June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 24

CONSERVATION
A large tree that survived the 1974
tornado stands among new growth in
Louisville, Kentucky's Cherokee Park.
Resilience After Destruction
By Jesse Hendrix-Inman
U
pon entering Louisville, Kentucky's Cherokee Park from Eastern
Parkway, traffic flows in a circular motion through a famed
roundabout. The circular aspect of the landscape architecture
echoes a sinister memory: the rotating winds of the F4 tornado
that devastated the park in 1974.
A few steps beyond the
traffic circle is the Wildflower
Woods trail. In this urban
park
frequently
plagued
by
non-Indigenous plants like
English
ivy, bush honeysuckle
and privet, Wildflower Woods
offers a remarkable look at
long-established
plants that
thrive when Olmsted Parks
Conservancy's Team for
Healthy Parks
Indigenous
removes nonplants
and restores
biodiversity to natural areas. The
experience of hiking the trail is
like viewing a living museum,
with ephemeral spring flowers
like Dutchman's breeches
giving way to Jack-in-thepulpit
and other biodiverse flora
throughout the seasons.
A Long-Standing Park
" In 1891 when Frederick Law Olmsted
set eyes on what would become
Cherokee Park, it was not a
blank slate. The farmland included
open pastures with large, majestic
shade trees, as well as...densely
forested creek bluffs and bottomland.
To this pastoral topography,
he then added many specimen
trees
set out in the open landscape,
as well as many more spe24
Parks & Recreation | JUNE 2 0 2 4 | PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G
cies in the woodlands. These were
thoughtful additions to the existing
green space, " says Matt Spalding,
Olmsted Parks Conservancy
director of stewardship. " Part of
Frederick Law Olmsted's genius
lies in seeing decades ahead, long
after he would be gone. As time
went on, Cherokee grew into his
fully realized vision, with grand
groves, tree-lined roads, clusters
of flowering shrubs. By the 1970s,
Cherokee Park was a far shadier
and more heavily canopied space
than it was 80 years before. "
The tornado of 1974 unraveled
Olmsted's living masterpiece, laying
waste to 80 percent of the park's
tree canopy. Gary Rau, Louisville
Parks Department forester, said:
" I don't believe anyone alive today
will ever see Cherokee Park as it
was before the storm. " The destrucPHOTO
COURTESY OF JESSE HENDRIX-INMAN

June 2024 – Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2024 – Parks & Recreation

June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - Intro
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - Cover1
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - Cover2
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 1
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 2
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 3
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 4
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 5
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 6
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 7
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 8
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 9
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 10
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 11
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 12
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 13
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 14
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 15
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 16
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 17
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 18
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 19
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 20
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 21
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 22
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 23
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 24
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 25
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 26
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 27
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 28
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 29
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 30
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 31
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 32
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 33
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 34
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 35
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 36
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 37
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 38
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 39
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 40
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 41
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 42
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 43
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 44
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 45
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 46
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 47
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 48
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 49
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 50
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 51
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 52
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 53
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 54
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 55
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 56
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - Cover3
June 2024 – Parks & Recreation - Cover4
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2021
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