At the confluence of the Ohio and Tradewater rivers, along Kentucky’s border with Illinois, is the Big Rivers Wildlife Management Area (WMA) and State Forest, Kentucky’s newest paradise for outdoor recreation enthusiasts. Big Rivers features steep upland hardwood forests, bottomland hardwood forests and agricultural lands bordered by the Ohio River to the west and the Tradewater River to the south.

In 2012, the state acquired nearly 2,500 acres of private land formerly owned by the Alcoa Corporation to create Big Rivers WMA and State Forest. This was possible through our remarkable partnership with other nonprofit organizations, state government agencies and corporations. Now jointly owned and managed by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and the Kentucky Division of Forestry, Big Rivers has been permanently protected from future development and is open to the public for hunting, fishing and a wide range of other outdoor recreational activities.

Our Role

We helped put together the funding partnership that enabled the two state agencies to purchase the Big Rivers property. An investment fund managed by the Forestland Group purchased the entire property for $6.6 million in 2009. In January 2012, the state purchased the property with funding that included $3.25 million in federal Forest Legacy Program dollars secured with help from Kentucky’s congressional delegation. The Nature Conservancy assisted in obtaining some of the necessary non-federal matching funds from Duke Energy and the Crounse Corporation, which provided $1.75 million and $50,000 respectively. The nonprofit Indiana Bat Conservation Fund supplied $580,000 because Big Rivers provides valuable habitat for this federally endangered species.

Why This Project Matters

In addition to providing public recreational opportunities for hunting, fishing, hiking, canoeing, wildlife watching and other activities, the property will be managed as a sustainable forest to provide watershed and water quality protection and safeguard endangered, threatened and rare species, including the Indiana bat. Most importantly, Big Rivers will be permanently protected from development and agricultural conversion.