The Cane Run Watershed is located in central Kentucky in Fayette and Scott counties. This 28,000-acre watershed includes a portion of the cities of Lexington and Georgetown, a University of Kentucky research farm, and the Kentucky Horse Park. Because the Cane Run Watershed has karst features, water that enters the Cane Run Creek can take one of two paths—the water may flow into the Royal Spring Aquifer or eventually enter the North Elkhorn Creek. The Royal Spring Aquifer is a source of drinking water for Georgetown, KY, making the Cane Run Watershed an important water resource for the region. Segments of the Cane Run Creek are polluted with high levels of pathogens, nutrients, and sediment. Landowners, residents, and other stakehold­ers in the watershed have a variety of concerns about the Cane Run Watershed, including impacts on groundwater/drinking water, pathogens, litter, erosion, and scarcity of trees. Specialists in the departments of Agriculture Extension Programs and Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering teamed with Fayette and Scott County Extension Offices and Third Rock Consultants to offer educational opportunities for farmers and landowners in the watershed. The group hosted a Farm-City field day at the Bluegrass Stockyards (newly located within the watershed). Approximately 450 attendees learned about the new facility, discussed water quality monitoring data from the watershed, and toured stormwater treatment systems installed in the new facility – an effort to reduce the ecological footprint of the new stockyards. 

Other outreach activities conducted by UK specialists include information dissemination through the Cane Run Watershed Council, hosting 25 UK Agroecology students on a tour of the watershed and related best management practices on the UK North Farm, and hosting 28 ecological restoration professionals on a tour of best management practices at the KY Horse Park.