Acquisition will add to DNR property, help to preserve globally rare habitat
The Central Indiana Land Trust Inc. has closed on the purchase of a 14-acre parcel adjacent to Baseline Barrens Nature Preserve near Fredericksburg in Washington County.
The property, known as the Baker tract, was purchased at auction recently from a private seller for $155,000, according to a news released issued Friday by the trust. It will be added to the existing 91.5-acre nature preserve, which is owned by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Nature Preserves.
Baseline Barrens is an example of globally rare barrens landscapes, which, due to shallow and poor soils, create open areas in forests. With both limestone and chert barrens, Baseline Barrens supports wildflowers, grasses and other plants more commonly associated with prairies and meadows. Located in what’s known as Indiana’s karst region, where water has dissolved much of the bedrock, Baseline Barrens features some significant sinkholes.
Chert barrens covered thousands of acres in Washington and Harrison counties in the early 19th century and are now one of Indiana’s rarest habitats. Bison, on their way to the barrens of Kentucky for the winter, may have roamed these grasslands for millennia.
Unusual plants there include post oak, blackjack oak, little bluestem, rough blazing star, flowering spurge, field milkwort, Illinois bundleflower, tall green milkweed, hyssopleaf thoroughwort and rattlesnake master. Another species found onsite, short green milkweed, is rarely found in Indiana, making it a marker of the site’s high-quality ecosystem.
“Buying this property allows us to add to a state-dedicated nature preserve with a globally rare plant community while preventing it from being lost forever,” said Cliff Chapman, the land trust’s president.
Due to its unique topography and the delicate nature of the ecosystem, Baseline Barrens and this addition are not open to the public. However, this expansion will protect plant life that otherwise might have been lost and allow for the landscape’s further study.
The trust preserves the best of Indiana’s natural areas to protect plans and animals. The Sam Shine Foundation and donors to the Evergreen Fund for Nature helped to make possible the Baseline Barrens addition by giving CILTI the resources and flexibility to purchase land at auction. Since it was created in 1990, CILTI has protected more than 8,000 acres of land that meet science-based criteria for conservation value. More information at www.ConservingIndiana.org.