For more information:
• Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund

Producer/Videographer: Dave Shuffett
Editor: Kelly Campbell

Heritage Lands

A Turn 'Round Tebbs Bend

As the Green River winds its way through Taylor and Green counties, it curves around in broad bends. Among those is Tebbs Bend, a 172-acre tract that is among the areas protected by the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund. For this Earth Day edition of our program we travel to some of the natural places protected by the KHLCF.

Revenue for the KHLCF comes from the nature license plate, the state portion of the unmined minerals tax, and environmental fines. More than 35,000 acres in 56 Kentucky counties have been purchased and set aside for conservation since the mid-1990s.

Dave Shuffett talks about conservation efforts with Richie Kessler, an aquatics biologist at Campbellsville University and a KHLCF board member, and KHLCF director Bill Martin.

In the riverbend oasis of Tebbs Bend, you'll also find blue heron, eagles, wood ducks, and songbirds. Conservationists consider the Green River the most biodiverse river in the state, and the aquatic life features freshwater mussels and fish found nowhere else in the world. Among lands set aside for KHLCF protection in Larue County are the Thompson Creek Glades, valued by environmentalists for a high quality limestone glade complex. Other protected areas in Larue County include President Lincoln's Boyhood Home and the 225-acre tract that is home to the Larue County Environmental Education Center.

For more information:
• Berea College keeps records and photographs from 1886 to 1982 in its Hazel Green Academy Collection.

Producer/Videographer: Dave Shuffett
Editor: Dan Taulbee

Our Town—Hazel Green

Hazel Green, located on the Red River about seven miles north of Campton in Wolfe County, was named for the abundance of hazel shrubs in the area. It was settled in about 1800 and was the first incorporated city in Wolfe County.

This part of Wolfe County has a fascinating history as a tourist destination, and was known for its resort hotels in the late 1800s. Nearby Swango Springs was a popular destination in the 1890s, and mineral water bottled there was shipped nationally until 1943.

Hazel Green was ahead of its time in education. The Hazel Green Academy (1880-1983), a college-preparatory boarding school, was established years before the state of Kentucky started funding public high schools. At one point the academy grounds included a small hospital, a demonstration farm, a kindergarten and a used-clothing store.

For more information:
• Center for Sustainable Cities Design Studio, 5675 Kiddville Lane, Lexington, Ky. 40515-9596

Producer/Editor: Matt Grimm
Videographer: Frank Simkonis

Raven Run Solar House

Building for Balance

Solar energy pioneer Richard Levine of Lexington combines his passion for energy conservation with his love of architecture. We visit the University of Kentucky architecture professor's solar home, Raven Run, and learn more about the Center for Sustainable Cities Design Studio.

Built over 30 years ago, Raven Run Solar House is still recognized for its pioneering design. Nestled in the woods just outside Lexington near Raven Run Nature Sanctuary, the home, with an attached greenhouse and super insulation, uses both passive and active solar systems. For the southern facade, Richard designed a large hexagon of "sundows" to capture solar heat. In 2010 he added solar panels to the roof of the design studio next to the home.

Richard and his UK colleague Ernest J. Yanarella are co-directors of the Center for Sustainable Cities Design Studio. They work with two of Richard's former students, Michael Hughes and Casey Mather. Together they seek to create projects that are both architecturally stunning and energy saving. They are global leaders in the development and implementation of sustainability theory.

For more information:
• Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission
• Kentucky Division of Forestry Invasive Plant Threats

Producer: Brandon Wickey

Biodiversity—Invasives

Kentucky's Least Wanted

You probably know kudzu as the vine that ate the South. But do you know why conservationists worry about the bush honeysuckle and Callery pear trees in the local park or the Chinese silvergrass and burning bushes in so many backyards?

We find out when Dave Shuffett joins Joyce Bender of the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission on a tour to see some of Kentucky's most unwanted plants. These imported species run rampant over native plants due to lack of natural controls like disease and predators found in their native habitats.

Joyce explains why these plants are problems, not just for nature-lovers, but for all Kentuckians. We begin in Robertson County, where invasives are threatening a globally rare plant. We continue our hunt for the least wanted in country fields, towns and highways, through Harrison County, McConnell Springs in Fayette County, downtown Frankfort, and along the interstates in Shelby County.