KNPS Director Heidi Braunreiter Receives National Award

2025 Rising Leader Award Recipient

The Natural Areas Association (NAA) has named Heidi Braunreiter, Prescribed Fire Program Coordinator for the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves (OKNP), as recipient of the 2025 Rising Leader Award for her advancements toward ecological health in Kentucky.

Braunreiter currently serves on the KNPS Executive Board as a Director and is Treasurer for the Kentucky Prescribed Fire Council. She has been with KNPS since 2017, previously as Secretary and Vice-President. Additionally, she is a certified Burn Boss: an expert in the science of controlled fire.

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Editor’s Note – December 2025

Dear readers,

I’m so excited to join KNPS as Managing Editor! Kentucky soil is chock-full of some of the most fascinating species, and I can’t wait to talk about them together.

First, I want to give a huge thanks to Susan Harkins, the previous Managing Editor, for her care of this great newsletter. I’m glad she’ll be sticking with us as an Associate Editor!

To introduce myself, I thought I’d share some of my favorite plant-finding moments in Kentucky over the last several years.

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