River Fields's mission is to protect, preserve, enhance, and educate for the Ohio River and its natural and cultural treasures. We are the largest and oldest land conservancy on the Ohio River's 981 miles.
Conservation Easement Executed: November 2006, Location: Glenview, Kentucky, Jefferson County, Size: 18…
Conservation Easement Executed: November 2001, Location: Goshen, Kentucky, Oldham County, Size: 376.7…
Conservation Easement Executed: 2006, Location: Shelbyville, Kentucky, Shelby County, Size: 387 acres…
Conservation Easement Executed: 1999 Location: Jefferson County, about 12…
Slideshow
In summer 2024, we sent photographer John Nation out to document the beauty of the lands we steward. These are a few of our favorite images from the fields, forests, waterways, meadows, historic buildings, wetlands, shorelines, and farmlands he captured on camera. Enjoy!
Advocacy: Standing up for what’s right for the river
River Fields has been able to strike a rare balance in protecting and promoting both natural and cultural resources. Few organizations in America have achieved this vision.
Charles Birnbaum
President, National Cultural Landscape Foundation
River Fields has gained national respect for our effective advocacy strategy, which works in tandem with our land conservation program. As a leading voice in advocacy, River Fields’s values are:
- The river belongs to all people for healthy enjoyment
- Neighborhoods should actively be connected to the river
- Development within the river corridor must be managed for preservation of nature and culture
- The river is our city’s most prominent feature and our center stage
- Air and water quality must be protected
- Economic opportunity must be balanced with ecology, culture, and health
- Historic places and cultural landscapes must be protected
- Everyone should have access to explore and learn about the river
- The public landscape of the river mirrors our identity as a community and must be protected and nurtured for the common good
We foster collaborative relationships with government agencies at the local, state and national levels, working closely with key agencies such as:
- Louisville Metro Planning and Design Services
- Louisville Metro Public Works
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
- The State Historic Preservation Offices of Kentucky and Indiana
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
- Federal Highway Administration,
- Kentuckiana Regional Planning & Development Agency (KIPDA),
- Federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and
- Many other organizations throughout the Ohio River Corridor
River Fields works with citizens and neighborhood associations, such as the West Jefferson County Community Task Force, the Kosmosdale Preservation Group, the Prospect/Harrods Creek Neighborhood Association, Butchertown Neighborhood Association, and the Southwest County Association of Neighborhoods. We provide advocacy services and support through consulting, toolkits, guidance, input, technical assistance, and regulatory expertise. If you have an advocacy issue related to the Ohio River and its lands that you want our support on or opposition to, contact CEO and President Kristin Faurest at kristin@riverfields.org. Whether it’s by giving informal helpful advice or supporting you at public hearings, we’re here for you.
Education: Telling stories of water and land
This is where the future is – in the unique combination of advocacy for the right decisions about land and water usage for the community, and conserving land at the same time.
Former President, Land Trust Alliance
In the end, we will conserve what we love, we’ll love what we know, and we’ll know what we’re taught. That’s why education matters so deeply.
As storytellers for the water and the land, River Fields engages and educates learners at all levels on education on the river and its interconnectedness with its lands, history, cultural treasures, and the people who enjoy and depend upon them. Our programming reaches learners at all levels of all ages who want to connect with wildflowers, creeks, forests, and flora and fauna that rely upon them.
Knowledge is power, and an informed and engaged public understands the cultural and natural resources of the river corridor, the public’s right to access river views, the critical need for open space protection, and the growth and development issues that can jeopardize these fragile and precious resources. That’s why we not only provide engaging hands-on educational experiences, but we also provide vital information to and work closely with local activist organizations, decision makers, and the news media. River Fields keeps the public informed about critical topics that impact the river and our region.
Our educational approach isn’t just about engaging the public in policy decisions. For us, education is also about helping people experience the beauty of natural and cultural treasures firsthand. It’s about building connections between people and the built and natural environment with the ultimate goal of all of us being stewards. Isn’t that a beautiful idea?
For more information, check out the following:
Land Conservation: Protected forever
America’s natural beauty is disappearing right before our eyes. Land trusts such as River Fields are protecting the best before it’s too late.
Former President, Land Trust Alliance
“These acres not only provide a conserved core of property surrounded by development, but also form their own watershed. We realized, having purchased this property, it is only conserved as long as we are here to protect it. To that end, we were determined to not only have a conservation easement, but to have a River Fields conservation easement.”
Deanna Estes-Culler and Everett Culler, landowners, Daisy Hill
River Fields works with landowners and supporters to preserve thousands of acres of beautiful open space, productive farms, diverse woodlands and unique wetlands along the Ohio River Corridor and Watershed.
We own 10 river corridor properties outright, totaling over 65 acres. The largest of these, Garvin Brown Nature Preserve, is open every day of the year to our public for enjoying woods, wildflowers, wetlands and open views to the Ohio River.
In addition, we hold conservation easements that restrict the development rights to 17 additional properties in metro Louisville and surrounding counties. These easements protect more than 2,300 acres of land critical to our metro area’s scenic value and ecological health — including sensitive wetlands and watersheds, beautiful scenic vistas, wildlife habitats, historical properties and landscapes, and working farms. Conservation easements are legal agreements between a landowner and a land trust that places permanent restrictions on the use of a property. That means a beautiful piece of open land will never become a warehouse, office park, or subdivision – it will stay open and protected, forever.