Membership: The Kentucky Chapter has nine members down some from our charter days.
The Kentucky chapter is growing slowly. Michael Spanjer is now director of the southern chapter. This should help improve our ability to recruit new membership. Michael has been a great resource .He attended the 2009 FFLA eastern conference Asheville North Caroline. I am looking forward to working with Michael in the future.
Restoration
We added several addition towers to the NHLR in 2009.Stearns, Bald Knob and Curry Hollow. Bring the total to eight towers on the lookout register in Kentucky.
Tater Knob Tower
We had a set back in 2008 when Tater Knob Tower suffered a fire. We pulled several groups together in 2009 to host a benefit concert to help repair Tater Knob. Local fire departments, forestry agencies and community leaders came together to raise funds to repair the damage. The Kentucky chapter of the FFLA displayed fire tower artifacts during the event. The national chapter awarded a $500.00 grant in support of our efforts to restore the tower. We have raised around $2000.00 toward the project. We plan to visit the site this spring with USFS personnel and local community leaders, one of which is an engineer to survey the site prior to restorations efforts. The fire was arson. The Bath County grand jury indicted two individuals in October for their role in the fire that badly damaged the cab of the tower. If you would like to learn more about our efforts to restore the tower go to http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2009/todays-news/kentucky-residents-raise.html
Chapter Development:
The Route 377 Volunteer Fire Department continues to support the Kentucky Chapter as the charter agency. Membership should increase in 2010 with the addition of the sub chapter.
Fire Tower Documentation:
We continue to document current and former fire towers sites in Kentucky. This is important work. Historically Kentucky has a long proud history with its fire towers. Trenton Girard with Land between the Lakes fire management has research and documented LBL towers. Michael and Brenda Spanjer continue to visit tower sites in southern Kentucky documenting conditions of towers visited. Dwayne Anderson with the Kentucky Division of Forestry is also helping document fire towers in the Northeast District.
Submitted: Danny Blevins KyFFLA |
