Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape Project area map locating Columbus, Seymour, Franklin, Nashville and North Vernon
Submitted map
The new federally designated 3.5 million-acre Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape Project that includes all or part of Bartholomew, Brown, Jackson, Jennings and Johnson counties will be the subject of an upcoming public meeting.
The Hoosier Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society will focus on the project during its winter 2023 meeting: “Beyond the Field: Wildlife and Habitat Considerations.”
The meeting will take place Feb. 9 at WestGate Academy Conference Center, 13598 E. WestGate Drive, Odon. The meeting starts at 10 a.m. and is open to the public. Registration is required.
Sentinel landscape program coordinator Michael Spalding from the Indiana Conservation Law Center will be the keynote speaker.
The meeting also will include talks by Purdue University wildlife extension specialist Jarred Brooke, who will speak about species-specific considerations in habitat establishment, and Julia Keminitz, a private lands biologist from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The sentinel landscape program brings together public and private partners, including the Department of Defense, Department of the Interior and U.S. Department of Agriculture, to promote sustainable land management practices in areas surrounding military facilities.
Those facilities in the Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape Project area include Camp Atterbury, Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, Naval Support Activity Center Crane and Lake Glendora Test Facility. The region encompasses part or all of Brownstown, Columbus, Crothersville, Franklin, Freetown, Edinburgh, Medora, Nashville, North Vernon, Seymour and Vallonia.
The project was established in 2022 along with several others around the nation. The sentinel landscape areas bring together multiple federal and state agencies along with private partners to promote implementation of sustainable farming practices, forest restoration and sustainability and watershed protections.
Along with the military installations, the southern Indiana region encompasses six state parks, seven state forests, nine state fish and wildlife areas, 39 state-dedicated nature preserves, Hoosier National Forest, Muscatatuck, Big Oaks and Patoka River national wildlife refuges and private forest and farmland.
The meeting is free to attend, but registration is required. A $15 lunch is optional. For information or to register, visit ccsin.info/HoosierSWCS-Winter23.
