Land Conserved Along Little South Fork of Cumberland River in Kentucky

Under their Wild Rivers Program, the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves secured more than 1,000 acres along the Cumberland River in the Little South Fork area in August. This land will be added to the Steele Hollow Watershed Conservation Area.

The Wild Rivers Program establishes a corridor stretching up to 2,000 feet from the banks of the river to monitor and maintain habitats for rare species such as the palezone shiner, an endangered fish only found in one other rivershed in the world. Other species benefitting include the endangered fluted kidneyshell mussel, Indiana bat and threatened northern long-eared bat.

Funding was provided by the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund, the Imperiled Bat Conservation Fund and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Kentucky field office.

— By Eric Halvarson