Restle Natural Area

Long-time conservationist Barbara Restle donated 42 acres to Sycamore Land Trust in 1993 to be preserved forever as the Restle Natural Area. She gave another six acres in 1999 to add on to the nature preserve. The property features steep forested slopes on the edge of the Beanblossom Creek floodplain, protecting the health of the creek’s watershed. This was one of Sycamore’s earliest land protection projects and our first in the Beanblossom Creek area, which would later include Beanblossom Bottoms Nature Preserve and grow into the Beanblossom Creek Bicententenial Conservation Area.

Barbara’s first gift of land for conservation, 78 acres donated to the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 1990, became the Restle Unit of Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge. This property is across Bottom Road from Sycamore’s Restle Natural Area and borders our Beanblossom Bottoms Nature Preserve. The Restle Unit features a gravel parking area and observation deck that overlooks a shallow water impoundment used by waterfowl.