Eastern Kentucky University’s Lilley Cornett Woods Appalachian Ecological Research Station in Letcher County was inducted into the Old-Growth Forest Network (OGFN) on June 13, 2023. Sarah Adloo, executive director of the Old-Growth Forest Network, conveyed the distinction to Curtis Cox, manager of Lilley Cornett Woods and Dr. Stephen Richter, director, Division of Natural Areas at Eastern Kentucky University.
Rae Garringer . Rae Garringer is a writer, oral historian, and audio producer who grew up on a sheep farm in southern West Virginia, and now lives a few counties away on traditional S’atsoyaha (Yuchi) lands. Garringer is the founder of Country Queers, a multimedia oral history project documenting rural and small-town LGBTQIA2+ experiences since 2013. Garringer received a bachelor's degree from Hampshire College and a master's in folklore and American studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They were the public affairs director at Appalshop's community radio station WMMT-FM in eastern Kentucky from 2017 to 2020. Garringer is a senior Civic Media fellow at the University of Southern California's Annenberg Innovation Lab, which is a part of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. They are currently at work on two books: Country Queers: The Story of a DIY Oral History Project, for fall 2024 publication from Haymarket Books