Product Description

Most Kentuckians and visitors to the state are unaware of the Commonwealth’s unique biological heritage—much less that much of it is in danger of disappearing forever.

With over 100 glorious full-color photographs and insightful text, Kentucky’s Last Great Places highlights the incredible natural beauty found in the Commonwealth’s old-growth forests, prairies, wetlands, and other distinctive biological habitats. More than 3,000 vascular plants, 230 fish, 105 amphibians and reptiles, 350 birds, 75 mammals, and 12,000 insects call Kentucky home. Many of these species and their habitats are considered rare, threatened or endangered. Overall, less than one percent of Kentucky is classified ecologically as being in a “pre-European” condition that deserves significant protection.

Award-winning photographer and author Thomas G. Barnes combines his strikingly beautiful photographs with essays describing the splendor found in more than forty of Kentucky’s diverse natural preserves or ecological areas, including the old-growth Blanton Forest near Pine Mountain in Harlan County, Axe Lake Swamp in Ballard County near the Mississippi River, Red River Gorge, the Kentucky River Palisades, Mammoth Cave, and many others.

This spectacular oversized book provides an awareness of the biodiversity of Kentucky, what challenges there are to protecting its biological heritage, and how organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission, the National Park Service, and others have protected and are continuing to protect the state’s unique biological legacy.

Kentucky’s Last Great Places is both a stunning collection of nature photographs and a means for increasing our understanding of the fragile beauty of Kentucky.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #721958 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 216 pages

About the Author
Thomas G. Barnes, an associate extension professor of forestry at the University of Kentucky, is the author of Gardening for the Birds.

Customer Reviews

Wonderfully subtle pictures
Although perhaps some of the grand Kentucky scenery is missing, there are some wonderful pictures in this book. Barnes best photographs are perhaps in the subtle colors of the prairie, the Pennyrile and Barren. flowers and insects. Some of the snow dusted scenery, such as Rock Bridge in Daniel Boone National Forest is also well done.

Sometimes the writing tries to be too antidotal; for example he writes that he forgot the price that a five pound mussel would fetch in the commercial market; but I would have preferred knowing the price rather than his forgetting of it. The chapter on biodiversity provides an introduction to each of the regions, but a good map of each each of the regions would have helped me relate to the preserves he discusses.

A great book by a great man
I might be a little biased as Tom Barnes is my uncle... ok, ok, so I'm really biased, but I have read it all the way through and looked at the pictures on numerous separate occasions, and it never ceases to amaze and inspire me. It makes me wish I lived in Kentucky. :) He truly is a skilled and passionate photographer/writer. Buy this book!

Disappointing
I bought this book to show friends here in Germany how lovely my home state is, since so few of them even know it exists. I was very disappointed. The photography is okay, but far from inspiring, and does not really capture the "great" places of Kentucky, nor why they can be so lovely. The response from people who have looked at the book at my house is just a shrug -- no "ooohs" or "aaaahs". It really doesn't do Kentucky justice.