Why we oppose HB 312
It’s difficult to explain the need for travel restrictions on State Nature Preserves. Why protect a beautiful, pristine area of the state and then prohibit taxpayers from enjoying it? The fact is of the 54 preserves in the state, 31 of them are open to the public, and only three of the 31 require appointments. All, however, disallow pets and anything other than foot travel. They also don’t allow camping, picnicking, rock climbing, collecting of rocks or plants, straying off the trails or any activity that could be destructive to the natural areas. This is consistent with the State Nature Preserves’ fundamental legislative mandate “solely to protect and preserve rare species and natural environment … and to protect the natural integrity of the preserves so they may be passed on, unimpaired, to future generations.” Nature Preserves are just what they say they are – preserves. They are living museums of the topography and natural communities that existed when settlers first arrived in Kentucky and the only homes left for some of the state’s most treasured native plants and wildlife.
So, what does KCC believe?
We believe: A.) That outdoor recreation, including equine recreation is a good thing; B.) That Kentucky needs to do much more in acquiring land for adventure tourism including areas for horse trail riding as well as ATV’s and other off-road vehicles; C.) That the 99% of land in the state not being used for nature preserves or sensitive wildlife areas should be considered for multiple uses such as those listed; D.) that state officials should work with trail riders to increase access to state owned lands wherever feasible; and E.) that a significant source of state funds should be dedicated to the acquisition of horse trails and other recreational lands.
What don’t we believe? A.)We don’t believe that we should make up for a denial of trail riding activities in a few isolated areas by changing the basic mandate of all nature preserves across the state. The riders themselves have admitted that there are only a few areas they would like to access at this time; B.) We also don’t believe that state nature preserves should be used as a focus for the development of a recreational trails industry in the state. Several of the presenters at the legislative hearing had financial interests in the trail riding industry. State Nature Preserves were created over 30 years ago by people whose only interests were in the preservation of unique and irreplaceable lands, and not in creating engines for economic development.
What can we do?
The KCC has been working for several years now in conjunction with other environmental and conservation groups to push for the creation of a Land Stewardship program for Kentucky. The legislature created a Task Force to address the issue. The final recommendation of the taskforce was for the creation of a Land Stewardship Fund within the treasury and for a constitutional amendment to increase the state sales and use tax by 1/8 % with the proceeds put into that fund and dedicated solely to land conservation, recreation and conservation programs. We estimate that this increase would bring in around $60 million annually. That would purchase or lease a lot of miles of horse trails. We believe that the people of this state will support this effort. Minnesota just passed a 3/8% sales tax increase; Missouri and Arkansas have similar programs.
We would welcome the Horse Council, and any other non-profit recreation or adventure tourism groups to join the KCC, Sierra Club, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, sportsman groups, farmers and conservation groups in getting this concept before the people. Representative Charlie Hoffman will be introducing a bill this week to accomplish the first part of this program. Hopefully next session we will be pushing the adoption of the constitutional amendment and we will let the people decide if they want more opportunities to enjoy the natural beauty of their state on lands designed for that purpose.