74 acres added to Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge

Thanks to a grant from the Laura Hare Charitable Trust, Sycamore Land Trust has added two parcels totalling 74 acres to the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge. Sycamore purchased the properties from two different sellers in April 2018 using a grant from the Hare Trust, and transferred them to the refuge in July.

The larger addition is a 62-acre parcel located in Gibson County, northwest of Oakland City and in the western portion of Patoka River NWR. It is bordered by refuge property on the north and west sides. It is an excellent bottomland tract in the 100-year floodplain of Patoka River, and contains 36 acres of forested wetlands along with 26 acres of crop fields. The refuge will restore this parcel by planting the agricultural field with bottomland hardwood trees, and keep the remainder forested.

The smaller addition is 12 acres in size, but it still has 0.6 miles of frontage along the Patoka River. It is all wooded, and contains both upland and bottomland forest types. It fills in the southeast corner of the adjacent 109-acre refuge tract, adding to the protected forest block and preserving a buffer on the south side of the river.