Land between the lakes in western Kentucky is known as one of the most biodiverse areas in the state, and also in the country.

With 300 miles of undeveloped shoreline, the National Recreation Area tracks visitors seeking rest and relaxation, and those looking to spot wildlife to our.

Emily Prince visited LBL to learn more about how it's tracking visitors from Kentucky and beyond.

Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area occupies around 170,000 acres of land in West Kentucky and on down in Tennessee.

They welcome nearly 2 million visitors annually, and a representative from the U.S.

Forest Service says they're ready to welcome more.

So how do they keep that tourism going strong, especially as we enter the fall and winter months?

That's the question I sought out to answer during a visit to trade in Lyon County's.

170,000 acres of what some people call or just some of the most beautiful area.

And in western Kentucky.

We are a recreational destination for the region.

We get visitors from all over the entire country, and they do not just come here.

March, April, May.

June.

They are coming here throughout the entire season.

Scott Raymond works as the public affairs officer for Land Between the Lakes.

He says there's more to do and see in the 170,000 acre space than meets the eye.

And one of those things includes wildlife viewing.

Into the fall, into the winter.

The wildlife is more active.

There's so much going on.

Raymond says a must see at Lane between the lakes is the elk and bison prairie.

Visitors travel in their car along a three and a half mile loop, searching for a glimpse of an elk, bison, or maybe another animal as well.

We laid eyes on wild turkey and a bald eagle during our trek.

We like to think that we stole a little motto from Yellowstone when we say, don't.

Don't pet the fluffy cows here in Kentucky.

Yes, and that is because we have around 50 bison at our Elkin Bison Prairie in Trigg County, just south of us here, and.

There are a lot more active during the winter months, in fact.

Bison.

They are.

The cold weather does not bother them all.

They're they're so well adapted that snow will not even melt on their hide.

So how did the elk and bison end up in this corner of West Kentucky?

Well, for the bison, it's their natural habitat.

They used to be here.

They are a native species.

They obviously hunted to extinction or centuries ago.

But we're able to show what Kentucky looked like several hundred years ago.

The history of land between the lakes runs deep.

The landscape didn't exist before the mid 1900s.

There were 2500 so many families that used to live on this, on this land that we're standing on.

You'd be somebody home here.

After catastrophic flooding in the 1930s.

Federal authorities stepped in and built Kentucky Dam.

The Tennessee Valley Authority took the land by eminent domain.

Two man made reservoirs were formed Kentucky Lake on the west side and Lake Barkley on the east side.

The space in between became land between the lakes.

They ran it as a national recreation area.

Up until 1999, when the Forest Service took over and the Forest Service has spent 25 years, 26 years now building the relationships that we need with our former residents, with our gateway community.

We want to be as honest with them and honest with the history that's here.

Raymond says l was designed as an environmental educational hub and they take that mission seriously.

He says they also support the local economies when visitors come to the area.

Raymond highlighted fishing, hiking, biking and off road trails, horseback riding and the Woodlands nature Station among the highlights at elbow.

He also said three of the largest campgrounds in the U.S.

Forest Service are right in the area.

The diversity of the landscape, I think, pretty much mirrors the diversity of what you can do here.

That means getting out and being quiet in nature or being quiet on the on the water here next to us.

That's what it's going to be and that's what people want.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Emily Prince.