Organization: The Nature Conservancy Kentucky (TNC KY)

Website: nature.org

EAC-KY Partner Contacts: Chris Garland and Sean Bowers

Bio: The Nature Conservancy Kentucky is a part of the global Nature Conservancy organization that operates in Kentucky with the benefit of local knowledge. As an advocacy and education focused organization, protection of natural resources is achieved through a people-first approach and place-based solutions, enhancing connection between land/water/climate/people, and through project-based initiatives with external partners. The Nature Conservancy Kentucky emphasizes science-based, non-partisan, and collaborative stewardship. 

2020 KFAP Tags: 

• Forest Health
• Forest Management
• Funding

Program or Services Spotlight:

• Family Forest Carbon Program

Ways Forward:

• Creating awareness THROUGH Advocacy
  
  • Advocating opportunities for woodland owners to do more active management, get involved with partners, and promote stewardship
  • TNC KY has access to tools and information from the global organization
•  Informing Woodland Owners THROUGH Education
  
  • KY TNC educates about water, climate, invasive species, wood products, reducing land fragmentation and helping with land transfer
  • Appalachia is a global forest priority area for The Nature Conservancy, and TNC KY has promoted forest management in Appalachia through its programming and partners
• Combating legacies of social and environmental harm THROUGH establishing public trust and doing good work
  
  • The Family Forest Carbon program is prominent in Appalachian Kentucky, offers landowners finances and education with relatively low management input requirements, while involving additional partners like UK/KDF/NRCS
  • The health of modern Appalachian Kentucky’s forests is linked to environmental legacies from logging and mining in the region
  • The Nature Conservancy Kentucky has financial backing from the global Nature Conservancy, which can be beneficial for finding funding opportunities for programs. Still, funding remains a challenge for developing and implementing active forest management.

Ongoing Concerns:

• Addressing the labor/age dynamic and forestry workforce development
  
  • Aging landowner population do not have the physical ability to do all of their own land management work
  • Eastern Kentucky needs more workforce development in natural resources, and any development/investment in the forestry industry is market driven (needs market expansion for lower quality timber)
• Reaching these unreached or new woodland owners
  
  • Typical avenues for advertising opportunities include posters, flyers, local contacts, field days, public meetings, etc. 
  • Looking for new avenues or collaborations that might reach these woodland owners
• Legacies of historical disenfranchisement and environmental harms in Appalachia
  
  • Many heirs and absentee landowners in EKY, and it’s harder to do active management on their land 
  • Long history of extractive industries (coal and timber)
  • Poor forest conditions to start managing (extraction, pollution, invasives, etc),
  • Financial situations that demand survival priority over dollars spent toward forest stewardship

EAC-KY can facilitate:

• Networking with partners
• Collective wayfinding through sharing years of progressive work 
• Increasing visibility of organization opportunities and initiatives