Profile
Forestry, Adventure
Community
Story by Taylor Six
Photos by
Taylor Six and Sara Kuhl
N
&
estled in the hills of southern
Madison County in the city of
Berea just off Big Hill Road,
one can find the Berea College
Forestry Outreach Center, which aims
to serve as the gateway of knowledge to
illustrious Berea forests.
It is here that someone can learn
about the history, ecosystems and
sustainable forestry or receive a guided
hike in the Pinnacles, voted the No. 1
hike in Kentucky according to Outside
Magazine.
“Our purpose is to make people have a
connection with what is in their back-
yard,” said Michelle Berendsen, an envi-
ronmental educator at the center. “It’s to
help people appreciate what they have.”
And that, the center’s workers have
done. Since being open to the public in
January of 2018, the forestry center has
had 21,055 visitors — and not just from
inside their backyard.
According to a naturalist who works
at the center, John Abrams, the BCFOC
has welcomed visitors from all 50 states
and 17 other countries.
“We serve as the bridge between the
college, community and the forest, and
12
Madison Magazine A p r i l - M ay 2 02 0
Berea Forestry Outreach Center a
“bridge to the forest”
it is our job to introduce and serve as
a gateway or liaison for everything to
come together. This is the community
space that allows for all of that to hap-
pen.”
Several ways the center achieves this
is through their programs, largely intro-
duced and implemented by the members
of the community with events such as
group hikes, stargazing, monthly work-
shops and discussions, to name a few.
Berea College student worker, Lucas
Collett, explained the center determines
programming relying on ideas of both
BCFOC workers and visitors of the cen-
ter, encouraging community members to
take the lead on any ideas they have.
“We have a good mixture of doing our
own thing and getting the community
involved,” Collett said.
An example is a recently implemented
weekday walkers group from a Berea
citizen who wanted to enjoy the beauty
of the forests through the less-strenuous
activity of walking, as opposed to a hike.
Collett too, has turned the center
into a workshop for his passion project,
called ecobricks, or single-use plastic
bottles to fill with non-compostable plas-
Ben Burgess, a horse logger, smiles as
he brings in a log.
Sam Tackett, a mule logger, cuts down
White Oak trees to be used for a ship
restoration.