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EXPLORING
KENTUCKY - April 2002 by Katherine Tandy Brown Bobcats and Bison and Bears...
Oh My!
But in lieu of catching a glimpse of a furry critter in the wild, you’re guaranteed a sighting – an entertaining one at that – at a treasure of a wildlife resource on US 60 just west of Frankfort. Last June, two five-month-old bear cubs arrived at the Dr. James C. Salato Wildlife Education Center and have been wowing visitors ever since, frolicking, mock-fighting, climbing anything in sight and ripping the tops off pine trees in their quarter-acre enclosure. “Bears mature at three years old, so these two will be playful for quite awhile,” said Laurie Davidson, the center’s education administrator. Procured from a breeder in South Dakota, the cubs were raised by humans and being stared at all day by visitors doesn’t faze them. “In fact,” Davidson added, “they seem to like being on stage. They’re little showmen. “One day I saw one of the cubs catch a fish from their pool. The other bear came running over to see it. Immediately, the first bear grabbed his fish, ran off with it, hid it by covering it over with dirt, then sat on it and looked around as if to say, ‘I’ve got nothing!’” Those bears in the wild of Southeastern Kentucky have generated some concern, fear that is unjustified, according to Jay Webb, assistant director for the Information and Education Division of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR). “A lot of people have misconceptions that bears will attack their kids and kill their dogs,” he said. “The only reason that bears go around houses is to search for food that’s easy to get in a trash can or dog bowl. Education about bears is important, and we plan to start an outreach program targeting Southeast Kentucky.” Wildlife information abounds at the 30-acre Salato Center, opened in October of 1995 and named for a Columbia, Kentucky, physician who served for an unprecedented 28 years as KDFWR commissioner for the Fourth District. The center is the newest addition to the 167-acre recreational/educational complex called The Game Farm, where quail and other wildlife were raised before the department built its Central Offices on the property in the late ’70s. These days, folks can wander Salato’s spacious outdoor exhibits and ogle those adorable cubs, along with bison, elk, bald eagles, white-tailed deer, wild turkeys and a bobcat named Blue, for the University of Kentucky’s mascot. Wild animals here are rarely named, said Davidson, to keep the public from thinking of them as pets. Displays inside the 5,000-square-foot center show off native reptiles (rattlesnakes, copperheads and water moccasins), fish in aquariums and life-size replicas of state record catches, forests rife with animal mounts, including the Kentucky record white-tail deer, and an enormous collection of mounted birds. You can safely peek into a beehive and learn about bee hierarchy – who works and who gets pampered.
“We do special programs, like Kentucky snakes, birds of prey, plants and adaptations, and native people, for teachers to help them meet KERA curricula,” Davidson explained. Those offerings, and a number of others, are also available for adult groups, which can come on their own and tour, or call ahead to schedule a guided interpretive tour (800-858-1549). Programs range from HabiTots (story reading and nature education crafts games for ages three and up) to kids’ orienteering to adult courses in wildlife photography, backpacking, fly tying and birdhouse building. Annual celebrations include Native American Heritage Month each November, when indigenous Shawnee and Cherokee tribe members participate in the festivities. The center’s Backyard Wildlife Program encourages gardening with wildlife in mind, using Kentucky native plants. “A lot of the exotic plant species, like daylilies, are showy, but don’t help wildlife,” Davidson explained. “Birds can’t use them. Bees can use them only moderately. Whereas, if you use more Kentucky native plants, you’ll attract more birds, butterflies, chipmunks, etc. Actually, they’re beautiful plants that give sort of an English garden effect.” In a yearly contest Salato selects the best residential backyard habitat and best outdoor classroom, for which the state’s First Lady, Mrs. Paul Patton, presents awards at a special ceremony. “What we offer here at the center is Kentucky-specific wildlife and Kentucky-specific plants and the interdependence of those on each other,” said Webb. “That Kentucky-specificness is not offered anywhere else in the state. People can come and see species that are still fairly common, like the bobcat and deer, as well as endangered species like the bald eagle, and learn their history and the conservation methods used by this department to try and help bring them back.” Running the center is a cooperative effort of all divisions of the KDFWR – Information and Education, Fisheries, Wildlife, Engineering, Law Enforcement and Administration. “We’re typically seen as a hook and bullet organization, just fisherman and hunters,” he continued. “We realize the importance of expanding our audience and reaching other people who may not hunt or fish. By educating people at the center, we don’t necessarily focus on just the game species but expand to the native plant program and non-game species, at the same time trying to remain true to our constituency of Kentucky hunters, anglers and boaters.” One of the department’s most popular outreach programs is produced in cooperation with Kentucky Educational Television. First broadcast in 1953, Kentucky Afield is the longest-running outdoor show in America, and a spinoff regularly goes to schools via KET’s Star Channel. Each week, host Tim Farmer brings outdoor recreation and environmental issues to over 300,000 viewers, many of them part of the aforementioned constituency, which annually purchases 175,000 hunting, fishing and boating licenses. Those dollars, along with voter registration fees, are the sole support of the KDFWR. No general tax dollars are involved. The bulk of funding for the Salato’s exhibits is generated by the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Inc., which locates sponsors. For example, Buffalo Trace Distillery funds the buffalo exhibit. The elk are here thanks to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, which also was instrumental in helping the department find an elk program to restore the animals to Kentucky back in 1997. A 15-county area in Southeastern Kentucky now boasts the largest elk herd east of the Mississippi River, which the department hopes to increase to eight or nine thousand animals. Morehead State University, whose mascot is the eagle, foots Salato’s bill for the popular eagle exhibit. Those mischievous bears are still looking for a major sponsor. Recently, the center received $300,000 from Toyota to help build an interactive exhibit due for completion in three to four years. “The Living Stream” will address pollution and prevention measures, and will feature a model of the Georgetown section of Elkhorn Creek. Webb sees it as only a part of the center’s forthcoming growth, which is slated to translate into more exhibits, a larger staff, expanded animal care and more native species. And that includes expansion of its small but intriguing gift shop. A wonderful alternative to mall shopping, Salato’s retail store is filled with unusual nature-themed gifts, such as brightly-colored t-shirts sporting wolves or eagles, games that teach ecology, CDs and tapes that’ll bring the great outdoors right into your home and lovely “Restoring Our Wildlife” collectors’ edition prints by KDFWR staff artist Rick Hill. Just outside the center are a couple
of fishing lakes for anyone with a license, a shaded picnic area perfect
for bag-lunching or two rentable picnic shelter houses, a songbird area,
a small wetland with an accessible observation deck right over the water,
and great opportunities for bird and plant identification – and
to see bears. Grab your binoculars and a sandwich. The cubs await. Katherine Tandy
Brown is a staff writer for The Lane Report. |
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Copyright 1996-2002, by Kentucky Business Online. All rights reserved. Editorial content
is copyright 2002, Lane Communications Group The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
You
don’t have to go to a zoo to see bears in Kentucky anymore. After
an absence of many years, black bears have been gravitating back into
the southeastern region of the state from Virginia, West Virginia and
Tennessee. The large mammals, which average five to six feet tall and
usually weigh around 300 pounds, are moving here in waves, young males
first, then females, then females with cubs. Reforesting logged land
and reclaiming strip mined areas has reestablished an ideal habitat,
and the bears have begun to breed.
A
“Kentuckians Before Boone” exhibit depicts Native American
residents and their artifacts. A giant alligator snapping turtle wiggles
his tongue to attract fish, then gobbles them up when they swim inside,
much to the delight of numerous school groups that come each year.