Land Between the Lakes officials are weighing hundreds of suggestions from the community following listening sessions this month for a new sustainability plan.
Public Affairs Officer Christopher Joyner said hearing about what visitors value will help in developing a plan that will be environmentally, socially and economically sustainable for years to come.
He said every type of recreation has an impact on the environment and says social importance doesn’t always equal sustainability.
“Even though it has some difficulty being environmentally sustainable we have to consider how important the public values that particular resource,” Joyner said.
Joyner said park visitors want different accommodations than in previous years - from modern camping rigs to a higher demand for kayaking.
“People wanting to be able to take their kayak out on the water ten years ago; we likely wouldn’t have had that even as a comment of being of value here,” Joyner said.
He said better access to shoreline fishing and concerns about excess logging in LBL were among opinions voiced during the open comment period. Logging has been a controversial issue in the past at LBL. In 2015, locals rallied against a land management plan that called for some logging in a portion of LBL to restore the land to pre-European settlement.
The sustainability plan is intended to guide recreation and environmental education programs at LBL over the next 10 to 15 years.
