The Louisville Zoo is a long-time supporter of efforts to preserve natural areas, most notably the state’s largest old-growth forest known as Blanton Forest. Kentucky Natural Lands Trust (KNLT) is a nonprofit organization formed in 1995 to protect and preserve natural areas in Kentucky.  Initially, KNLT raised more than $3 million for the purchase of Blanton Forest, now the largest and one of the most popular nature preserves in the state. The Blanton Forest State Nature Preserve contains upwards of 3,000 acres and continues to expand as neighboring landowners decide to sell or donate land. The Louisville Zoo has been a partner in these efforts and has assisted the project in many ways, specifically through its reverse ATM machine located in the Gorilla Forest exhibit complex. Visitors donate to the Blanton Forest Project using the machine, which has already generated several hundred dollars for preservation and stewardship.

With the success of this project, KNLT extended its reach to all of Pine Mountain, the mountain range where Blanton Forest is located. The mountain covers an estimated 151,000 acres, is a migratory corridor for both animals and plants, and includes one of the largest forest blocks unbroken by roads in the state and the region. KNLT launched the Pine Mountain Legacy Project with the goal of creating a continuous protected ecological corridor the length of the 120-mile-long mountain ridge.

Scientists have long recognized Pine Mountain as biologically and ecologically important. Well-known ecologist and botanist Lucy Braun established her foundational research into forest ecology on Pine Mountain. Today, our limited inventories have found at least 251 occurrences of 93 species of rare plants and animals. This includes at least three federally-listed species and several species of cave beetles that are not found anywhere else on earth! The large blocks of contiguous forest that cover the mountain slopes are important to a myriad of plants and animals that require deep, interior conditions for all parts of their lifecycles. Elk, deer, and bear use the long corridor to move between areas, as do raptors and many other birds and animals. The mountain supports many different ecological communities, including the ancient, diverse, mixed mesophytic forest, mountain-top bogs, pine barrens, and a variety of hemlock, oak, and pine forests.

Currently, KNLT has nearly 2,000 acres under option on the mountain and recently  purchased 740 acres in Harlan County just west of Blanton Forest. These properties shelter rare plants, fossil trees, elk, bear, unique rock formations, and some of the few remaining, undisturbed mountain bogs. They are also among the most extensive private forestland tracts on the mountain. These acquisitions will make a substantial impact on the protection of the best natural areas remaining on the mountain and their continued use as a key  migratory route.