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Brown County Hills
© Hank Huffman

More than 1 million people a year visit the steep, glacier-carved lands of Brown County Hills, making it the most popular outdoor recreation destination in Indiana. People boat on Lake Monroe and ride horses along the Midwest’s most extensive trail system. They hike, camp, canoe, fish, hunt and enjoy the beauty and serenity of the most heavily forested land remaining in Indiana.

This area is significant, not only for its beauty, but also because its forest is a relatively intact, functioning ecosystem. It is one of three forests in the Midwest critical for migratory songbird breeding.

Location
The Brown County Hills region of south central Indiana includes portions of seven counties: Bartholomew, Brown, Jackson, Johnson, Lawrence, Monroe and Morgan.

Size
More than 300,000 acres

Plants
Brown County Hills is a large, contiguous forest that provides a variety of habitats for plants and trees to thrive. The land’s rocky contour determines where plant life can thrive. Red and white oak and hickory trees, for example, dominate dry ridge tops, while lower slopes contain oak, hickory, ash, maple, beech, tuliptree and black cherry trees.

A large forest system, like this one, means plants can survive in sufficient numbers to prevent them from become rare or threatened. It’s what the Conservancy calls a landscape-scale project. Large, protected landscapes can support the animals and plants needed to create a healthy ecosystem.

Animals
Many rare and beautiful birds rely on the Brown County Hills region for survival, including cerulean warblers, Louisiana waterthrushes, red-eyed vireos, Acadian flycatchers, yellow-billed cuckoos and scarlet tanagers. All of these birds depend on large, expansive forests — like Brown County Hills — for nesting and breeding. As large forests slowly disappear, their numbers decline.

The state-endangered timber rattlesnake also calls these lands home. Its numbers have dwindled, mainly because of habitat destruction and persecution by humans. The timber rattlesnake is relatively docile — but poisonous. This shy 5-foot-long snake has a stout body with dark bands running across is back. It returns to the same den year after year to hibernate.

The Cerulean Warbler
Indiana’s largest breeding population of cerulean warblers is here, according to state Breeding Bird Atlas data. This warbler is a small songbird that flits among treetops, making it difficult to find. The warbler’s plumage is cerulean blue above and white below, with white wing bars and white tail spots.

The life of a Cerulean Warbler is a prime example of the needs of the species TNC are trying to protect in south-central Indiana. Picture a small compact nest high in the upper branches of an oak tree that contains 3 – 5 small eggs. Within 12 days, the eggs will hatch and both male and female parents will begin feeding the nestlings. Within the next 9 days, the nestlings are ready to fledge and head for lower vegetation where their parents will continue to feed them until they are independent. From the time they begin feeding themselves, they have three to four months to gain their strength, flying ability, and the fortitude to begin a journey that will take them over 2,300 miles to the Andean foothills, including a 20 hour non-stop flight over the Gulf of Mexico. Their primary food, insects, disappears as winter approaches.

Once they reach the Andean foothills, they will spend five months or so foraging in mixed flocks of birds on the abundant food resources in the southern hemisphere. Then they begin the return journey in April. The northbound trip is another incredible journey of non-stop flying for 20 to 40 hours across the Gulf of Mexico and then a series of flights looking for just the right habitat to nest and breed for the summer. Cerulean Warblers spread out across the Midwest, but for many Cerulean Warblers the place they are looking for is the large forest block of the Brown County Hills.

They make the journey expecting to find what they need to survive. The Nature Conservancy wants to ensure that when they return, they do find what they need to survive, to reproduce, and to return year after year.

Recent Land Acquisitions
The Brown County Hills Project closed on several large land deals in the fall of 2006. We are working
on another 925 acres in the form of 10 parcels for land acquisition or enrollment in our Forest Bank Program. We anticipate that many of these acres will be permanently conserved before the Cerulean Warblers return in the spring of 2008.

Why the Conservancy Selected This Site
Steep slopes and poor soil saved this forest from becoming farmland. It now is the largest contiguous block of forestland left in Indiana. About one-half of the forested lands here are held in public ownership and one-half belong to private landowners. The long-term health of this region depends on the preservation of the private lands and careful management of the public lands.

The Brown County Hills project area provides the Conservancy with a unique opportunity to protect a forest that has changed little over the years.

What the Conservancy Has Done/Is Doing
The Conservancy is beginning a community-based program to help balance the needs of a healthy forest ecosystem with the region’s projected population growth. Through the Brown County Hills Project, the Conservancy seeks ways to preserve this forest by guiding growth away from sensitive habitats and towards areas that can better accommodate human needs. Preserving the best of Brown County Hills’ lands and waters will help maintain the quality of life for people in the area and enhance tourism and recreation opportunities.

The Conservancy has broadened the range of its “Forest Bank” as a conservation tool in the Brown County Hills region. Used primarily in areas that are near, but not within, “core” conservation sites such as glades, streams, and public lands, the Forest Bank allows the Conservancy to actively manage large tracts of forest for those ecological attributes that best advance our mission. On these lands we can actively use harvest practices to create appropriately sized canopy openings that would be unacceptable on core nature preserves. The Forest Bank allows us to expand our influence to the landscapes that surround our preserves, ensuring that larger swaths of oak-hickory forest will flourish.

The Conservancy, through its non-confrontational approach, is uniquely situated to work with a wide variety of partners who care about the future of Brown County Hills, from concerned private landowners to governments to businesses.

Forest Bank News
The Nature Conservancy Board of Trustees approved the use of the Forest Bank Program in the Brown County Hills area two years ago. For the past few months, we have been planning a proactive campaign to meet and inform landowners about the Forest Bank and the benefits it can provide to landowners and the protection if can offer this forested landscape. We are working on three significant Forest Bank
projects, including one large church camp that is considering enrolling its property in the Forest Bank.

Brown County Hills Newsletter Online
Understory, Spring 2004 Volume 1
Understory, Spring 2005 Volume 3 Understory, Spring 2007 Volume 5
Understory, Fall 2007 Volume 6