Clark County nature preserve named a ‘Distinguished Geologic Site’

The Lower Howard’s Creek Nature & Heritage Preserve received some very nice recog­ni­tion this past spring.  On June 4, the Geological Society of Kentucky (GSK) installed a hand­some plaque at the pre­serve rec­og­niz­ing it as one of Kentucky’s Distinguished Geologic Sites.

The GSK was estab­lished in 1940 to advance the pro­fes­sion, prac­tice, and sci­ence of Geology with­in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  This was only the fifth Distinguished Geologic Site they have select­ed in the state.  The first was Pound Gap on the Kentucky-Virginia bor­der in 1998.  The oth­ers were Camp Nelson, the Middlesboro Meteorite Crater, and Kyrock (the rock asphalt min­ing area in Edmonson County).  GSK uses sev­er­al selec­tion cri­te­ria.  The sites must be:

• geo­log­i­cal­ly significant
• his­tor­i­cal­ly significant
• in a pub­lic area
• eas­i­ly accessible

Geologically, the pre­serve is rec­og­nized for hav­ing the old­est exposed rock for­ma­tion in Kentucky—the Lower and Middle Ordovician peri­od, deposit­ed between 450 and 480 mil­lion years ago.  Lower Howard’s Creek’s lime­stone gorge was formed dur­ing the Ice Ages with­in the last 2 mil­lion years.

Historically, the pre­serve area was used by bison and Native Americans and lat­er became an impor­tant part of the route between Boonesborough and the Lower Blue Licks, where the pio­neers went to hunt and make salt.  During the set­tle­ment peri­od, Lower Howard Creek became one of Kentucky’s ear­li­est indus­tri­al areas.  Corn, wheat, wool, and tim­ber were brought to the val­ley, where they were processed in one of the numer­ous water-pow­ered mills.  Many of the fin­ished products—whiskey, flour, corn meal, woolen cloth, and lumber—were shipped down the Kentucky River and on to mar­kets in New Orleans.

The pre­serve is pub­li­cal­ly owned by the Clark County Fiscal Court and con­ve­nient­ly locat­ed for vis­i­tors from the Central Kentucky area.

This 441–acre tract of land was ded­i­cat­ed as a state nature pre­serve in 2001.  The pri­ma­ry pur­pos­es of the pre­serve are to pro­tect rare species, pro­tect and inter­pret historical/archaeological resources, con­duct sci­en­tif­ic research, pro­tect and restore nat­ur­al com­mu­ni­ties, and fos­ter envi­ron­men­tal edu­ca­tion.  Due to its geol­o­gy, bio­di­ver­si­ty, and cul­tur­al resources, Lower Howard’s Creek is tru­ly a unique area—and very deserv­ing of its recog­ni­tion as one of Kentucky’s Distinguished Geologic Sites.

Check out this infor­ma­tive video about the ded­i­ca­tion cer­e­mo­ny, nar­rat­ed by Frank Ettensohn.