Sycamore Sightings

This tiny weft fern (Crepidomanes intricatum) was found this summer in the sandstone outcrops along the trail at our Canyon Forest Nature Preserve in Greene County by Wyatt Williams of the Indiana DNR. This is a county record, meaning it is the first time it has been recorded in Greene County. Unlike conventional ferns, it reproduces vegetatively and a new plant grows from a fragment of the parent plant. A colony could easily be mistaken for a patch of algae!

Above Photos by Wyatt Williams

Photo by Chris Fox

Wetland boardwalk repairs at Beanblossom Bottoms Nature Preserve kept our Stew Crew busy this fall, replacing a bouncy area in the north section of the loop trail where the wooden boardwalk is almost 20 years old.

Photo by Saige Sentell

Participants at the “Winged Wonders” Bat Box Building Workshop in October at Cedar Crest, Sycamore’s headquarters in Bloomington, learned about the importance of bat conservation and how simple actions can make a significant difference in preserving their habitats.

Photo by John Lawrence

We finished planting over 11,000 trees this summer at nature preserves we protect in our Beanblossom Creek Conservation Area in Monroe and Brown Counties. In just three years, we’ve planted over 50,000 native trees in this vital habitat corridor.

Photo by Liz Robb

This year, our Native Plant Nursery volunteers and staff grew over 10,000 plants for habitat restoration from local seed collected on our nature preserves. We also received 2,000 native plant plugs from the Pollinator Partnership grown from local seed, possibly the same seed we collected from our preserves and donated to them! Over 5,000 plant plugs were planted on our preserves this fall.

This article is from the Fall 2024 issue of The Twig, “The Indiana Bat Issue.” Read the issue at sycamorelandtrust.org/twig.