The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

Kentucky's waterways:  like the air we breathe, the quality of our water directly impacts the health and well- being of Kentucky's citizens.  Kentucky has some of the cleanest and healthiest waterways left in America.  The Nature Conservancy of Kentucky has set the health of the Commonwealth's waterways as one of our top priorities for our on-the-ground conservation work. In honor of World Wetlands Day,  here are just a couple examples of our conservation efforts involving Kentucky's waters.

Protecting Kentucky's Waterways

Our work in the Grand Rivers Corridor seeks to preserve and protect aquatic assemblages of the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers.  Included in this area are several nature preserves currently maintained by the Conservancy.  Noted among these is the Cypress Creek Swam Preserve, which lies within the Mississippian Embayment section of Kentucky.  Our conservation efforts within this preserve are to protect one of the best remaining examples of bottomland hardwood swamp in the Jackson purchase region.  Our staff work to protect the rare animal species by monitoring an maintaining the health of their populations.  We also work to ensure good water quality of the region by monitoring threats from sedimentation, chemical runoff and off-road vehicle use within the watershed.

Defined by an area fed by two distinct watersheds, the Conservancy's Obion Creek / Bayou du Chien project drains more than 350,000 acres of predominately agricultural land located in western Kentucky.  In the Obion Creek and Bayou du Chien watersheds, the Conservancy employs "best Management Practices" as a method of controlling water pollution.  We work with farmers and other local landowners to manage pests and animals, control erosion, buffer streams and engage in other sustainable practices to minimize harm to local waterways To learn more about our conservation efforts in this area, check this out.

The Conservancy's work in eastern Kentucky includes continued restoration efforts along Buck Creek, located in Lincoln and Pulaski Counties.  Conservationists have worked to transform a one-mile stretch into approximately three miles with re-established meanders and a significant increase in the number of riffle sections.  The increased aquatic habitat, surrounded by a buffer of newly restored native bottomland forest, will soon be healthy and intact enough to welcome rare species of fish and mussels back into the system.  To learn more about our work on Buck Creek, check out our Buck Creek profile.

The Green River is Kentucky's crown jewel of rivers systems and a national treasure of biodiversity. It gives life to more species of plants and animals than any other tributary of the Ohio river.   For more than a decade, the Conservancy has worked along the Green River with landowners, farmers, other non-profit organizations and with local, state and federal agencies to improve water quality and habitat.  In 2001, the Conservancy helped launch the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program along the Green River.  The Conservancy secured permanent conservations easements on 73 tracts.  Reforestation efforts on these tracts improve water quality in the Green River and the Mammoth Cave system, benefiting water supply for people and habitat for fish and wildlife.  The Conservancy is also working to establish the Davis Bend Nature Preserve as an educational go-to spot for Kentuckians interested in learning about the Green River.  Finally, the Conservancy partnered with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to analyze water release schedules and how they effect wildlife populations within the Green River.  The Conservancy worked with the Corps to change dam operations in order to sufficiently mimic natural patterns of flow to sustain the river's natural richness while meeting the needs of people.  Visit our Green River webpage to learn more about our work on the Green River. 

The Conservancy also is actively involved in the Licking River watershed.  The Conservancy's most recent collaborative effort involved working with the Harrison County Fiscal Court to secure a State and Tribal Wildlife Grant from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife.  The project, the first of its kind in Kentucky, returned a portion of the stream to its natural flow, aiding species migration and benefiting a nearby mussel bed harboring the endangered Fanshell mussel.  Replacing the dam provides conservation benefits, a safer crossing for motorists and eliminates the need for removing debris after flood events. To learn more about our work on the Licking River, check out the Licking River webpage.

About World Wetlands Day

February 2 each year is World Wetlands Day.  This day marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea.  Each year since 1997, the Ramsar Secretariat has provided materials so that government agencies, non-governmental organizations, conservation organizations, and groups of citizens can help raise public awareness about the importance and value of wetlands. 

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