Blossom Hollow, by Karen Wade

Road Trip: Southern Johnson County

We asked Karen Wade, one of our board members who lives in Johnson County, to recommend some attractions near the Laura Hare Preserve at Blossom Hollow. She offered this guest post.

Did you know that Johnson County is known as Festival Country Indiana? And you bet we’ve got festivals and events aplenty; just take a peek here. There’s literally something happening all year long, from craft fairs to car shows to fundraising galas. We have theater, movies, and comedy shows, wine and beer tastings, yoga (with and without goats), and the list goes on. Continue reading

Karen Wade

Board Member

Before retiring in 2017, CILTI board member Karen Wade worked for Eli Lilly & Co. In retirement she volunteers for a number of environmental and equine pursuits including Indiana Master Naturalist Certification and Meadowstone Therapeutic Riding Center.
Yellow-rumped warbler

Celebrating the Forever Promise

Second in a series on the Trek our Trails Challenge by guest blogger Ben Valentine

It’s finally spring and I feel the need to get away from the city and cornfields to celebrate winter’s end. The Laura Hare Preserve at Blossom Hollow—brimming with wildflowers and more red-headed woodpeckers than I’ve ever seen in one day—seems like the perfect spot to do so. Continue reading

Ben Miller

Land Protection Coordinator

Ben Valentine

Guest blogger

Ben Valentine is a founding member of the Friends of Marott Woods Nature Preserve and is active in several other conservation organizations. He leads a series of NUVO interviews with Indiana's environmental leaders, and he cherishes showing his son all the wonders of nature he grew up loving.
Japanese stiltgrass

Japanese Stiltgrass: From Packing Material to Nature Preserve

Part of a series on invasive species by guest blogger Ed Pope

Unlike most other plants that have now become invasive, Japanese stiltgrass was not intentionally imported into North America. It is native to much of Asia and was once used as packing material for fragile items such as porcelain. It is believed to have arrived in America from China this way. The first documented occurrence was in 1919, when it was found in Tennessee. Continue reading

Ed Pope

Guest Blogger

Ed Pope is a retired engineer from Rolls-Royce and a CILTI member since 2002.
Scarlet tanager

Forest Interior Habitat: A Haven for Songbirds and Eastern Box Turtles

Part of a series on CILTI’s conservation targets by guest blogger Ed Pope

Although most of Indiana was wooded when Europeans first arrived, forest interior habitat is very rare today. Most forested land was cleared for farming, and while small woods can be found on many farms, there are very few large unbroken tracts of forest remaining. Continue reading

Ed Pope

Guest Blogger

Ed Pope is a retired engineer from Rolls-Royce and a CILTI member since 2002.
Rough green snake

A Rare Find at Glacier’s End

By Stewardship Specialist Phillip Weldy

One October day last year, our stewardship crew was out at Glacier’s End Nature Preserve treating invasive species. It was a sunny, warm fall day in the woods. I was moving through a relatively invasive-free section of the preserve when I heard a rustle nearby among the briar and leaves.

Continue reading

Phillip Weldy

Stewardship Specialist

Phillip enjoys nature’s wonders from an up-close-and-personal perspective as he works to restore the natural places you love. He came to his stewardship role at CILTI after undertaking invasive species control and trail maintenance for Little Traverse Conservancy in Harbor Springs, MI.
American badger

Saving Habitat for Endangered and Threatened Species

Part of a series on CILTI’s conservation targets by guest blogger Ed Pope

Some of Central Indiana’s core conservation areas contain plant or animal species that are endangered or threatened, either statewide or nationally: Continue reading

Ed Pope

Guest Blogger

Ed Pope is a retired engineer from Rolls-Royce and a CILTI member since 2002.
Eastern Box Turtle

Declining Eastern Box Turtles Benefit from Tree Plantings

Creating future habitat for Eastern box turtles and many other species, we kicked off our million tree initiative this year. We’ve pledged to plant one million trees over the coming years in strategic sites, linking up hundreds of acres of fragmented land to benefit sensitive wildlife. Our tree-planting efforts so far buffer Meltzer Woods, Glacier’s End, Mossy Point and Wallace F. Holladay Preserve. Continue reading

Shawndra Miller

Communications Manager

Shawndra is in charge of sharing our story and connecting you to our work. Through our print and online materials, she hopes to inspire your participation in protecting special places for future generations.
Fire Pink at Blossom Hollow. Photo by Karen Wade

Shelby, Johnson county areas benefit from environmental settlement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 25, 2020

A $600,000 grant resulting from a legal settlement equips the Central Indiana Land Trust Inc. (CILTI) to add to the properties it protects in Johnson and Shelby counties. Continue reading

Jen Schmits Thomas

Media Relations

An award-winning communicator and recognized leader in Central Indiana’s public relations community, Jen helps us tell our story in the media. She is the founder of JTPR, which she and her husband John Thomas own together.

Land Trust plants first of 1 million trees

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 12, 2020

This week the Central Indiana Land Trust Inc. (CILTI) is planting 15,000 trees in Johnson and Parke counties. These are the first of CILTI’s 1 million trees being planted in Central Indiana and in addition to Gov. Eric Holcomb’s commitment to planting 1 million trees in the state over the next five years.

Continue reading

Jen Schmits Thomas

Media Relations

An award-winning communicator and recognized leader in Central Indiana’s public relations community, Jen helps us tell our story in the media. She is the founder of JTPR, which she and her husband John Thomas own together.
Worm-eating Warbler

Hills of Gold BioBlitz Report Complete

In the spring of 2015, CILTI partnered with the Indiana Academy of Science for our first ever Bioblitz. We are excited to now have the full report from this Bioblitz survey that took place on 695 acres of the Hills of Gold Conservation area (including the Blossom Hollow and Glacier’s End Preserves). We are also excited that CILTI’s Executive Director, Cliff Chapman, was an author on this published report.

This event brought 75 scientists, naturalists, and students who volunteered their expertise and time. Thirteen taxonomic teams were put together; the taxa included: bats, beetles, birds, fish, freshwater mussels, herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians), lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), mammals, mushrooms, nonvascular plants, snail-killing flies, spiders, and vascular plants. In the end, the teams reported 548 taxa.

To read the published report, click here.

2016. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science 125(2):126–136. Published and provided by the Indiana Academy of Science.

 

Shawndra Miller

Communications Manager

Shawndra is in charge of sharing our story and connecting you to our work. Through our print and online materials, she hopes to inspire your participation in protecting special places for future generations.