KAEE 50th Annual Conference

Over five months, FCPS students and community partners rolled up their sleeves and asked the hard questions, gathered real data, and let equity guide their conclusions.  Working within the Trust for Public Land's Community Schoolyard framework — which transforms asphalt-heavy schoolyards into vibrant, green community spaces — students and partners examined the full landscape of FCPS schools through a multi-criteria lens: Where are health and economic disparities most acute? Where is the urban tree canopy thinnest? Where do residents lack safe, walkable access to green space? Which neighborhoods bear the greatest burden of environmental pollution?  Where could a community schoolyard do the most good?The result was a student-driven Community Schoolyard Feasibility Study that was both rigorous and deeply human. Through Narrative 4's Story Exchange workshop, students, teachers, and community partners engaged in a structured yet intimate practice: listening to one another's stories, then retelling them in the first person. The outcome is not mere sympathy but genuine perspective-shifting — a proven catalyst for empathy, trust, and collective action.This session will walk participants through the full arc: how the partnership was structured, how the feasibility criteria were developed and applied, what the Story Exchange workshop looked like in practice, and what the students found.  Participants will leave with practical tools, a replicable framework and a vivid example of what becomes possible when students are trusted as researchers, advocates and changemakers.  

Join us for a two-for-one tour! We’ll start with a visit to Lexington’s only air monitoring station, which houses state and federal air monitoring equipment. The data collected at this station tells us whether Lexington is meeting federal clean air standards. (Hint: It is!) Next, we’ll visit Lexington’s recycling center for a fascinating, behind-the-scenes tour of this amazing facility, which diverts 23,000 tons of recyclable material each year from the landfill. Registration is limited to 12; van transportation provided to both facilities.
Meet in the atrium, near registration.

Whether you need to communicate about a policy, program or research project, focusing on the people can be an effective choice. Highlighting the people who are involved — researchers, students, people who will be impacted and more — can help your audience connect with your communication on a personal level. This session will cover the basics of each step, from brainstorming to interviewing and gathering information to finalizing deliverables, including written pieces and social media posts. 

The mission of the Kentucky Master Naturalist Volunteer Program is to develop a cohort of well-informed volunteers to advance education, research, and outreach efforts dedicated to the conservation and management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. 
Becoming a KY Master Naturalist Volunteer requires an initial training with 40 hours of instruction and 40 hours of volunteer service. This training covers core content related to Ecoregions of Kentucky, Ecological Concepts, Archeology, Geology, Soils, Entomology, Weather and Climate, Water Resources, Botany (woody and herbaceous), Safety and Health, Invasive Species, Wildlife, Environmental Education and Ethics, Citizen Science and more. This program was developed by the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension with valuable input and contributions from stakeholders at public and private organizations. Currently, there are over 550 Kentucky Master Naturalists, with at least one new training cohort offered each year. In 2025, Master Naturalists volunteer 7,903 hours with an estimated value to the commonwealth of $275,945.  

Understanding sustainability in our world today and connecting the dots. Explaining the Mitigating Human Behavior in Favor of the Planet initiative.

This presentation explores Payne Hollow on the Ohio through the lived experience and writings of Harlan Hubbard, using the three volumes of OYO: An Ohio River Anthology as a lens to understand the Ohio River as both a physical and philosophical landscape, grounded in the history and ecology of Payne Hollow.  Payne Hollow is a forested limestone hollow along the river in Trimble County, Kentucky,   The session weaves together art, literature, environmental science, and regional history to illustrate how Hubbard’s life and work embody an interdisciplinary model of environmental education, where close observation, self-sufficiency, and creative expression deepen our understanding of place, and where the Ohio River becomes not just a waterway, but a teacher, a narrative thread, and a living system connecting culture, ecology, and community;  this talk highlights how these insights inform current efforts in conservation, education, and public engagement along the river corridor.

For almost 20 years, the City of Frankfort Parks and Recreation Department has brought the community together for Reforest Frankfort, an annual event that allows participants to contribute to Frankfort’s tree canopy and experience hands-on environmental education. The success of this program stems from the department’s collaboration with community and government agencies to provide the community with local, relevant, and impactful environment engagement. Hear from Frankfort officials about how to implement a successful community-based environmental education program in the form of a community event. Participants will be given a guide for creating their own program in their community.

This presentation charts 35 years of lessons learned from research and practice about how to assemble coalitions that support young people’s connection to nature and participation in civic action. It begins with two projects for the Kentucky Oral History Commission which indicated that connecting to local nature and places in childhood can motivate lives of committed care for the environment. This insight raises the question: How can we create effective coalitions of researchers, local governments, schools, and community organizations to ensure that young people have access to local community resources, including nearby nature, as well as a role in their conservation and enhancement? It shares practical experiences gained through the international Growing Up in Cities Program of UNESCO, the Growing Up Boulder initiative in Colorado, and an informal alliance, KINship (Kids in Nature), that works to ensure equitable access to nature for all city residents.  

Options for how to do our work are nearly unlimited. Resources to do it aren’t. This presentation focuses on ways LFUCG’s Public Information and Engagement Section has engaged non-staff folks to further the reach of our efforts. By thoughtfully investing time and resources in small groups of allies, the Education and Community Teams have achieved long-lasting benefits that outweigh the direct costs.  Danny Woolums will discuss ways the Education Team empowers teachers to create and lead lessons on their own, primarily through the Teachers’ Environmental Academy but also through modeling lessons and classroom kits. Alana Insko-Kelley will share how the Community Environmental Academy has evolved to deeply engage interested residents in local government through outreach, advocacy and service. 

Learn how the Bluegrass Greensource team designed engaging energy education programs for audiences from preschool through adulthood while fostering meaningful partnerships with community leaders and local officials.
This session highlights four components of community energy education: introducing energy concepts to preschool teachers, students, and families; expanding elementary student understanding of energy sources and energy types; reducing barriers to energy efficiency for low-income and underserved communities with energy efficiency workshops; and collaborating with community leaders, organizations, and agencies through the Central Kentucky Energy Forums program.