The Nature Conservancy has acquired 139 acres in Jasper County, located adjacent to the Conservancy’s Tefft Savanna property and the Jasper-Pulaski State Fish and Wildlife Area.

The Conservancy purchased the land from the Vincent C. Hohner Living Trust and the Margaret C. Hohner Family Trust.

Tefft Savanna and Jasper-Pulaski FWA are both primary stop-over site for the spring and fall migration of the eastern North American population of Sandhill Cranes, the Conservancy said in a statement released on Tuesday. The sites also support a variety of unusual reptiles and mammals, some of them rare in Indiana, including the Blue-spotted Salamander, the Dusted Skipper, the Plains Pocket Gopher, and the Olympia Marblewing.

“Adding this acquisition to the larger Tefft Savanna will increase the level of protection to the core preserve,” said Maggie Byrne of The Nature Conservancy. “Acquisition of this tract will prevent development, which causes exotic species invasion, fire suppression, and alteration of hydrology. Restoring the land to wetlands and prairie will protect patches of distinct community types and improve hydrology in adjacent natural ecosystems.”

Tefft Savanna has long been a conservation priority for The Nature Conservancy, the statement said. Sand dunes support black-oak savannas with intermittent prairie openings. The acid sand flats support a black and pin oak overstory with an understory of blueberry, huckleberry, and a variety of herbaceous species. Depressions between the dunes and sand flats support a complex of sedge meadows, wet prairies, and marshes, which are now mostly converted to agriculture.

The property will be managed by The Nature Conservancy.

www.nature.org/indiana

Posted 11/11/2009