      • Music Festival 2021
      • Bat Meter Deployment Field Trip 2021
      • Virtual Membership Meeting 2021
      • The Three R's with Davis Mounger
      • White fringeless orchid mural
  • Forest Watch
    • South Redbird Project
    • Jellico
    • Blackwater (Cave Run Lake)
    • Red River Gorge
    • Pine Creek Forest Restoration Project
    • Greenwood
    • Beaver Creek Commercial Harvest
    • Land Between the Lakes >
      • Birmingham Ferry Salvage Project
      • LBL Scenery Management Plan
      • LBL Video Project
      • Pisgah Bay Project >
        • Pisgah Bay Comment Letter
    • Climax & Little Egypt >
      • Crooked Creek Photos 2011
      • Crooked Creek Photos 2010
    • Forest Plan Amendment
    • Upper Rock Creek Logging >
      • Rock Creek Hike, November 2009
  • Get involved
    • Volunteer
  • Contact
  • Email Alerts
  • Links
  • About
    • Council & Staff