Map reading and general land navigation skills are essential tools in the outdoorsman’s tool kit. Those tools are doubly important when you are a public lands and waters user because it is important to know the boundaries between public and private and to respect the rights of both public and private landowners.

One of our longtime members, put those skills to use and then contacted the chapter on January 28^th saying, “I believe the Mullins Wildlife Management Area is up for sale or trade.” The chapter member simply compared the graphics supplied by the Kenton County Site Readiness Initiative, a subordinate organization of the Kenton County Planning Commission, with an OnX search of public lands. He was right. The graphics supplied for the public meeting show Mullins WMA is included in the area being considered for “…the proposed future industrial development of 5,000 acres of land that borders Boone County.” Specifically, Mullins WMA falls into what the Kenton County Site Readiness Initiative calls “Focus Area 2 South,” an area they further describe as, “Provides best opportunity for long-term industrial development.”

We think it is important to remind everyone that Kentucky has a "No Net Loss" law. That law requires that the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources management decisions do not result in a net loss of land available for hunting. The law was passed in 2010 as Senate Bill 64. While Kentucky has added a tremendous amount of public land in the last two years, almost exclusively in the eastern elk zone, the loss of Mullins WMA would not be offset by those gains.

The intent of the “no net loss” law was not only to make sure that hunting lands were no lost, but that key irreplaceable areas were not lost. Additional land in Eastern Kentucky cannot offset the loss of Mullins WMA, which provides opportunities for public land users in the Kentucky counties just south of Cincinnati. Further, Mullins WMA is one of the few handicapped accessible WMAs in Kentucky. Kentucky has 85 WMAs and only 15 handicapped accessible.

More concerning for us is that we did not hear about this from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. As our public land managers and those entrusted with the stewardship of our public lands, waters, and wildlife we believe it is their job to inform the outdoorsmen and women of the Commonwealth when the divestiture of public land is on the table in any venue and every time.

This is a developing situation, and we wish we had more to report at this time. We recommend that all concerned outdoorsmen and women show up and provide public comment at both scheduled meetings. The Kenton County Site Readiness Initiative is holding a meeting at 6pm on Tuesday February 4th at Piner Ridge Elementary School, 2845 Piner Ridge Road Morning View, KY 41063. Subsequently, the Kenton County Planning Commission will hold their meeting at 6:15pm on the second floor of the Kenton County Government Center, located at 1840 Simon Kenton Way, Covington, 41012.