MUNCIE – State parks across the country have a long history of providing natural preservation for education and recreation.
In Indiana, parks like Eagle Creek in Speedway and Turkey Run in Marshall are among the more well-known areas set aside for preservation. But lesser-known land trusts are also helping to retain the state’s natural beauty for generations to come.
Unlike state parks, which are funded through local and state taxes as well as admission, land trusts acquire tracts most often through easement rights, essentially working with landowners to keep untouched land from being developed.
“It’s all about setting aside land for nature’s sake and for the future generation,” said Julie Borgmann, executive director at the Red-tail Land Conservancy.
Borgmann’s organization, based in Delaware County, protects more than 2,700 acres in east central Indiana, mostly through agreements with local farmers and large land owners who want to know their long-loved acreage will remain natural.
As many farmers look at retirement, and fewer children are willing to take up the mantle of agriculture, some are working with land trusts to establish restrictive deed liens. These easements legally ensure that, no matter who comes to own the land, it can’t be used for certain purposes, such as mining or commercial development.
The Red-tail Land Conservancy also retains the mineral, oil and logging rights to the land, guaranteeing it will not be stripped of its inherent natural beauty. Landowners still retain other rights, like living on the land and building small structures on it.
Anyone offering their land to a trust can also apply for a significant tax incentive, usually about 30 percent of the land’s assessment, because of the lost resale value they incur through the easement.
“Most people have a really strong connection to the land,” Borgmann said. "They are looking to who is going to take care of the land. People want to know that long after they are gone the land will be protected.”
Along with farmland, land trusts also work to protect the state’s forested areas.
The Nature Conservancy, a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving land and water, recently added 360 acres to the Hoosier National Forest, in keeping with its charge to protect old-growth forest from logging and invasive species.
“It was important to protect these two tracts of land to ensure this intact landscape continues to provide the habitat so important for the songbirds, bats and other animals using the woods for foraging while rearing their young,” said Mary McConnell, state director for the conservancy’s Indiana Chapter.
Land trusts take a hands-off approach to property management. While many nature lovers may be accustomed to seeing mowed prairies or paved paths at their favorite state park, land trusts keep the land as pristine as possible, patrolling only for invasive plant species.
But that doesn’t mean it’s entirely hands off. Many trusts operate nature preserves, land open for hiking or natural exploration through true woodland.
“It’s usually bushwhacked trails, at the most, and a parking lot,” Borgmann said. “And that’s about increasing awareness education, which is near and dear to my heart.”
Red-tail Conservancy also offers several bird walks and guided hikes through its 10 public nature preserves.
For Borgmann, it’s all about showing Hoosiers what true natural wilderness looks like, and instilling an appreciation for preservation of nature in the state’s youngest generation.
“It just doesn’t make sense to knock out our natural heritage,” she said.