Our Programs

                                          The Letcher County Brownfields Assessment Project

The Head of Three Rivers Project partnered with the Letcher County Conservation District in 2007 to write two proposals to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for assessment of Mine-Scarred Lands Brownfields. In April, the agency awarded the district two $200,000 grants -- the first MSL Brownfields grants ever competitively awarded in EPA's Southeast Region.

Brownfields are former industrial properties that are or are perceived to be contaminated. Brownfields assessment grants fund studies of those sites to determined if they are contaminated, and if so how to remove that contamination. The grants awarded to the conservation district will pay for the assessment of hazardous substances and petroleum contamination of groundwater as a result of abandoned mines or mining facilities.

The Head of Three Rivers project will oversee much of the work and conduct public meetings. An inventory of sites, assessment of high-priority sites and planning for environmental cleanup of contaminated sites will be done by companies or agencies on the basis of competitive bids and proposals. The grant period is July 1, 2008- June 30, 2011.

 The Historic Highlands Trail

The Great Eastern Trail extends 1,800 miles from the Florida Panhandle to the Finger Lakes of New York. The Pine Mountain Trail State Park is a linear Kentucky State Park that passes through Letcher County and makes up a portion of the Great Eastern Trail.

The Head of Three Rivers Project is involved in an initiative to connect that trail to the City of Whitesburg with a trial system that would include four elements:

• a connector trail along an old wagon route

• a hiking and biking fitness trail following the old railroad to two outlying communities

• a historic district walking tour

• a blue line trail for canoeing, kayaking and wade fishing in the North Fork of the Kentucky River.

The Southern and Eastern Kentucky Tourism Development Association has awarded the project a grant of $5,000 to begin determining property ownership along the length of the proposed trail. Volunteers and the City of Whitesburg have also begun cleaning up the riverbank. The Head of Three Rivers plans to seek money or assist local agencies in seeking money to reduce bacteria counts in the river and improve general water quality.

The Blair Branch Wetlands Project

Fecal coliform bacteria counts as high as 150 times the limit for human contact have been recorded in Blair Branch, a second-order stream near the community of Isom. Part of the problem is straight pipes that send sewage directly into the stream, but most of the problem is simply caused by a lack of space for effective septic systems. There are more than 100 homes along this 1.5-mile creek, and because of the closeness of the homes, narrowness of the hollow and the properties of the soil even homes with septic system contribute waste to the stream in the form of runoff from failing leach fields.

The Head of Three Rivers Project is proposing that wetlands along the stream be restored and used to treat the stream as it moves toward the mouth of the hollow. Hopefully, by the time the water reaches Rockhouse Creek, a major tributary of the North Fork of the Kentucky River, this system will have reduced the bacteria count to an acceptable level.

This project is in the very early stages. Regulatory approval and funding are still being sought to do a feasibility study of the system.

The Fishpond Project

Fishpond Lake is a beautiful, 43-acre county-owned lake at Payne Gap in Letcher County. It has picnic areas, primitive camping and is a popular fishing spot. Unfortunately, the Head of Three Rivers Project has discovered low, but detectible levels of chromium contamination in the headwaters of the lake. Since the county would like to build an R.V. park and cabins in that area, The Head of Three Rivers Project is applying for money to conduct a feasibility study that would look at the economic viability of such facilities and determine how to remove the contamination from the site. A grant application is currently under consideration by the state office of the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Shall We Gather at the River

Many churches in Letcher County practice immersion baptism in the creeks near their sanctuaries. Because of high levels of bacteria in many of those creeks, The Head of Three Rivers is seeking to monitor those creeks and engage local churches in those efforts. The World Wildlife Fund has granted the project $5,000 through the Mennonite Central Committee's Appalachian program for the effort.

The Cowan Creek Assessment Project

The Head of Three Rivers Project is working with the Cowan Community Action Group to monitor water along Cowan Creek, through a grant received from Kentucky River Authority. The monitoring has shown high levels of chromium in the creek, but followup testing has been contradictory. More testing is scheduled for summer 2008. The project will also place signs at monitoring points along the creek to make them easier for volunteers to locate.