Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Update - Sept. 9, 2022

KDFWR Update - Sept. 9, 2022

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife in the news

Georgetown News-Graphic

Spectrum News 1 (Louisville)

Lexington Herald Leader

WLEX-TV (Lexington)

Northern Kentucky Tribune (Edgewood)

WDKY FOX 56 (Lexington)

WKDZ 106.5 FM (Cadiz)

The Sentinel-Echo (London)

The Herald Ledger (Princeton)

Carter County Times (Olive Hill)

Murray Ledger & Times

The Leaf Chronicle (Clarksville, Tennessee)


In the spotlight

Staff Spotlight - Tony Smith, EIT

Meet Tony Smith, a maintenance superintendent with the department.

Fun fact about Tony: An avid hiker and backpacker, he has tackled more than 200 miles of the Appalachian Trail. He also enjoys traveling with his wife and their dogs, fishing and time at home.

“Staff Spotlight” introduces you to the variety of our employees and the breadth of their expertise, as well as the diversity of jobs, programs and initiatives of the department.

If you know somebody interested in employment opportunities with Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, they can visit fw.ky.gov/careers for more information.


'Fall Fishing Festival' returns

Fall Fishing Festival - Early fall makes a great time to fly fish for stream smallmouth bass

The first installment of the 2022 "Fall Fishing Festival" series by Kentucky Afield magazine associate editor Lee McClellan delves into fly fishing for stream smallmouth bass in early fall.

The "Fall Fishing Festival" series profiles productive fishing on Kentucky's lakes, rivers and streams. To read this Kentucky Afield Outdoors column and previous installments, visit https://fw.ky.gov/Fish/Pages/fall-fishing-festival.aspx.


Looking back to the 2022 Kentucky State Fair

2022 Fair photo

The Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources' booth at the Kentucky State Fair was a popular destination again this year.

Sales of licenses and Kentucky Wild memberships were robust, and visitors shot more than 30,000 pellets at the air-rifle range.

Visitors could complete the range portion of a hunter education course at the air-rifle range, and 122 took advantage and completed the requirement at the fair,  up from 89 the year before.

Build Day II

Fisheries staff teams with local anglers to improve Paintsville Lake fish habitat

As lakes across Kentucky age, fish habitat such as logs and wood can deteriorate and sedimentation can fill in contours and creek channels, thereby reducing the amount of habitat that is important for fish.

In August, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife and project partners that included local anglers, the Paintsville High School fishing team, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Ferguson Excavating built and placed habitat structures in Paintsville Lake to help replace some of that deteriorating habitat.

Paintsville Lake habitat improvement

This effort built 58 habitat structures and placed them at 5 areas to help improve angler success. Habitat structures have proven to attract a variety of fish including largemouth bass and crappie.

For habitat location maps and downloadable GPS coordinates in Paintsville Lake and other lakes across Kentucky, visit https://fw.ky.gov/Fish/Pages/fish_attractor_lakes.aspx


Annual clean-up event held at Peabody Wildlife Management Area

Peabody

The third annual Peabody Wildlife Management Area Clean-Up event was held Aug. 13 on the Vogue and River Queen Units.

Volunteers from Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, 14 National Guardsman from the Wendell H. Ford Regional Training Center and a magistrate from Muhlenberg County participated in the effort alongside Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources staff.

Together, the group filled a 30-yard dumpster with furniture, household trash and construction materials. Peabody WMA staff assisted in lifting heavy items and compacting the materials in the dumpster. In addition to the materials that were collected and placed in the dumpster, the group removed 45 tires.


Quail Forever chapter donates carport for wildlife management area

Curtis Gates Lloyd donation

This past spring, the Northern Kentucky chapter of Quail Forever donated a carport for use by Curtis Gates Lloyd Wildlife Management Area staff. The carport shelters equipment from the elements and will help prolong the life of the equipment being used to manage the area.

"We are thankful for the chapter meeting this need and hope that partnerships like this will continue to flourish across the state," said Derek Beard, assistant Wildlife Division director.


GON - Barren River

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife partnered with Barren River Lake State Park earlier this year to replace a failing courtesy dock at the heavily used Barren River Lake State Park Marina.

Engineering staff evaluated the existing structure and determined the best way to replace it. They increased stability, enlarged concrete anchor points and developed features to better accommodate dramatic water elevation changes. They also increased the turning radius at the base of ramp to make it easier to launch a boat.


Recent retirements

Misty Judy

Congratulations to Misty Dugger Judy on her retirement after a 20-year career with state government, which concluded with her service as executive assistant overseeing our Human Resources team. 

Prior to her most recent position at Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, Judy served as Executive Director of Human Resources for the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet (including a temporary stint as acting deputy commissioner at Kentucky Fish and Wildlife).

She previously served the Commonwealth as an Assistant Public Advocate for the Department of Public Advocacy Appeals Branch, as a Staff Attorney for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, and as General Counsel for the Executive Branch Ethics Commission.   

We wish her the very best as she spends more time with her family, church and other pursuits. 

Jeff Spencer retirement

Congratulations to Jeff Spencer on his retirement after almost 30 years of state service.

Spencer started his career with the department at Minor Clark Fish Hatchery in June 2005 as a Fish and Wildlife Technician I. He worked his way up to a Fish and Wildlife Technician III within a few years and finished out his 17-year career at Minor Clark.

Spencer started his state government service with the Department of Juvenile Justice as a Youth Worker I at Woods Bend Boys Camp  in 1992. In retirement, he plans to spend more time with his wife Teena and children, Lauren and Logan. Spencer also plans on spending a lot more time bass fishing on Cave Run Lake. We congratulate him and wish him well in retirement.