Hobbies And Interests
Appalachian
The Appalachian mixed mesophytic forest is a very specific ecoregion found in southeastern Kentucky. Regions like this one are only in the southeastern United States and in parts of eastern and central China. It is known to be one of the most biologically diverse temperate regions in the world.
Multiple species of canopy trees, fungi, herbaceous plants, ferns, shrubs and small trees can be found in this ecosystem along with a variety of songbirds, salamanders, beetles and larger mammals and reptiles. Over time, this ecosystem has dwindled due to logging, mining, daming, road building and other human disturbances. Southeastern Kentucky offers some of the only remaining ecosystems of this type at Blanton Forest, Pine Mountain, the Cumberland Gap and Daniel Boone National Forest.
Wetlands
While Kentucky wetland ecosystems are mostly in the western region of the state, there are still areas of marsh and swamp in southeastern Kentucky, near the border of southwest Kentucky. As the larger wetlands move into the more mountainous regions of Kentucky, the wetlands found in southeastern Kentucky have a higher presence of canopy trees like cypress.
The wetlands all have hydric soils and hydrophitic plants, meaning they are adapted to or defined by the presence of water in these ecosystems. Between the 1600s and the mid-1980s, wetlands across the United States dropped by more than 50 percent. Kentucky is one of seven states that saw the most dramatic losses, more than 80 percent. The benefits that come from these wetlands, which includes clean water, specialized habitat for many species and flood control are reasons for which conservation efforts are in place throughout the state.
Clinch Valley Bioreserve
The Clinch Valley Bioreserve is an ecosystem that extends through southeastern, southwest Virginia and northeastern Tennessee. It is known to be home to more rare and endangered species than any other region in the continental United States. The many streams that run through the ecosystem join the Clinch and Powell Rivers, both of which are undammed.
This creates aquatic ecosystems that are very different from the others found in Kentucky. A wide variety of aquatic life in these waterways includes many rare species. Nearly 20 percent of all the mussel species in the United States are found here, for example. One species of threatened snail, eight threatened and endangered fish and 31 threatened and endangered species of mussels are found here. The forests in this ecosystem are particularly notable for their hemlock population, which is danger. Conservation efforts are in place to limit the decline of Kentucky's hemlocks. The invasive insect, the Hemlock wooly adelgid, arrived in the late 1920s from Japan and threatens the hemlocks.