Claire Hilbrecht: "Save Our Red River": a Historical Analysis of the Methods Used by Environmentalists to Preserve the Red River Gorge in Kentucky
Claire Hilbrecht is a Natural Resources and Environmental Science Major with a Minor in Geography. Claire is involved with sustainability on UK’s campus, serving as a director on the Student Sustainability Council, and engaging with several sustainability issues that affect UK, such as campus litter and urban trees. Claire’s primary academic interest is environmental sustainability, and she is drawn to research that focuses on the relationship between humans and the natural environment. As an avid outdoor recreationalist, Claire was excited about the opportunity to work with the Cathy Wilson Collection on the Red River Gorge with the UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center, as it allowed her to explore her interest in environmental conservation and her love of outdoor recreation. The Cathy Wilson Collection contains primary documents regarding the Red River Gorge Dam controversy, in which the Army Corps of Engineers attempted to construct a dam along the Red River, which would have destroyed the Red River Gorge. In response, conservationists and politicians united to save the Gorge in a campaign called “Save Our Red River.”
In her research, she used this collection and other library archives and sources to analyze the methods used by these groups to protect the Red River Gorge. The purpose of this research was to synthesize and analyze key information regarding this piece of environmental history so that contemporary activists can learn from past successes and use those insights to address new threats to environmental conservation, such as the construction of a major tourist resort in the Red River Gorge. This experience has been very formative in the way that Claire views the interconnectedness of environmental issues. She has learned the value of archives and humanities-based sources in environmental research, as it truly is an interdisciplinary subject.
As a Gaines Fellow, her next research project is an undergraduate thesis analyzing the use of psychotropic plants among tribes in the Amazon. Claire will be graduating in May 2021, after which she hopes to work for a local non-profit organization focused on sustainability.
Claire's research using the Cathy Wilson Collection on the Red River Gorge was selected for presentation at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research, to be held at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, March 26-28, 2020. Her travel was funded by the University of Kentucky Libraries and Office of Undergraduate Research.
Abstract title: "Save Our Red River": A Historical Analysis of the Methods Used by Environmentalists to Preserve the Red River Gorge in Kentucky
The Red River Gorge is a unique erosional feature of the western edge of the Cumberland Plateau in east-central Kentucky. It contains a great diversity of flora and fauna, as well as numerous geological formations, making it an important site for ecologists, botanists, and geologists. The area also serves as a sanctuary for outdoor recreationalists, and is called home by many local Appalachian families. In 1962, the Army Corps of Engineers attempted to construct a dam that would have transformed the Red River Gorge area into a large lake, effectively destroying the geological and ecological diversity that exists there. In response, environmental working groups including local activists, academics, and legislators, mobilized to halt the construction of this dam. Finally, in 1993, the Red River Gorge was included in the National Wild and Scenic River system, giving it federal protection under the law. The Cathy Wilson Collection on Red River Gorge located at the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center contains primary source correspondence, legislation, and newspaper clippings from 1960 to 1975 regarding this effort to save the Red River Gorge. In analyzing the methods used by these working groups to galvanize support for the protection of the Red River Gorge, one can better understand the cultural shifts that took place throughout this effort. In conducting research on this collection, I hope to develop a comprehensive documentation of this piece of environmental history so that contemporary activists can learn and draw from the successes of those fighting to protect the Red River Gorge, and apply those lessons to future environmental affairs.