Putnam County forest added to protected area
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The Central Indiana Land Trust has added another property to its protected lands in Putnam County. The organization says it has acquired the 27-acre Fern Cliff Addition, which is adjacent to the 157-acre Fern Cliff Nature Preserve.
The land trust has plans to add more protected land in the area, notably one forested property that sits between the Fern Cliff Nature Preserve and the 570-acre Fern Station Nature Preserve to the north.
Both nature preserves have connections to America’s cultural history, according to the land trust. The sand used to make the patented green color of the original Coca-Cola bottles was mined on the property.
The sand featured minerals that made the green color. The Terre Haute-based Root Glass Co. acquired the land in the early 1900s to use the sandstone to make the bottles. The company operated a quarry in the county that produced about 20,000 tons of sandstone per year at one point.
The land trust says it plans to plant thousands of trees in the Fern Cliff Addition to “scrub carbon from the air” and benefit forest-dwelling species.
“We are delighted to be able to expand and connect these incredible Putnam County properties,” CILTI President and CEO Cliff Chapman said in a news release. “This will allow us to turn back some of the habitat fragmentation that has occurred over time and create space for wood thrush and other declining species to thrive.”
The land trust said has met with the owner of the remaining property to express interest in conservation, though no details about a potential acquisition were made available.