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We Proudly Present...The Blue River Project Office and Ravenswood Media got together to produce to wonderful short films on Blue River, Indiana and on the swamplands of Southwest Indiana in Where Waters Wed. Hop on Over...to the Rabbit Hash Trail - a 2 mile one-way interpretive trail in the heart of Harrison County Glades.
Blue River NewsThe Blue River's project offices biannual newsletter offers information on their latest happenings. If you would like to be included on their mailing list, please contact the office at: 5885 Wulfman Road SE |
The Blue River is situated in southern Indiana, having its headwaters in Clark, Orange and Washington counties and meandering through Harrison and Crawford counties to its Ohio River destination (see map).
Largely spring fed, the river maintains a high dissolved oxygen level and serves as a refuge for several aquatic species of global significance, including freshwater mussels (like the elephantear mussel) and the Hellbender salamander - the Blue River is the only body of water in Indiana where this species still occurs.
The Blue River basin is underpinned by limestone bedrock interspersed with caves, sinkholes and underground rivers that deliver cold, oxygen-rich water to Blue River as well. Not only do these karst systems create habitat in the aboveground portions of Blue River, the underground rivers and caves support numerous rare cave invertebrates and other unique species like northern cavefish and the Indiana bat.
The basin also contains rare karst plant communities such as limestone glades, chert barrens and upland sinkhole swamps. Lady-slipper orchids, Dwarf ginseng and Synandra are a few examples of the rare and endangered plant species that have been identified in and around the basin. A recent survey uncovered one of North America's rarest plants - the endangered Short's goldenrod - near the town of Corydon. This finding is one of only two areas in the world known to harbor wild populations of this specific goldenrod.
What The Nature Conservancy is Doing and Has Done for the Blue River Basin
One way the Conservancy shows its commitment to the basin - as well as the lands and landowners surrounding it - is through the Forest Bank. 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 forest for those ecological attributes that best advance our mission and the health of Blue River.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © The Nature Conservancy (Blue River); Photo © Alfredo Almonacid (Rabbit Hash Trail); Photo © The Nature Conservancy (Hellbender salamander);
Join The Nature Conservancy on