Eastern Standard: October 8th, 2026

On paper, this is

a land transaction, 1,732 acres changing hands.

What's significant about the acquisition?

Well, this is sort of the old adage in real estate, Tom.

It's location, location, location.

And it really is those three locations because this is a property within the broader 2,000-mile Appalachian mountain range running from northern Alabama all the way up to Maine.

So it's situated within that big-picture context.

In Kentucky, it's part of the Pine-Cumberland Mountain Corridor, which is an especially rich and important part of this larger Appalachian mountain range.

And then the property itself was really a hole in the donut of protected lands.

Its eastern boundary is the Conservancy's managed Cumberland Forest, which is protected by a 55,000-acre conservation easement that we spoke about several years ago.

And then just to the west is a Mountain River Farms property that the Conservancy bought last year and has already transferred to our partners at Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.

So it's right in the mix of well over 100,000 acres of protected lands.

Okay,

well, this is radio, and, of course, our visuals are theater of the mind.

So if you would, David, take us there.

If we walked onto this property today, what would we see? What kinds of forests, streams, wildlife habitat, natural features that make it special?

Yeah, well, it's like many of the mountain properties in eastern Kentucky.

It is a special place.

It's got some really nice second growth forests.

It doesn't have old growth forests, but it's got some nice oak hickory forests, native hardwood forests of the Appalachians.

And there's lots of wildlife, some that you see readily and some that are seeing you.

But we know it has elk on the property.

It's got bear.

One of my colleagues, Chris Garland, who led our work on this project, flushed a couple of rough grouse the last time he was up there, migratory songbirds, everything from salamanders, snakes to owls.

Like a lot of properties in eastern Kentucky, this has had some mining history, so you'll see some of the evidence of that disturbance and also opportunities for enhanced restoration.

On paper, this is

a land transaction, 1,732 acres changing hands.

What's significant about the acquisition?

Well, this is sort of the old adage in real estate, Tom.

It's location, location, location.

And it really is those three locations because this is a property within the broader 2,000-mile Appalachian mountain range running from northern Alabama all the way up to Maine.

So it's situated within that big-picture context.

In Kentucky, it's part of the Pine-Cumberland Mountain Corridor, which is an especially rich and important part of this larger Appalachian mountain range.

And then the property itself was really a hole in the donut of protected lands.

Its eastern boundary is the Conservancy's managed Cumberland Forest, which is protected by a 55,000-acre conservation easement that we spoke about several years ago.

And then just to the west is a Mountain River Farms property that the Conservancy bought last year and has already transferred to our partners at Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.

So it's right in the mix of well over 100,000 acres of protected lands.

Okay,

well, this is radio, and, of course, our visuals are theater of the mind.

So if you would, David, take us there.

If we walked onto this property today, what would we see? What kinds of forests, streams, wildlife habitat, natural features that make it special?

Yeah, well, it's like many of the mountain properties in eastern Kentucky.

It is a special place.

It's got some really nice second growth forests.

It doesn't have old growth forests, but it's got some nice oak hickory forests, native hardwood forests of the Appalachians.

And there's lots of wildlife, some that you see readily and some that are seeing you.

But we know it has elk on the property.

It's got bear.

One of my colleagues, Chris Garland, who led our work on this project, flushed a couple of rough grouse the last time he was up there, migratory songbirds, everything from salamanders, snakes to owls.

Like a lot of properties in eastern Kentucky, this has had some mining history, so you'll see some of the evidence of that disturbance and also opportunities for enhanced restoration.