Kentucky Natural Lands Trust (KNLT), a Berea-based non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting wild land throughout the state, announced it has purchased an additional 1,368 acres on Pine Mountain near Cumberland, Kentucky, establishing the Warbler Ridge Preserve.
The preserve combines the newly acquired tract with land KNLT acquired in 2017, creating the state’s largest preserve and totaling 2,456 acres. The land was acquired from the Southeast Education Foundation, whose mission is to support the Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College network. Proceeds from KNLT’s purchase of the land will be used by the foundation for student scholarships and campus investments in Whitesburg, Cumberland, Harlan, Pineville and Middlesboro.
“This project builds upon our 25-year history of working to protect Pine Mountain, a biologically diverse and climate resilient landscape that is important to local, regional and global communities,” KNLT Executive Director Greg Abernathy wrote in announcing the acquisition. "Pine Mountain is a 180,000-acre wildlands corridor running from Tennessee through Kentucky to Virginia. Through a public-private partnership, 68,500 acres have been protected by federal, state and nonprofit conservation organizations.”
“Warbler Ridge is adjacent to the E. Lucy Braun and Hi Lewis Pine Barrens State Nature Preserves, adding to the overall connectivity of the Pine Mountain Wildlands Corridor and securing an important link in the Great Eastern Trail,” he said.
The preserve will also help protect the headwaters of several tributaries to the Kentucky and Cumberland rivers, water sources for many communities and key habitat for rare fish, mussels, crayfish and aquatic plants.