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Credit: KY State Parks
Plan a spring adventure on Tygarts Creek on a canoe or kayak with a 6-mile excursion hosted by Carter Caves State Resort Park.
The park is offering guided trips on six dates in 2018 – April 14, 21, 29 and May 2, 6 and 12.
The 3.5-hour trip down Tygarts Creek goes through one of Kentucky’s most beautiful limestone gorges. The park will provide canoes or kayaks, paddles, life vest, transportation shuttle from and back to the Welcome Center, and guides for your trip. The fee is $40 per person. (The fee is $30 a person if you bring your own canoe or kayak.)
Participants should have some paddle experience before signing up for these trips. Along the way participants will see high cliff sides and the natural beauty that the spring has to offer. There will also be a side trip into one of Kentucky’s largest natural limestone tunnels.
Guests should wear proper attire for cool weather paddling, a complete change of clothes, treaded footwear, flashlight (for natural tunnel visit), sack lunch, bottled water and a dry bag for your supplies. You must be at least 12 years old to participate and paddlers ages 15 and under must be with a legal guardian.
Participants will meet at the park Welcome Center and should be ready to leave at 9:30 a.m.
Registration is required. To register, visit: https://secure.kentucky.gov/formservices/Parks/CarterCavesPaddleTrips. For questions, call the park at 606-286-4411.
Carter Caves State Resort Park in Olive Hill has a lodge, cottages, restaurant, campground, gift shop, cave tours and many recreational activities. For more information about the park, visit www.parks.ky.gov
Thousands of volunteers will join together on Saturday, April 14 for the Brightside & Passport Health Plan Spring Community-Wide Cleanup to pick up litter and beautify sites across Louisville.
Youth organizations, neighborhood associations, businesses, elementary school classrooms, faith groups, families and more will be participating in the event, which serves as the kick off to Mayor Fischer’s Give A Day Week of Service, April 14-22. Last year, 17,500 volunteers participated in the Spring Cleanup. This year, a goal has been set of 20,000 volunteers cleaning every corner of our city.
“Banding together to clean our streets is a terrific example of an active and compassionate community,” Mayor Greg Fischer said. “We can all improve our quality of life and health of our neighborhood with a simple investment of time to pick up trash. Let’s all use the arrival of warmer weather to get outside, work with our neighbors and clean up our streets.”
To participate, volunteers choose cleanup sites and coordinate with Brightside to receive gloves, bags, and for the first 5,000 volunteers, t-shirts. Trash pick-up is coordinated with Louisville Metro Solid Waste Management Services. The cleanup is sponsored by Passport Health Plan. Additional sponsors include Heaven Hill, Kentucky Derby Festival Foundation and Kentucky Pride Fund.
“We are proud to continue as the title sponsor of the Brightside & Passport Health Plan Spring Community-Wide Cleanup,” said Mark B. Carter, CEO of Passport Health Plan. “We know that a healthy community includes a clean and vibrant environment where people can thrive. We’re pleased to partner with Brightside and the many volunteers across various neighborhoods to improve the overall health and quality of life of all our residents.”
Neighborhoods can hold their own cleanups at any point throughout the year, and Brightside encourages neighborhood associations, block watches, businesses and faith groups to play an active role in keeping their neighborhoods litter-free.
Registration for the April 14 Brightside & Passport Health Plan Community-Wide Cleanup is open. Visit the Brightside website at www.brightsideinc.org to complete the registration form or call (502) 574-2613 to register your team. Groups of any age, size or neighborhood are encouraged to participate.
Mayor Greg Fischer was joined by officials from LMPD, Louisville Free Public Library, the Kentucky Science Center, Louisville Parks and Recreation and Jefferson County Public Schools to encourage local children to take advantage of the dozens of free and low-cost activities offered by those organizations during the upcoming spring break April 2-6.
“We want kids to enjoy the time off with their family and friends, and to come back ready to finish the school year strong,” Fischer said. “If parents and kids are looking to keep their minds and bodies stimulated the week of April 2, we have some great local programming that’s being offered through parks and recreation, the library and JCPS at low or no-cost.”
Those include camps run through parks and recreation community centers, including a free basketball clinic by former University of Louisville basketball player Robbie Valentine on April 4-5 at the South Louisville Community Center; activities that include free movie viewings, STEAM instruction, workshops, classes and more at local Louisville Free Public Library branches; and literacy classes for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders through JCPS.
“We want kids to have fun, stay safe and out of trouble during the break from school,” Fischer said. “There are several opportunities daily for them to remain active and engaged through guided programming. Hopefully the weather’s nice and they’ll be able to spend some time enjoying the outdoors as well.”
Metro Government has created a guide to the assorted spring break activities.
Photo: Louisville Metro Council
President David James (D-6) will join representatives of MSD, Brightside, MSD, and the Ancient Order of Hibernians for the next phase of Planting O the Green on Saturday. March 24th.
This year, the President is partnering with Councilman Brandon Coan (D-8) to plant a total of 90 new trees this year.
“There may be snow on the ground now, it won’t last. A tree can last for many years and at the same time help our environment and make a neighborhood a beautiful place to live,” says James.
In District 6, 45 trees will be planted on E. St. Catherine between 2nd and Preston beginning at 9:00am. In District 8, the trees have already been plated in the green space along Gardiner Lane in the Hawthorne neighborhood abutting I-264.
“Planting O’ the Green is part of my goal to plant one tree in District 8 and another tree somewhere else in the city every day. I commend President James and District 6 for joining our partnership,” says Coan.
“TreesLouisville is thrilled to be a primary sponsor of the Planting O’ the Green,” TreesLouisville Executive Director Cindi Sullivan said. “Our vision is a healthier community for current and future generations through a more robust tree canopy and collaborations like this one are an excellent way to make progress.”
“Brightside is very happy to be a part of another Planting O’ The Green,” Brightside Director Gina O’Brien said. “Trees are a terrific investment in our communities that will positively affect the health of Louisville’s residents, environment and economy. Districts 6 and 8 will reap the benefits of these trees for years to come.”
John O’Dwyer, President of the Father Abram J. Ryan Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, reflected on the meaning of the St. Patrick’s Parade and the impact of Planting O’ The Green.
“The Hibernians strive to open the spring season each year with the St. Patrick’s Parade, often called the People’s Parade, and it is a time for fun and community. Now we are making the Greenest Parade even greener as the next evolution of this charity event to give back to our fine city,” O’Dwyer said.
For more information about Planting O’ the Green, contact President James’ office at 574-1106.
Photo: Kentucky Department Fish and Wildlife
The landscape awakens almost spontaneously from its winter slumber. Winter flocks break up into smaller groups. Innumerable turkey calls and lifelike decoys reappear at sporting goods retailers.
Turkey hunters interpret these occurrences as signs that it will not be long before they are easing into their spots before dawn, filled with anticipation.
In Kentucky, hunters still have ample time to scout and develop a game plan to increase their odds of success in the upcoming spring turkey season. This year, Kentucky’s youth-only season is the weekend of April 7-8. The start of the 23-day general statewide season follows on April 14. It ends May 6.
“Start at the computer then get out in the field to find birds,” said Zak Danks, wild turkey program coordinator with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Know some different approaches you might take and where you can move based on gobbling you hear once the season starts. Think about some good set-up spots or places to put your decoys, or vantage points to see birds.”
Virtual scouting can save precious time for hunters looking to hunt public land. Topographic maps and satellite views may reveal access points, existing trails, open fields, wooded areas, elevation changes and creeks or fences where approaching gobblers could hang up. Kentucky offers dozens of wildlife management areas and other lands open for public use. As a reminder, turkey calling is not allowed from March 1 until the opening of the youth-only season, and from the close of that season until the opening of the statewide season. Hunters may still use an owl, crow or other calls to locate turkeys while scouting.
It is always a good practice before the season to shoot your shotgun at a paper turkey head target using different brands of turkey loads. By patterning a shotgun ahead of time, the hunter knows the shotgun will shoot where it is aimed and deliver an acceptable number of pellets to the turkey’s vital area (head and neck).
“One thing I’ve learned over the past several years is just how good the hunting can be later in the season,” Danks said. “Last year, in particular, I had hunters contacting me well after the season ended saying they were still hearing turkeys gobble. So don’t get discouraged if you don’t have success early on. There’s still time to find turkeys throughout the season.”
In Kentucky, the spring hunting seasons are timed to give gobblers enough time to breed hens before subjecting the birds to hunting pressure. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife monitors turkey reproduction on a statewide scale through annual summer brood surveys.
Weather during the nesting period in May and June influences reproductive success. Heavy rains in Kentucky and surrounding states during that timeframe last year affected nesting success, which reflected in a statewide average of 1.2 pounds per hen. A figure of 2.0 or higher is optimal. Hunters should expect to encounter fewer of the more easily fooled jakes as a result this season.
Kentucky annually ranks first or second among surrounding states in the number of turkeys taken per square mile.
Hunters took a record number of birds during the 2010 spring season and have averaged more than 31,000 birds over the seven seasons since.
Last spring, hunters reported taking 33,061 birds, which represents a 6 percent increase over the previous year and the third highest total on record. Muhlenberg County led all counties with hunters reporting 681 birds taken there. Looking at it differently, Pendleton County led the state with 1.76 birds harvested per square mile.
The majority of counties are showing a stable to increasing harvest trend over the past decade. Some counties are exhibiting lower harvest totals. In response, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife is expanding efforts to monitor the turkey population and reproduction. Feedback from hunters will play an important role.
A new spring hunting log and post-season survey will soon be available on the department’s website at www.fw.ky.gov. On the homepage, type “Spring Turkey Hunting” into the search box. The log serves to collect information about a hunter’s daily hunting effort, number of turkeys seen, heard and harvested, observations about weather and other species observed. The post-season survey will include questions about spring hunting experiences.
“Our harvest totals tell us that we’re still in a pretty good situation on a statewide level,” Danks said. “We are hearing from people who tell us they’re not seeing as many turkeys as they had in the past. Most of that is from counties that have shown a decrease in harvest. What’s the reason? It’s difficult to determine on a statewide scale when all we’ve had to go on is harvest. We need information on hunter effort on a county level.
“The information gained from these hunter surveys and logs should help us track trends across the state.”
Hunters are allowed a limit of two bearded birds during the spring season, but no more than one bearded bird may be taken in a day.
The 2018 Kentucky Spring Hunting Guide provides information about current regulations, licenses and permits, legal equipment, safety tips and more. Find it online at fw.ky.gov or wherever licenses are sold.
Hunters also will have an opportunity to have their questions about spring turkey season answered during a special “Kentucky Afield” TV call-in show scheduled Saturday, March 24. The live one-hour show will air at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Kentucky Educational Television (KET). Joining host Chad Miles for the show will be Danks and pioneering turkey hunter Harold Knight.
Photo: Kentucky Department Fish And Wildlife
Crews from the fisheries division of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources will remove largemouth bass from Beaver Lake in Anderson County in the coming weeks to alleviate overcrowding and improve growth rates of fish.
“In March of 2017, we took nearly 2,400 largemouth bass out of Beaver Lake,” said David Baker, Central Fisheries District biologist for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “We did our annual population sampling the following month, and the number of largemouth bass we found were still double what we want for Beaver Lake.”
Baker explained bountiful largemouth bass reproduction in 2016 and 2017 further compounded overcrowding in the 158-acre lake.
“We want to be proactive and prevent a bottleneck of fish 8 to 11 inches long,” Baker said. “This removal will reduce competition for food among the younger age bass and improve growth rates for the bass near the 12-inch minimum size limit.”
The minimum size limit for largemouth bass on Beaver Lake reverted to the statewide size limit of 12 inches on March. Previously, the lake had a 15-inch minimum size limit on largemouth bass.
“We plan to take bass under 6 inches from last year’s spawn and bass 7 to 9 inches from the 2016 spawn,” Baker said. “Most will go into the Cane Run arm of Herrington Lake. Largemouth bass reproduction is typically poor in the lower end of Herrington.”
The Fisheries Division manages Beaver Lake for bluegill and redear sunfish. Removing small bass allows panfish to thrive in the lake. “We’ve witnessed big improvements in the number of quality bluegill,” Baker said. “In our population sampling last spring, the numbers of bluegill that were 6 inches and longer exploded.”
Baker also said before the improvement, each hour of population sampling landed 50 to 75 bluegill over 6 inches. “Now, we see 200 to 250 per hour,” he said. “We also saw our highest rates ever for bluegill 8 inches and longer.”
Photo: Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District
A new survey from the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District is asking the public to weigh in on the District’s efforts to engage with and inform the community on air quality and the environment.
The District will use the information collected in the online survey to develop a series of community workshops.
The goal of the workshop series, slated to begin this spring, is to give the public a better understanding of the District’s work, while also offering a space where the community can discuss ways to continue improving Louisville’s air.
“Informed communities are more likely to support programs and policies that improve air quality,” said Michelle King, APCD Director of Program Planning. “And informed individuals are more likely to change behaviors to reduce their own emissions and exposure to poor air quality.”
The survey is online now, and will stay online until April 30.
Survey link: https://louisvilleky.wufoo.com/forms/the-apcd-wants-to-hear-from-you/
APCD Environmental Coordinator Torend Collins is overseeing the development of the workshop series.
“Community engagement is an important part of the work we do at the APCD,” Collins said. “So the results will not only assist with developing workshops, but will also help us better understand what the community knows about our agency.”
