Resources and Programs for Local Groups

Training

KWA works cooperatively with state and federal agencies and nonprofit organizations to provide Kentucky watershed groups with the expertise needed to protect our waterways.

Some options include:

  • Training as water samplers for Watershed Watch.
  • Training to understand and respond to permit actions that affect your waterway.
  • Training to develop your organization – fund-raising, membership outreach, strengthening your board of directors, how and why to incorporate – and much more.
  • Training to understand the Clean Water Act and how it helps you protect your waterway.
  • Training to understand state water protection and enforcement regulations and how you can use them to protect your waterway.

Want more information on any of these topics, or have another interest?

Contact Katie or go to the Upcoming Events for information on upcoming trainings.

Tools

You may need specific tools in order to research and document watershed issues. Below are some documents and websites that may be useful as you begin a watershed planning effort:

Kentucky Watershed Groups

Kentucky has a wide array of watershed groups, from the small, local and grassroots to large, urban and agency-run. A group may be focused on a single issue, such as a proposed development project that will affect water quality downstream; or focused on wider issues, such as karst rivers or the complexity of managing and protecting an urban creek or river.

We encourage you to join an already-established group, or to find out more about organizing your own.

Kentucky Alliance for Community and Environment (KACE)
In order to protect the natural world we have to develop local communities that care and know about local places; in order to have healthy communities that are stable enough to protect the place we have to have a healthy ecosystem to sustain it. KACE has been established by members of Between The Rivers, in cooperation with groups across Kentucky, to better protect and inform the public about environmental issues that affect the Commonwealth, focusing on the waterways, forestlands and communities of western Kentucky.

Contacts: Dr. David L. Nickell, Associate Professor, West Kentucky Community & Technical College PO Box 7380 Paducah, KY 42002 davidl.nickell@kctcs.edu

Thomas R. Bell, Production Manager and Web master, Murray Ledger & Times 1001 Whitnell Ave. Murray, KY 42071 mlt@murrayledger.com

Tradewater / Lower Green Watershed Watch (TGWW)
The TGWW is a volunteer group of citizens (residents of any of 17 counties in the watershed area) from Owensboro to north of Hopkinsville, and Morgantown to Morganfield.  The two rivers in their watershed drain into the Ohio River.  They are testing the water quality on a per-volunteer-interest basis, with no particular agenda or pre-conceived set of interests.  Their efforts are in tandem with the Sierra Club Water Sentinels, who are also operating in their watershed, though their interests are in checking on presumable point source pollution entities.  TGWW has collected data since 2000 on over 70 sites, and seeks to expand the program to survey more waters that have not been assessed to date.

Contact:  Dr. Scott D. Vander Ploeg, 2000 College Drive, Madisonville Community College, Madisonville, KY  42431 scott.vanderploeg@kctcs.edu

Sinking Creek Watershed Council
The Sinking Creek Watershed Council is a five-year-old rural watershed group dedicated to protecting and restoring Sinking Creek, a surface and karst waterway and watershed west of Louisville that drains directly into the Ohio River in the Salt River basin.

Contacts: Calvin Bohannon Calvin.Bohannon@ky.usda.gov or Jill Butler Jill.Butler@ky.usda.gov Elizabethtown, KY

Floyds Fork Environmental Association
The Floyds Fork Environmental Association consists of a group of concerned citizens from several counties and from many of walks of life and professions. The common concern is the environment and maintaining the integrity of Floyds Fork Creek, which drains into the Salt River, a direct tributary to the Ohio River west of Louisville. Floyds Fork Creek flows through five counties, is 164 miles long and has an average width of 35 to 150 feet. Since early 1991, the Floyds Fork Environmental Association has worked diligently with local, county and state agencies toward improving the water quality in the Floyds Fork watershed, procuring protection of the aquatic life, including a variety of native fish, mussels, of native fauna and flora, of wetlands, river overflows, scenic views and vistas, and preservation of the historic, prehistoric resources and fossils from the Devonian and Ordovician period. The FFEA is preparing a Watershed-Based Plan in cooperation with KWA and other partners.

Contact: Teena Halbig, 6505 Echo Trail, Louisville, KY 40299 TeenaHal@aol.com

Banklick Watershed Council
Banklick Creek, www.banklick.org, is a direct tributary to the Ohio River in a heavily urbanized area of northern Kentucky. The mission of the Banklick Watershed Council is to restore, protect, and promote Banklick Creek and its watershed. They hope to have a major new 319 grant soon for 2008, and have been participating in regional planning and Vision 2015 meetings for potential greenways redevelopment along Banklick Creek.

Contact: Sherry Carran, Chair, Banklick Watershed Council 927 Forest Ave. Covington, KY 1016 carranbs@fuse.net 

Friends of Green River
Friends of Green River, www.savegreenriver.com, is a young, small group dedicated to protecting Kentucky’s majestic Green River from development and pollutants. The Green River is a tributary to the Ohio River.

Contact: Mary Pollard, Secretary Munfordville, KY pollard@scrtc.com

KEEP (Karst Environmental Education & Protection)
The mission of KarstEEP, www.keepinc.org, is to develop, disseminate and promote educational materials that address societal and scientific issues pertaining to karst, to work proactively toward the protection of karst landscapes and their associated natural resources, and to advocate for responsible, sustainable development of these dynamic and fragile natural systems. Karst is widespread across Kentucky, and is intertwined with surface watersheds in many areas and along several Kentucky rivers that drain to the Ohio, notably the Salt and Green.

Contacts: Dr. Hilary Lambert Lexington, KY hilarylambert@windstream.net or Leslie Barras Louisville, KY lebarras@usa.com

Bacon Creek Watershed Council
The Bacon Creek Watershed Council is a five-year-old, lively and energetic small-town and rural watershed protection group, working to clean up and restore historic Bacon Creek, which drains to the Green River. This year’s goal is to recruit one or more upper watershed landowners to install BMPs. The BCWC is preparing a Watershed-Based Plan in cooperation with KWA and other partners.

Contact: Rose Bostic, Mayor Bonnieville, KY msmayor@scrtc.com

Friends of Rockcastle River
This new group is working to protect the Rockcastle River, its state-level Wild River status, and its high-quality tributaries from negative impacts of a proposed new interstate highway and associated development.

Contacts: Chris Schimmoeller 660 Mt. Vernon Ridge Rd., Frankfort, KY 40601 or Sue Koplowitz London, KY kick66@hughes.net

Kentucky Watershed Watch Groups

Big Sandy River Watershed Watch

Upper Cumberland River Watershed Watch

Four Rivers Watershed Watch

Lower Green River/Tradewater Watershed Watch

Upper Green River Watershed Watch

Strodes Creek Conservancy

Kentucky River Watershed Watch

Kentucky River Watershed Watch Database

Licking River Watershed Watch

Salt River Watershed Watch

Would your group like to add your link to this list? Contact: Katie@KWAlliance.org

We can also help develop a webpage for your watershed group. Contact info@KWAlliance.org for more information.