I am Mark Rose, from Hazel Green, KY, within a half-hour of the spectacular Red River Gorge. I went to Morehead State University, where I earned a bachelor’s in Government and a master’s in Public Administration. I enjoy hiking, swimming, and bicycling. I also have much interest in politics – especially with political issues concerning environmental policy.
Growing up in eastern Kentucky, I gained a firsthand appreciation of both the importance of our natural ecosystems and the threats to those ecosystems. I knew the bounties of hickory, oak, maple, hemlock, pine, and sassafras populating the area’s forests, as well as the clear-cutting lumber operations levelling them. I knew the vast menagerie of minnows, frogs, crayfish, and herons in the streams and the strip mining operations fouling up those creeks and rivers. I developed a desire to help reduce and mitigate the severity of those threats to our natural wonders by making places more appealing for ecologically sustainable tourism, by planting native flora, and by removing litter plus increasing recycling.
