Bluegrass put on Watch List

The area is declared one of world's most endangered sites, putting it in company with great monuments such as the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China. In recognition that cultural and physical beauty of the Bluegrass is threatened by urban sprawl, 1 million acres have been designated as endangered by the World Monuments Fund.

For those of you not familiar with our landscape, traditional farms (many for horses, but also tobacco and cattle), mortarless stone fences, and the once ubiquitous tobacco barns are giving away to a lot of development. In the time I've lived in Lexington, the population of Fayette and surrounding counties has grown exponentially. Areas that were still rural have disappeared under home and business construction, and places that used to have names and histories and identities of their own are now reduced to names of subdivisions and malls.

There is a strong preservation voice here in the Bluegrass, and steps have been taken to create a 'green belt' around the city and to preserve the farmland. But so much of the development is the stupid house-upon-house kind or giant strip malls where you can't get from one place to another without getting into a car. Hopefully they'll start doing more sustainable development where neighbourhoods are set up to walk to a grocery or library, where you don't take a chance with your life by crossing a thoroughfare.

I for one am glad to see this designation; it gives some ammunition to those trying to preserve the character of the Bluegrass, and it may at least make others pause and think about what's happening around them.