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Climate Action Project: Midwest Forest Restoration, United States
Of Indiana’s original 20 million acres of forest, fewer than 2,000 acres remain intact. Like many regions, Indiana’s ecosystems are succumbing to increasing pressure from urban expansion. Forestland, grassland and wetland habitats fall victim to development and land-use conversion. Large tracts of forestland still exist in the state’s southern region but most of the state’s native grassland and wetland habitats have been converted for agricultural use.
The Midwestern forest restoration project involves the restoration of almost 1,000 acres of forest in Ohio and Indiana. It is estimated that the project will reduce, avoid or mitigate approximately 150,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent over 40 years by bringing back native forests to this area.
The project is taking place on Nature Conservancy preserves and state government land in Ohio and Indiana.
- At the Conservancy’s 12,000 acre Edge of Applachia Preserve system, the project will enable the Conservancy to plant 27,000 oak and walnut trees along the riparian corridor of Ohio Brush Creek.
- In west central Indiana, the Conservancy will reforest parcels around the old-growth hemlocks at the Big Walnut Nature Preserve.
The Nature Conservancy’s Ohio and Indiana chapters manage this project together. The Cinergy Corporation provided $500,000 in funding for the project.
Conservation Significance
The Edge of Appalachia Preserve is one of the most biologically diverse collections of natural systems in the midwestern United States. Located in the Interior Low Plateau Ecoregion, it is a nationally recognized preserve complex encompassing 12,000 acres of rugged woodland, prairie openings, waterfalls, giant promontories and clear streams.
The area was originally studied by the eminent ecologist E. Lucy Braun in the late 1920s. She noted the significance of the remnant "prairie" communities persisting along cliff edges, narrow ridges, and forest openings on various calcareous substrates, particularly the Cedarville (Peebles) dolomite. The underlying bedrock is the key environmental factor related to the distribution of the plant communities.
The adjacent land is under imminent threat of conversion to agriculture. Studies undertaken before the project began indicated that without further protection, up to 90 percent of the forest cover would have been converted to agricultural use.
Net Carbon Benefits
The project will reduce, avoid or mitigate an estimated 150,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent.
