Wetlands Project Impacts Western Kentucky Back Country Horsemen

It has been a gathering place for horsemen in western Kentucky for more than 50 years, but now they'll have to saddle up someplace else.  The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources is working on a wetlands project at the Higginson-Henry Wildlife Management Area.  More than 100 people attended a public meeting in Morganfield Thursday evening.  The Western Kentucky Back Country Horsemen say they are losing their favorite spot to ride and hang out with family and friends.  They say they feel like they're being kicked out of a place where they spend so much time. 

Jarrad Rudd has been riding horses since he was a kid.  His favorite place to ride is at the Higginson-Henry Wildlife Management Area in Union County. 

"It's the place you want to go to, and we don't have any other places around here that's significant. Back years ago, the churches had picnics there, that's just where everybody wants to hang out in the woods and enjoy themselves. It's special," Jarrad Rudd said.
 
Rudd is the President of the Western Kentucky Back Country Horsemen, a riders club with more than 170 members.  He says horsemen always stop to rest and hangout at "the rock".  But they will no longer be able to access "the rock". 

"We're trying to save these areas for our children's children, and that's what I did with my Dad, and this is what I'm doing with my kids, and I want it to keep going," Rudd said.  
 
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources says it's working on a wetlands mitigation project that includes 85 acres.  Part of the area impacted is where "the rock" is located.  State officials say this area was chosen because it's the start of the drainage for Eagle Creek.  Rudd says Union County has enough wetlands and feels like the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources is trying to kick the horsemen out. 

"Anybody that loses something, it doesn't come easy. Usually change is never easy. But this is something that were going into with an open mind, this has not been targeted at any group or anything along that nature," Kentucky Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Resources, Game Management Foreman, Curt Divine said.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources says the project is in the design phase.  Meantime, it's looking at other areas along the trails for the horsemen to ride.