Central Indiana Land Trust

There are 600 National Natural Landmarks scattered across the United States, but Hoosiers don’t have to travel far to find one: Indiana is home to 30 of these special places.

Not much has changed in the past decade — but the answer is still a little surprising. According to the U.S. Forest Service, from 2006 to 2019 the number of forest acres in Indiana went up slightly by 2 percent. But the number of individual trees went down by 6 percent.

A conservation group plans to use a $1 million donation to help reforestation work and add property to a 700-acre woodland it protects in central Indiana.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has a goal to plant 1 million trees in the state over the next five years. The Central Indiana Land Trust is helping with those efforts by planting more than 10,000 trees this week.

The burn will be on approximately 28 acres of the Nonie Werbe Krauss Nature Preserve at the southwest corner of 116th Street and Eller Road.

The property surrounds Lacywood, the famous estate built in the 1930s by the Lacy family. The property includes trees that pre-date the settlement of Indiana.

Meltzer Woods near Shelbyville will open Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m. and be open seven days a week from dawn to dusk.