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It’s an opportunity to clean out the garage, the attic, and the basement of those things that have been collecting dust over the years and get them to a place where someone else might be able to use them, or where they can be safely disposed.
Councilman Bill Hollander (D-9) announces the Annual Responsible Recycling Event set for Saturday May 12th between 9:30am and 12:30pm at the Louisville Water Tower Park, 3005 River Road.
“This is a great way to remove those things in your home that could find new life by being recycled,” says Hollander. “Any Louisville Metro resident can help the environment and a variety of non-profits by simply bringing to one location what you no longer want or use and dropping it off for free.”
The Free Responsible Recycling Event is open to all Louisville Metro residents. It is easy to participate. Just gather what you would like to recycle, then drive up and drop your items off at the appropriate vendor. Businesses will not be allowed to participate at this event. A multitude of items will be accepted for recycling, reuse, or safe disposal, including paper for shredding, Haz Bin items and old, expired and unused medications.
The following items will also be accepted:
· BATTERIES (rechargeable and non-rechargeable) Please have them separated
· COMPUTERS & ELECTRONICS (terminals, towers, laptops, printers, copiers, fax machines, scanners, VHS/DVD players, stereo, monitors)
· DRUG DISPOSAL LMPD will be onsite for safe collection of unused and expired medications.
· HANDHELD ELECTRONICS (cell phones, cell phone accessories, iPods, tablets, MP3 players)
· HAZARDOUS MATERIALS All items accepted at Haz Bin location – see attached flyer for complete list. Household chemicals – MUST have labels and no leaks, no containers larger than 5 gallons)
· HOUSEHOLD BUILDING SUPPLIES (cabinets, doors, flooring, windows, hardware, light/ceiling fans, lumber, roofing, siding, tools)
· HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE must be in good condition – see attached list for accepted items (NO mattresses, items with odors, water beds, baby cribs and accessories, entertainment centers, armoires for TVs/computers)
· HOUSEHOLD ITEMS (working appliances)
· MEDICAL SURPLUS ITEMS (walkers, wheelchairs, orthopedic items, diabetic supplies, ace bandages, gauze pads, canes)
· PERSONAL DOCUMENTS (shred on-site paper documents ONLY) Unable to take boxes or plastic bags
· SHOES (new and gently used) Must be dry and free of mold
For a complete list of accepted items, please visit louisvilleky.gov/district9. On the event page is a flyer with attachments with detailed lists of accepted items from each organization.
Please note, TVs will not be accepted this year onsite, but may be recycled at the Waste Reduction Center, 636 Meriwether Avenue.
“We have made it easy to get rid of things people no longer use, with no cost to bring in these items that will benefit others,” says Hollander. “If you have tried to find a way to dispose of those things you have around the house, then I encourage you to take advantage of this event.”
Among the vendors on hand: All-Shred, Genie e-Waste, Habitat for Humanity, Louisville Metro Police, Louisville Metro Public Works, Supplies Overseas, and WaterStep.
Visit www.louisvilleky.gov/district9 for more information, or contact Councilman Hollander’s office at 574-1109.
Credit: KY State Parks
Guests have the unique opportunity to experience a “Zip and Drop” adventure at Carter Caves State Resort Park on May 5.
The “zip” is a 200-foot zipline trip on the Smoky Bridge Highline, 50 feet above the ground. The “drop” is a 50-foot rappel from Smoky Bridge, a 120-foot long natural rock bridge at the park. Experience Smoky Bridge in a way few visitors get to see. No previous experience is necessary to participate.
“The reward is not only the adrenaline rush from being suspended by rope above the forest floor, but the scenery from this perspective is a large reason to try this,” said Paul Tierney, a naturalist at Carter Caves. “Imagine being perched on a wooden platform, looking down into Smoky Valley at the lush spring greenery peaking up from the forest floor as you’re clipped into the rigging and taking that first step off, and gliding down the rope through the valley.”
Each trip is $5 a person. Participants must be ages 6 and older and weigh 250 pounds or less. Make a reservation by calling the park at 606-286-4411. The zip and drop will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“There’s not another place in the state you can experience this kind of adventure for only $5,” Tierney said. “It’s really a one-of-a-kind event at a beautiful location. A family of four can do something that perhaps they’ve never done before for only $20 as a family.”
Besides the zipline and rappel, Carter Caves offers cave tours and more than 30 miles of hiking trails. Early May is prime wildflower season at the park.
Carter Caves State Resort Park is located at 344 Caveland Drive in Olive Hill. The park has a lodge with a restaurant, cottages and campground. Besides cave tours, activities include hiking, boating and fishing. During summer months, swimming and horseback riding are also offered. For more information about the park, call 606-286-4411 or visit www.parks.ky.gov.
Photo: Kentucky Department Fish and Wildlife
Hunters interested in entering this year’s elk hunt drawing have until midnight (EST) April 30 to buy applications. Hunters can apply online at the department’s website, fw.ky.gov.
Kentucky residents and non-residents are eligible to apply for four permit types but can only be drawn for one. Each application costs $10.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife will issue 700 general quota hunt permits and 10 youth permits this year through a random computer drawing conducted in early May by the Kentucky Commonwealth Office of Technology. Results will be available to applicants on the department’s website May 15.
Sixty-four percent of bull elk hunters using a gun last year enjoyed a successful hunt and 48 percent of hunters utilizing archery equipment successfully harvested a bull. The success rate for cow archery hunters was 28 percent last year and 47 percent among hunters using a firearm for cow elk.
“Our herd is strong and healthy,” said Gabe Jenkins, deer and elk program coordinator with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “However, the herd dynamics have changed in recent years. Hunters will have to work to be successful and time spent scouting will greatly increase chances for success.”
The season limit of 250 bulls and 450 cow elk is unchanged from last year, as is the allotment among tag types.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife will issue 150 firearms permits and 100 archery/crossbow permits for bulls; 290 firearms permits and 160 archery/crossbow permits for cow elk.
Demand is greatest for the bull firearms permit and lowest for the cow archery hunts.
The bull archery/crossbow season opens in September. The bull elk firearms seasons are spread over two separate, weeklong hunts in October while the cow elk firearms seasons are split into two weeklong hunts, both in December.
Hunters ages 15 and younger also can apply for the youth-only quota hunt during the same application period as the general elk quota hunt drawing. They may apply for the general quota elk hunt drawing as well, but cannot be drawn for both in the same year.
A landmark restoration effort re-established an elk herd in the state’s scenic southeastern region and created one of the most sought-after hunting opportunities east of the Rocky Mountains. Kentucky’s elk herd is the largest east of the Rocky Mountains and more than all the states east of the Mississippi River combined. The elk restoration zone in southeast Kentucky covers 16 counties and more than 4 million acres.
Photo: Kentucky Department Fish And Wildlife
This spring seems like one long continuation of late winter. As soon as we get a warm day, the temperature plunges and we are back in February again. It even snowed on Monday of the third week of April.
This up and down weather combined with cold rains has the spring fishing season behind by a few weeks. The spawning runs of white bass into the headwaters of reservoirs are scattershot so far this spring, with some movement followed by retreat.
“I don’t think the white bass have really had a chance to run yet,” said Ron Brooks, director of Fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “I think the fluctuating water temperatures are screwing them up a bit. We need a sustained warm front to get them going.”
Water temperatures are in the low 50s in most reservoirs and streams across Kentucky.
Anglers fishing the headwaters of Taylorsville Lake found rewarding, but sporadic, fishing over the last week. “Last Thursday, I took home six white bass, but on Friday, I took home 10, at least four of them over 15 inches,” said Clifford Scott, internal policy analyst for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “I had to walk quietly out of there because I had the biggest stringer of fish.”
Scott took his fish with a combination of old-school 2-inch curly-tailed grubs in white and yellow along with a 2-inch Bobby Garland Baby Shad in pink and pearl.
“I saw small shad all over the place,” Scott said. “Once I saw them, I switched to the Baby Shad. You had to fish for the white bass, they were not on a hard run, but produced enough action to keep your interest.”
The upper part of Taylorsville Lake WMA grants bank access to anglers that produces fishing comparable to those in boats.
Mike Hardin, assistant director of Fisheries, caught some white bass in the upper reaches of Taylorsville Lake this past weekend. “We caught them above the first riffle from the impounded water,” he said. “We caught a mixed bag of different sizes and caught more in the evening than in the morning. The males were marked up in breeding colors. We caught a few females, so they are already staging for the spawn.”
White bass populations are by nature cyclic, and good fishing often erupts in lakes over the course of a year or two.
Green River Lake is one of those lakes poised for a white bass breakout. Southwestern Fisheries District biologist Eric Cummins and crew conducted white bass population sampling on the lake last year. They found excellent reproduction in 2014 for white bass, producing an expanding population of fish 14 inches and longer in the lake.
Last week, some bass anglers fishing a tournament on Green River Lake reported incidental catches of white bass while fishing crankbaits for largemouth bass. Anglers should search the Robinson Creek arm from Wilson Creek up to the KY 76 Bridge (Knifley Road) and in the Green River arm above Holmes Bend.
Bank anglers can access the upper end of the Robinson Creek arm at the Elkhorn Ramp and the Wilson Creek Recreation Area. They may also access the upper section of the Green River arm at the Snake Creek Ramp and other roads on the Green River WMA in that area.
Cave Run Lake is another reservoir with growing numbers of white bass. Population surveys conducted in 2017 show high numbers of larger fish, which should mean good fishing in 2018. Search for surface activity to find white bass in spring on the lake.
The fishing peaks in summer on Cave Run, when white bass get in the “jumps” by trapping shad against the surface and ripping through them. The confluence near the mouth of Buck Creek as well as the areas around the Clay Lick and Alfrey boat ramps make excellent places to search for them when it gets hot. Any shad imitating topwater cast into the jumps will get smoked.
Some anglers caught fish in the Broad Ford area in the headwaters of Nolin River Lake a few weeks ago, but the fishing slowed with the cold rains that accompanied major frontal passages earlier in April. The sustained warm weather in the upcoming forecast will draw waves of white bass into Nolin River Lake above Bacon Creek Ramp.
Fast and furious fishing during the spring runs makes white bass one of the most popular fish anglers pursue. When they are on, you can catch several fish on consecutive casts.
In-line spinners like the venerable Rooster Tail in white, chartreuse and pink all score white bass. You can work an in-line spinner near the surface or let it sink a few feet and retrieve. Vary the depths of the retrieve until you hit fish.
Like what Scott found last week, small shad-shaped soft plastic lures or curly tailed grubs also attract white bass. Some anglers fishing the headwaters of reservoirs suspend 1/16- to 1/32-ounce white feather or hair jigs under bobbers and let them drift in the current. Change the depth of the jig until you find white bass.
Anglers may keep 15 white bass daily, but only five of the daily limit may be longer than 15 inches. White bass fishing gives you a fantastic reason to buy your fishing license, so don’t forget to get one if you haven’t already.
Credit: KY State Parks
Learn about snakes and other reptiles with the “World of Reptiles” show planned at Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site on April 28.
This interactive program, presented at 1 p.m. by award-winning naturalist Scott Shupe, features live snakes and other reptiles.
While at the park, be sure to take a stroll along the Woods Walk Trail and learn about some useful plants and the natural environment. Enjoy a butterfly program in the Welcome Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., where kids can make and take a butterfly mobile and pick up your free flower seed packets for butterfly gardens.
Admission for the reptile program is $3 adults/$2 kids. The reptile program with museum and site tour is $5 adults/$4 kids, seniors and military and includes the butterfly program. Call ahead for discount rates on groups of 10 or more. This is a great opportunity for Scout troops, homeschoolers or youth groups. For more information, call the park office at 270-335-3681, email carla.hildebrand@ky.gov or visit our website at www.parks.ky.gov.
Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site is an archaeological site of a Native American village of the Mississippian culture. The park features a museum, mounds, walking trail, picnic area, visitor center with tourism information and a gift shop. The park is located along the Mississippi river’s Great River Road National Scenic Byway at 94 Green Street, Highway 51-60-62, Wickliffe, Ky.
Commercial anglers netted nearly 42 tons of invasive Asian carp from Kentucky and Barkley lakes during the inaugural Carp Madness tournament in 2013.
Carp Madness returns to the lakes in June with a new twist: it’s a tournament for bow anglers. The top prize is $10,000 for the team on the winning boat in each division, with total prizes of $23,000.
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency are partnering with the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Kentucky State Parks and the Bowfishing Association of America for Carp Madness 2. The tournament is set for the night of June 23-24.
The tournament is another way to remove carp from the lake while building awareness of the invasive fish.
“We anticipate that Carp Madness 2 will remove more than 100,000 pounds of Asian carp in a single night of bowfishing,” said Ron Brooks, fisheries division director for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “Proceeds beyond the cost of the tournament payouts and prizes will go to the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation, which works with our department on fish and wildlife habitat, the Salato Wildlife Education Center and sponsoring the department’s summer conservation camps for kids.”
The Bowfishing Association of America is sanctioning the event.
The entry fee is $150 per boat. Contestants can pay an extra $25 for entry into the big fish contest. Teams may consist of 2-4 anglers, but no passengers.
The top three weights harvested per boat from each division (lake or river) will win prize money. First place pays $10,000 per boat, followed by $1,000 for second and $500 for third. The big fish payout will be combined for both divisions and depend on the number of entries.
Contestants who weigh in Asian carp will receive a commemorative “Carp Madness 2” T-shirt. Contestants weighing in at least 250 pounds of fish will receive raffle tickets for chances at donated prizes. The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation is providing support for raffles, t-shirts and donations to the tournament. The foundation will also sell “Carp-Madness 2” T-shirts to support Asian carp removal efforts.
The tournament begins at 7 p.m. (Central time) June 23 and continues until 7 a.m. the following morning. Launch is set for the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Ramp, located at the Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park near Gilbertsville, Ky. Bowfishing anglers may harvest any of the Asian carp, including the silver, bighead, grass and black carp.
Pre-registration opens today on the Bowfishing Association of America website: baastore.bigcartel.com. Participants may also register at the event (cash only).
Photo: Division of Community Forestry
To celebrate Arbor Day and Earth Day, the Louisville Metro Office of Sustainability, will give away 1,000 trees on Saturday, April 21 from 12-2 p.m. at the Hope Community Garden in south Louisville (1400 Bicknell Drive).
“In our growing city, we are always looking for ways to improve our community’s health and our environment,” Erin Thompson, Louisville Metro’s Urban Forester, said. “One of the best ways to do this is by planting a tree. We encourage all residents to join us in celebrating Earth Day and Arbor Day by planting a tree.”
At this giveaway event, any Jefferson County resident may take up to three trees on a first come, first served basis. A driver’s license or utility bill must be provided for proof of residence. All trees should be planted on private property.
All trees that will be given away are native to Kentucky and will be provided to residents in three gallon containers. Species available on Saturday include Allegheny Serviceberry, Redbud, Black Oak, Eastern Red Cedar, Pawpaw, American Hornbeam, Sugar Maple, River Birch, Tulip Poplar and Red Oak.
For more information, please visit https://louisvilleky.gov/government/division-community-forestry
