Daniel Boone National Forest

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The Daniel Boone National Forest (originally the Cumberland National Forest) is a national forest in Kentucky, United States. Established in 1937, it includes Template:Convert of federally owned land within a Template:Convert proclamation boundary. The name of the forest was changed in 1966 in honor of the explorer Daniel Boone.

The terrain of the forest is generally rugged, and includes multiple prominent water features. It is home to a range of plant and animal species, although many areas still bear evidence of industrial logging and other practices which took place mostly prior to federal protection. It is a popular recreational and tourist destination which serves a million or more visitors a year, and contains several widely recognized areas which are protected in their own right, including state parks, trails, wilderness areas, and landmarks.

Physical geography

As of 2017 the Daniel Boone National Forest encompasses Template:Convert of federally owned land within a Template:Convert proclamation boundary.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The land within the proclamation boundary contains both publicly and privately owned land, along with thousands of miles of marked boundary lines between the two.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Most privately owned land, accounting for about Template:Convert is held by individuals and ranges from Template:Convert to Template:Convert in size.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp

The forest is formed by two main areas: a Template:Convert wide strip of land along the western edge of the Cumberland Plateau, and the Redbird Purchase, located on the east of the Cumberland Plateau.<ref name="impact">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp The terrain is generally rugged, hilly and mountainous, with reliefs of as much as Template:Convert in the north and Template:Convert toward the south.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp Administratively, the forest is divided into four ranger districts: Cumberland<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> London,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Redbird,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Stearns.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Counties

The Daniel Boone National Forest includes land across 21 Kentucky counties, namely:

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Water

File:USACE Laurel River Dam and Lake.jpg

Aerial view of the dam at Laurel River Lake

Major river systems include the Licking River, Kentucky River, and Cumberland River, all of which flow into the Ohio River.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp Four reservoirs are located within the forest, administered by the US Army Corps of Engineers. These are Cave Run Lake, Buckhorn Lake, Lake Cumberland and Laurel River Lake. Taken together, at normal water levels these reservoirs comprise Template:Convert of water.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp The forest additionally encompasses thousands of miles of smaller streams, many of which flow only after heavy rain.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp About Template:Convert are classified as riparian zones, while Template:Convert are classified as floodplains or wetlands.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp

Water is of an overall good quality, but is impacted by activities related to mining, and exploration for oil and gas.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp The area averages Template:Convert of rainfall annually, with thunderstorms occurring an average of 46 days per year.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp Due to shallow soil, heavy rains may result in severe local flooding, and conversely, many tributaries may become completely dry during periods of little rainfall.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp

Air

Air quality in the forest is considered "excellent", due to the comparatively sparse population and lack of industry.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp The majority of air pollution results from the 128 average annual forest fires,Template:Efn in addition to controlled burning, the residential burning of coal, and dust from unpaved roads.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp

History

European exploration until statehood

By the early 16th century both the French and the British had laid claim to the land that would become the Daniel Boone National Forest. Among the first Europeans to enter the area was the French René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1669.<ref name="usfs"/>Template:Rp He was later followed by the party of the English Thomas Walker in 1750, who would go on to make the first European discoveries of the Cumberland Gap, Cumberland River, and the pass through Pine Mountain Template:Efn<ref name="usfs">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Several others made expeditions in the area over the following decades with mixed success.Template:Efn

Around 1760, Daniel Boone reached an understanding with Richard Henderson for the exploration and preparation of the wilderness beyond the Appalachian Mountains, so that it may be more easily settled by those who sought to move westward.<ref name="usfs"/>Template:Rp Boone made an expedition in 1767 into the area of modern-day Prestonsburg, Kentucky,<ref name="usfs"/>Template:Rp and then in 1769, he set out with five others on an extended expedition through the Cumberland Gap and into Kentucky, where he stayed until March 1771.<ref name="usfs"/>Template:Rp Boone set out on a failed attempt at settlement in 1773, and then again in 1774, where he served as an officer in Lord Dunmore's War.<ref name="usfs"/>Template:Rp

On March 17, 1775, the Transylvania Colony, founded by Henderson, and for which Boone was employed, reached an agreement (over the objections of the governors of Virginia and North Carolina) with a grand counsel of the Cherokee Nation to purchase all land from the Kentucky River to the Cumberland River, including large part of modern-day Kentucky and Tennessee, an area known as the Transylvania Purchase.<ref name="usfs"/>Template:Rp Template:Efn In anticipation of this purchase, Boone and a party were dispatched on March 10, marking and clearing trails in the newly acquired lands, and eventually founding Fort Boone, near the confluence of Station Camp Creek and the Kentucky River.<ref name="usfs"/>Template:Rp Template:Efn This became the fledgling Transylvania Colony,<ref name="usfs"/>Template:Rp until being eliminated in 1778 by the Virginia House of Delegates, becoming Kentucky County, Virginia, and by 1792, the Commonwealth of Kentucky.<ref name="usfs"/>Template:Rp

Industrial use

Up to the beginning of the 20th century, the Daniel Boone and surrounding forest were the subject of extensive logging, with logs sent downstream for processing in the sawmills of Louisville, Nashville, Frankfort and Cincinnati, only to be overtaken as rail extended into the area around the turn of the century.<ref name="usfs"/>Template:Rp The industry reached its peak in 1907, with almost one billion board feet of lumber production.<ref name="usfs"/>Template:Rp The forest was additionally harvested to provide charcoal for the developing iron industry, and as the railroad advanced, to produce crossties, and lumber for the building of bridges in addition to rail cars.<ref name="usfs"/>Template:Rp

Federal protection

File:Boone National Forest Bounds 2016.png

Daniel Boone National Forest as of 2016. The black line is the proclamation boundary. Green represents Forest Service land. White areas within the boundary are privately or locally owned. The inset map shows the ranger districts.

In 1900, Congress appropriated $5,000, and again in 1907, $25,000 for the investigation of areas in southern Appalachia, for potential purchase as a national forest.<ref name="usfs"/>Template:Rp These efforts were further strengthened in 1911 by passage of the Weeks Act, which allocated millions in additional funding. As part of the Forest Service's examination of the area, E. Murray Bruner published in 1914 an extensive report covering Template:Convert of land in Kentucky, and concluded in part:

Because of the general rugged topography of this section and very great influence it exerts upon navigation of the Kentucky River, it is very essential that its protection from extensive clearing be assured. For these reasons the section is eminently desirable as a purchase area, and therefore, in view of the fact that the prices of land now prevailing are very reasonable, there is a favorable prospect for making large purchases...<ref name="usfs"/>Template:Rp

Land acquisition began in 1933, based largely on the purchase of Template:Convert from Stearns Coal and Lumber, Template:Convert acres from Castle Craig Coal, and Template:Convert from the Warfork Land Company.<ref name="usfs"/>Template:Rp By the time the area was officially declared the Cumberland National Forest in 1937, the tract spanned Template:Convert of federally owned land across 16 Kentucky counties.<ref name="fs1">Template:Cite web</ref>

Both Daniel BooneTemplate:Efn and Henry Clay were originally put forth in the 1930s as potential namesakes.<ref name="usfs"/>Template:Rp However, it was not until 1966, following, among other things, a resolution to the United States Department of Agriculture by the Kentucky Senate, that the name was officially changed by Lyndon B. Johnson to Daniel Boone National Forest on April 11.<ref name="fs1"/><ref name="usfs"/>Template:Rp The same year, some Template:Convert of the Redbird Unit were added.<ref name="fs1"/>

Ecology

The Daniel Boone National Forest contains around 40 commercial species of trees, and as many non-commercial species of trees and shrubs.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp These include mixed hardwoods such as oaks and hickories, in addition to white and yellow pine. Because much of the area was intensely logged prior to federal land protections, much of the forest is of low quality, although areas of younger growth is of a higher quality, having been always a part of protected lands.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp As of 1985, when the forest service published their environmental evaluation of the area, about 92% of the land was considered "tentatively suitable" for the production of timber.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp

The area is home to 54 species and subspecies of mammals, 194 of birds, 44 of reptiles, 41 of amphibians, and 150 of fish.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp Notable animals that inhabit this forest frequently seen by visitors include black bear, coyote, bobcat, white-tailed deer, wild turkey, gray squirrel, muskrat, quail, opossum, ruffed grouse, rabbit, red and gray fox species, raccoon and mourning dove.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp Other species present are the woodchuck, red-cockaded woodpecker, mink, bald eagle, Virginia big-eared bat, Indiana bat and gray bat.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp Venomous species include the copperhead, timber rattlesnake, and southern devil scorpion. Fish species include rainbow trout, large and smallmouth bass, bluegill, crappie, and muskie.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp

Recreation

File:Summary of major developed recreation facilities by development level and capacity, National Forest Service, Daniel Boone National Forest.png

Summary of major developed recreation facilities by development level and capacity, from the US Forest Service<ref name="plan"/>Template:Rp

The Daniel Boone National Forest provides a range of recreational activities, including approximately 100 developed recreation areas and Template:Convert of trails, that see more than a million visitors per year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Efn Across the forest, developed recreation sites have a combined capacity to accommodate 15,830 visitors at-a-time, in addition to the capacity of dispersed recreational activities such as hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, boating and horse riding.<ref name="plan">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp

Within the forest's boundaries lie three state managed parks, Buckhorn Lake, Cumberland Falls, and Natural Bridge. There is one designated National Recreation Area, the Big South Fork, located in the southwest corner of the forest,<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp and one National Recreation Trail, the Sheltowee Trace, which stretches almost Template:Convert from northern Kentucky to Pickett CCC Memorial State Park near Jamestown, Tennessee.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Efn There are two designated wilderness areas, Beaver Creek, consisting of Template:Convert set aside in 1975,<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Clifty Wilderness, consisting of Template:Convert near the Red River Gorge.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Red River Gorge itself is a designated National Natural Landmark, along with the Rock Creek Natural Research Area.<ref name="impact"/>Template:Rp

Hunting is also popular as a recreational activity.<ref name="plan"/>Template:Rp The Pioneer Weapons Wildlife Management Area, representing Template:Convert near Cave Run Lake, was created as a partnership between Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and the US Forest Service, and is an area where hunters are permitted to use only comparatively primitive weapons, such muzzleloaders, bow and arrow, or crossbows.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Notes

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References

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External links

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