Indiana Ag Connection - Healthy Rivers INitiative Halfway on Land Protection Goal

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Healthy Rivers INitiative Halfway on Land Protection Goal
Indiana Ag Connection - 10/28/2016

The Healthy Rivers INitiative, the state's largest land conservation program, has reached 35,200 acres, passing the halfway mark toward the goal of permanently protecting 70,000 acres along three Indiana waterways.

HRI was started in 2010 as a partnership of state and federal resource agencies and organizations working with willing landowners to protect more than 43,000 acres along the Wabash River and Sugar Creek, and another 26,000 acres of Muscatatuck River bottomlands.

To date, the Department of Natural Resources has purchased 14,353 acres to go along with 15,212 acres the agency previously owned in the project areas. Another 5,710 acres of privately owned land is now enrolled in conservation easements with the Natural Resources Conservation Service's federal Wetland Reserve Conservation program.

The protected and restored acres connect separated parcels of important habitat for fish and wildlife, including rest areas for migratory birds. They also establish nature tourism destinations, improve water quality, help protect against flooding of downstream landowners, and open additional public land for birdwatching, boating, fishing, hiking, hunting, and trapping.

Of the 14,353 new acres purchased through HRI, the DNR has opened more than 12,200 acres to public recreation.

The halfway milestone in land conservation was reached through a partnership of the Indiana DNR, The Nature Conservancy of Indiana, Natural Resource Conservation Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the participation of willing landowners in the HRI project areas.

Visit HealthyRivers.IN.gov for more information and maps to open properties. An infographic illustrating HRI's progress can be found at www.in.gov/dnr/healthyriver/7699.htm.

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