Big Bone Lick - Forest Health Field Day
Everyone wants a healthy forest, but what does this mean?
Welcome to Big Bone Lick State Historic Site
Big Bone Lick State Historic site is located near Union, Kentucky along the Ohio river. Part of the Kentucky State Parks system, Big Bone Lick is considered the birthplace of vertebrate paleontology in North America and has been the site of discovory for numerous fossilized remains of prehistoric animals. With 4.5 miles of hiking trails, a herd of American bison on location, a museum and educational center and a variety of other attractions, Big Bone Lick is open to the public year round.
Welcome to Big Bone Lick
To learn more about Big Bone Lick, click the red button.
Hiking trails at Big Bone Lick are open to the public year round. Photo credit: Claire Kolkmeyer
Big Bone Lick faces considerable management challenges in the form of invasive plants and insects.
Removing ash trees infected with EAB. Photo credit: Claire Kolkmeyer
Bush honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) and emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) (EAB) are invasive species that pose significant management challenges at Big Bone Lick. Click below to learn more about these invasive species.
Bison, which were once found roaming the grasslands of Kentucky, have long been missing from the native landscape. At Big Bone Lick a bison herd have been introduced to the area, giving visitors the opportunity to view these large herbivores in area where they once commonly roamed.
Bison at Big Bone Lick. Photo credit: Robert Myers
Restoration efforts are also underway to remove the non-native grass Kentucky 31 tall fescue from the bison pastures at Big Bone Lick, and restore the pastures with Kentucky little bluestem. KY 31 fescue harbors an endophyte (an internal microbe) that can have negative impacts on bison as well as domestic cattle.
Pasture restoration at Big Bone Lick. Photo credit: Paul Simpson
Forest health management doesn't just mean managing for invasive species. Sometimes forest health looks like restoration of native species whose populations have been negatively impacted through development, pollution, shifting land use and climate change.
Running buffalo clover in flower. Photo credit: Tara Littlefield
Running buffalo clover (Trifolium stoloniferum) is a native clover species with a limited population range; one of the largest concentrations of this clover is found in the area around Big Bone Lick. The Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves works to monitor populations of running buffalo clover in Kentucky, and ensure that this native species remains a part of the Kentucky landscape.
If you would like to know more about running buffalo clover, follow the link below.
Native plant seed heads at the gum branch restoration site.
Restoration at Big Bone Lick include watershed restoration efforts at the Gum Branch Creek. In collaboration with the Center for Environmental Restoration at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) Big Bone lick is working to restore the ecology of this watershed.
Restoration of native tree species is an integral component of restoration efforts at gum branch.
Click below to learn more about environmental restoration efforts at NKU.
