Big Canopy Campout - Kentucky

In mid-September, I participated in a global event called the Big Canopy Campout. I went with Kentucky Heartwood to a beautiful forest in the Redbird district of the Daniel Boone National Forest. The forest where we climbed has been approved and marked for commercial logging by the United States Forest Service.  A lawsuit has been filed to try to stop this incredible area from being logged.

I made a video to share the experience we had in the woods that day & I hope you enjoy it! I had a lot of fun making it and am learning as I go. For most of my life I have been focused on  still photography, but have been wanting to learn about making videos for a few years now. I am looking forward to sharing more of them now that I have this little website set up.

🌳 Story continues after video . . .

Eastern Kentucky is a beautiful place, and the Daniel Boone National Forest is a national treasure, providing irreplaceable habitat for a huge number of species, including endangered species that are just barely hanging on. Over the next few weeks I'll be posting more photos that I've collected in the South Redbird project area. I've had the honor of finding and observing some truly weird and wonderful fungi, plants, and animals that I can't wait to share with you all.

It was very special to get to climb up this large gorgeous white oak tree. But I also felt sad because it is marked to be cut, along with almost all of its neighboring trees. Unless things change soon, this white oak is likely destined to become a bourbon barrel, as that's where most white oak trees around here are going these days, and they are going fast.

The forest here is also home to the two largest Red hickory trees on the planet! It's an incredibly lush and diverse landscape. Ramps, ginseng, ghost pipe, American chestnut, black and blue cohosh, wild ginger, several species of orchid, tons of amazing fungi, endangered bats and so much more that is yet to be discovered all depend on this forest network for their survival.

The Big Canopy Campout is the world's largest coordinated international campout event and its goal is to help protect native forests worldwide. I hope that Kentucky Heartwood's participation can help raise awareness of what is happening to the forests on our precious public lands in Kentucky.