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Income Taxes Donation of certain development rights to a qualified organization like River Fields can constitute a...
There are many different ways for a landowner to conserve his/her property. River Fields can help every landowner...
River Fields uses two primary land protection tools: conservation easements and fee simple ownership. We undertake this...
A conservation easement is a practical way for private landowners to protect environmentally significant land while...
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Continuing our celebration of Women's History Month with a commemoration of Sallie Bingham. Sallie passed away last year after a long career as a writer. She penned a lot of fiction but also excelled in environmental writing in the tradition of Aldo Leopold or Wendell Berry. She was also a passionate conservationist, buying up and protecting 420 acres of land and water in Eastern Jefferson County now known as Wolf Pen Branch Mill Farm. River Fields has co-held, with the Kentucky Heritage Council, the easement to Wolf Pen for more than three decades and we are so proud to have been entrusted with the permanent protection of such a fragile and lovely place. Sallie wrote a lot about her relationship with the farm and her gratitude to River Fields for protecting it from development even after she was no longer there to love it. ![]()
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On her blog in 2023, she wrote: "I’ve always found my many blessings to be as unpredictable as they are sacred. It still amazes me that the land I discovered riding horseback many years ago from Glenview, a long journey through the start of all the developments, entailing riding under Highway 42 through an enormous culvert, should have led many years later to the creation of the easement and the meticulous restoration of the old mill, one of the few left in Kentucky. It’s also satisfying to read recent research proving that girls who roam the woods grow up to be independent and courageous."![]()
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Thank you, Sallie, and yes, girls who grow up exploring nature freely do indeed carry the benefits for life. Rest in power. ![]()
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Image of the mill at the farm by John Nation, summer 2024.
Hey folks! Come join us at Trees Louisville's Arbor Day celebration, TreesFest, next month at Thurman Hutchins Park! We'll be leading a walk to talk about the floodplain. ![]()
treeslouisville.org
Although various organizations have been involved in addressing particular aspects of Louisville's tree problem, TreesLouisville is singularly focused on preserving and expanding our community's tree ...
Come join us on a members-only spring wildflower walk at beautiful Wolf Pen Branch Mill Farm on Sunday April 19 at 10 a.m. Biologist Gary Libby will walk us through the forest, identifying native plants like running buffalo clover and various types of trillium. Email kristin@riverfields.org to secure your spot, and you're welcome to bring a friend!
Welcome to Women's History Month - and we're going to celebrate the great women in River Fields's story! We'll start with Sally Shallenberger Brown, our co-founder. Sally had the vision for River Fields at its founding in 1959 -- and that was only one of her many astonishing accomplishments. The unstoppable Sally - as one magazine article described her - grew up in a diplomatic household, learning multiple languages and exploring the world. Her childhood led her to a life of passion for conservation -- both here at home and abroad. She pushed hard and long for the historic expansion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, and was present when President Jimmy Carter signed the bill that made the expansion official. She served as a delegate to United Nations conferences on world population in Romania in 1974 and in Mexico in 1984, and worked during that same period with Prince Heinrich Reuss of Austria on the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation. Her generosity and energy shaped our city and our state in ways too many to enumerate here. All of us who enjoy the natural and cultural wonders our city has to offer owe Sally a debt of gratitude. Sally passed away in 2011 at the age of 100 - a long life spent on worthy endeavors. Thank you for your service, Sally! We at River Fields work every day to keep your passion alive.
Happy Thursday, River Fields friends! Maybe you noticed this sign at the corner of River Road and Lime Kiln Lane - this is the start of our effort to renaturalize the small piece of land we own here. The process starts with invasives removal, treework and debris removal, and eventually will focus on seeding wildflowers and native grasses. Pardon our mess in the meantime, but it's going to be a lot prettier and healthier here in the future!
As always, we thank our friends at Kentucky Waterways Alliance for their alerts to legislation that harms our waterways, our lands, and all Kentuckians. Don't let harmful legislative proposals masked as science become the law of our land.🚨Action Alert‼️ KWA strongly opposes SB 178. The Senate Committee on Natural Resources will vote tomorrow morning, 2/25, on this terrible legislation. SB178 is not a science bill. It is a deregulation bill disguised as science. It replaces modern public and environmental health protection with administrative handcuffs and requires residents to be harmed before the state can act. Legislation can be hard to understand—and that’s a problem. It’s easy for a bill to sound like it’s doing something good for our families, our neighbors, our state, while the actual text tells a different story. KWA has prepared and released a detailed annotated version of SB 178 translating the bill’s technical language into plain language. Read it here: www.kwalliance.org/news/kwa-opposes-sb-178![]()
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☎️CALL OR EMAIL NOW to OPPOSE SB 178! Call the Legislative message line at 1-800-372-7181 (Monday-Friday 7AM-6PM) and leave a message for ALL your elected representatives and for your message to go to the Senate Natural Resources Committee, too.![]()
Find your legislators here: apps.legislature.ky.gov/findyourlegislator/findyourlegislator.html![]()
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☎️What to say in a phone call?![]()
💦The people who answer the phones are very kind. They are happy to help you.😊![]()
💦State your name and ask to leave a message for NAME of LEGISLATOR regarding SB 178.![]()
💦Say: Please tell NAME of LEGISLATOR that I am opposed to SB 178 and I am asking them to VOTE NO on SB 178 because it will hurt the welfare of Kentuckians by limiting our right to protect our environment and health. ![]()
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Follow KWA for updates. #KentuckyisWater
