KCC Legislative Update

On his 100th birthday, Hubie Blake, the noted blues composer remarked “If I had known that I was going to live this long I’d have taken better care of myself.” I experienced a similar feeling as I stood in front of over thirty people representing conservation, recreation and preservation groups from across the state. I never really thought I would live long enough to see the sight.

Called together jointly by The KCC,The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Trust for Public Lands (TPL), the meeting marked the beginnings of the creation of a statewide coalition to push for legislation designed to fund a comprehensive Land Stewardship program. For over six years this has been the major thrust of the Kentucky Conservation Committee, but not until today have we seen the actual groups assembled that can get the job done. There were organizations that one wouldn’t normally see around the table together: The League of Kentucky Sportsmen; The Sierra Club; Kentucky Heartwood; The League of Women voters and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to name but a few. It was a clear indication of the shared interests of these groups and all Kentuckians in seeing the advent of serious funding for the protection and promotion of Kentucky’s natural land assets.

Presentations by myself and Dr. Bill Martin on the last legislative session and the results of the Land Stewardship Task were followed by a review by TNC and TPL of their recent efforts nationally in securing funding for Land Stewardship and their suggestions for Kentucky. The meeting ended with specific tasks to be performed by TNC and TPL to begin the coalition building process and complete a legislative strategy and included a commitment by both National organizations to come up with funding for the studies. The first two steps will be to complete an economic feasibility study of funding mechanisms and then commence actual polling to try and gauge public sentiment for the initiative. It’s all exciting stuff for an old campaigner. I’m confident that we can continue to build and expand the coalition to the point that the Legislature will have to take notice. Please contact your local conservation, recreation or preservation group and encourage their participation in the cause.