Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve is a 41-acre (170,000 m2) nature preserve in Louisville, Kentucky's Poplar Level neighborhood, in roughly the central portion of the city. It is named for Beargrass Creek, the south fork of which passes along the northern side of the preserve. The preserve is adjacent to Louisville's Joe Creason Park and the Louisville Nature Center. It is owned by the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission and the LNC assists with management.
The preserve includes 2 miles (3.2 km) of walking trails, which cross wetlands and ridge top. There are also 180 species of trees, shrubs and wildflowers. It is managed by the Louisville Nature Center, which is located on the west side of the preserve in a building which opened in 1997. The center claims it is "one of the largest inner-city nature preserves" in the United States. The preserve and nature center run on about a $90,000 annual budget, and in May 2007 reported about $100,000 in operational debt.
ln 1982, the State Nature Preserves Commission purchased a 41-acre (170,000 m2) wooded tract that became the preserve. It was a port of the Collings estate (which became Joe Creason Park) that had been acquired by the Archdiocese of Louisville in 1960.
Famous quotes containing the words creek, state, nature and/or preserve:
“The only law was that enforced by the Creek Lighthorsemen and the U.S. deputy marshals who paid rare and brief visits; or the “two volumes of common law” that every man carried strapped to his thighs.”
—State of Oklahoma, U.S. relief program (1935-1943)
“Called on one occasion to a homestead cabin whose occupant had been found frozen to death, Coroner Harvey opened the door, glanced in, and instantly pronounced his verdict, “Deader ‘n hell!””
—For the State of Nebraska, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“In the domain of Political Economy, free scientific inquiry meets not merely the same enemies as in all other domains. The peculiar nature of the material it deals with, summons as foes into the field of battle the most violent, mean and malignant passions of the human breast, the Furies of private interest.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“The poet will maintain serenity in spite of all disappointments. He is expected to preserve an unconcerned and healthy outlook over the world, while he lives.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)