New Dearborn County, Ind. nature preserve is home to rare firefly

Nearly 150 acres of hardwood forest and pollinator habitat in Dearborn County, Ind., are being conserved as the region's latest nature preserve. Oak Heritage Conservancy closed on the property late last month.

"Preserving it is first and foremost and conserving the natural resources, but we do plan to make improvements over the next year or two to make it publicly accessible," says Jack Sutton, executive director. "Those improvements would likely include a gravel drive and parking, signage, [and] creating walking paths or hiking trails throughout the property that would give people the opportunity to come visit and enjoy nature that's relatively close by."

The as yet unnamed 147-acre property is the conservancy's 16th nature preserve. It's located in the Laughery Creek valley, about a mile from the confluence of Laughery Creek and the Ohio River.

"The former owner has spent some time, 10 or more years, protecting the habitat. It has 20 acres of pollinator habitat. It has a great deal of elevation change — from the bottom to the top, there's almost 300 feet of elevation change. There's an intermittent stream that runs through the property, and again, a mixture of hardwood forest with two separate pollinator fields," Sutton says.

Native woodland species include sugar maple, red oak, tulip poplar, burr oak, white oak, blue ash, American beech, shagbark hickory, and basswood. The property may also be home to a rare species of firefly.

Sutton says a member of the Indianapolis Zoo's insect department visited the site twice last year in search of the blue ghost firefly.

"He came back ... and actually confirmed the existence of blue ghost firefly, which is an extremely rare firefly in Indiana. They're more common down in the Carolinas, but so that's kind of unique. Most of Indiana doesn't have documentation of the blue ghost firefly. This scientist said he had found it in Boone County, Kentucky, and even, I think, in Hamilton County, Ohio. So that's the most unique species we're aware of right now," says Sutton.

The blue ghost firefly has been observed at Bender Mountain, a preserved owned by the Western Wildlife Corridor.

Oak Heritage acquired the property from a longtime organization volunteer, Chrys Cook, and with help from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources' Division of Nature Preserves. As part of that process, the Division of Nature Preserves now holds a conservation easement on the property — meaning the property will remain in conservancy should anything happen to Oak Heritage, which owns and maintains it.

Sutton says Oak Heritage is currently seeking private grant funds and donations to help fund the planned improvements, and estimates it will be at least 12 to 18 months before the site is opened to the public.

Oak Heritage manages nature preserves across southeast Indiana, including what was until now its largest, Hilltop Preserve, in West Harrison, Ind., just across the state line from Ohio.