BLOOMINGTON– Sycamore Land Trust has purchased 160 acres in Owen County to establish a new nature preserve, thanks to a gift from landowners Karl Barnebey and Lara Fredendall and support from the Indiana DNR’s President Benjamin Harrison Conservation Trust. The new preserve is named Barnebey Woods in honor of the Barnebey family.
Karl Barnebey and Laura Fredendall sold their land to Sycamore at half of the appraised fair market value, a charitable gift known as a bargain sale. In recognition of this generous gift and the quality of the property, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources President Benjamin Harrison Conservation Trust will provide Sycamore with the full amount needed to complete the purchase.
“It’s amazing to have supporters of conservation who are willing and able to offer gifts like this,” said Sycamore’s Executive Director John Lawrence. “The state’s President Benjamin Harrison Conservation Trust is an invaluable source of funding for Sycamore’s land preservation projects, but it does require at least a one-to-one match. The generosity of Karl Barnebey and Laura Fredendall in accepting half price for their woods has allowed us to ensure that it will be protected forever.”
Barnebey Woods connects to a large tract of Owen-Putnam State Forest and serves as a lynchpin in a north-south corridor of protected land that runs 7.5 miles from north to south. Such north-south protected corridors are crucial for species migration and long-term movement, mainly due to climate change. It is also close to Sycamore’s Fish Creek Conservation Easement, which Jim and Myriam Wood donated to protect 135 acres of forest permanently.
The new nature preserve protects a significant area of high-quality, mature upland forest with large-diameter beech trees approaching old-growth size. The four ephemeral streams on the property drain into the nearby East Fork of Fish Creek, emptying into the West Fork of the White River near the Owen County-Greene County line. Some of the ravines associated with these streams have remarkable geological formations, the most impressive being an eight-foot-high intermittent waterfall with rock overhangs on both sides. Unusual native plants only found on the property, such as walking fern (Asplenium rhizophyllum), are present on such outcrops.
In addition to preserving important habitats for native wildlife and plants, this project serves the public good by protecting groundwater and air quality and keeping a large contiguous tract of forest intact.
