Conservation Group Adds 84 Acres To Indiana Nature Preserve

ELLETTSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A southern Indiana nature preserve is growing by more than 80 acres after a conservation group acquired a swampy tract that's home to endangered species.

The Sycamore Land Trust's acquisition will add 84 acres to the Beanblossom Bottoms Nature Preserve in northwestern Monroe County.

The tract contains both farmland and bottomland hardwood forest. The Sycamore Land Trust's executive director says the bottomland hardwood forest is a rarer type of swampy forest that's home to some of Indiana's endangered species, including the Indiana bat, Kirtland's snake, crawfish frog and rare orchids.

Christian Freitag tells The Herald-Times the farmland will continue to be farmed while the group raises money to return it to more natural habitat.

Volunteers will be planting 5,000 trees, including oaks, hickories and bald cypress in the current nature preserve.