A new milestone: 10,000 acres protected forever

We are overjoyed to announce that Sycamore Land Trust now protects more than 10,000 acres of land in southern Indiana!

In October 2019 we closed on the anonymous donation of 188 wooded acres in Owen County, bringing Sycamore’s protected land to 10,000 acres. Since then, we have closed on two more properties, in Monroe and Harrison counties. Read more in this article from the cover of The Herald-Times (Sunday, December 1, 2019).

Thanks to the steady support of Sycamore members and volunteers, together we will protect this land forever. And we’re working hard to steward our nature preserves by restoring native plants, removing harmful invasive species, creating safe habitat for endangered and protected species, and building and maintaining hiking trails.

You can help continue this progress by renewing or starting your Sycamore membership today. Donate online or learn more about how you can contribute from your IRA (including mandatory distribution requirements), make a planned gift, or see if your employer does matching contributions to double your impact.

10,000 acres represents much more than parcels of land. It’s the work of volunteers of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities — establishing a new nonprofit in 1990, identifying potential projects, navigating complex land deals, building hiking trails and boardwalks, planting trees, leading hikes, and much more. It’s the generosity of donors making a difference with their contributions of every size, from a few dollars to million-dollar gifts. It’s the committed participation of conservation partners like the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy, Soil and Water Conservation Districts from across the state, the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge, and many others. It’s the hard work of a small but mighty staff, passionately dedicating their talents to restore and protect the landscapes we all love.

Bobcat at Columbia Mine Preserve, Steve Gifford

Most importantly, these 10,000 acres provide safe, supportive homes for countless species of native Indiana wildlife and plants. They provide roost trees for the endangered Indiana bat, swampland for rare bald cypress bogs, remote patches for delicate orchids, and more. They give us 35 miles (and counting!) of hiking trails, including a boardwalk trail at Beanblossom Bottoms Nature Preserve that has welcomed many thousands of hikers of all abilities to this gorgeous wetland preserve.

We are grateful to every person in Sycamore’s 29-year history who has helped us preserve these lands for Forever! Our work is ongoing, and as we look to our 30th anniversary in 2020, we hope you will join us in this challenging yet rewarding progress.

Environmental Education