As this year's observance of Earth Day approaches, the Kentucky Natural Lands Trust continues to buy up property in typically heavily-forested areas. It's a statewide land trust with a mission to protect, restore, and connect wild lands.
KNLT Director Hugh Archer admits it's costly to purchase land, but it is a conservation measure.
"We are a mineral resources removal based economy for 200 years,” he said. “There's a lot of inertia against anything but private property ownership. So, it's an uphill fight here in Kentucky. We own less of our own state than all the other states in the southeast for public purposes."
One of the current major conservation projects for the Kentucky Natural Lands Trust involves land in the Pine Mountain area.
