When it comes to conservation across the state, Indiana’s farmers are among the leading practitioners—but also, so are Indiana’s foresters and woodland owners. One agency that’s leading the way in those conservation efforts is the Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape.
“The Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape is a partnership of government and private entities that come together to support sustainable rural uses of our land, which in turn, supports the missions and training that occur on our critical military installations in southern Indiana,” says Michael Spalding, Program Coordinator with the Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape—which is part of the Conservation Law Center in Bloomington.
The major federal entities that are involved include the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Defense, and Interior.
Spalding’s territory covers more than 3.5 million acres across southern Indiana—including the land in and around Camp Atterbury and the Crane Naval facility.
The Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape (SISL) has recently received funding from the USDA’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP)
“The RCPP is a program opportunity through the Natural Resources Conservation Service,” says Spalding. “They put this funding out there that partners can coalesce around, put together a compelling need and a project for, and then use those resources to support conservation activities by farmers and producers to implement practices on their land to make their operations more sustainable.”
That funding from the RCPP will restore over 2,500 acres of forestland and increase sustainable farming practices on tens of thousands of acres.
“The RCPP will have opportunities for cropland practices. Cover crops are one of the best-known examples that farmers can tap into,” he says. “On the woodland side, we have activities like forest stand improvement and brush management which helps get invasive species under control.”
Spalding gives a great deal of credit to the Indiana Forestry and Woodland Owners Association (IFWOA) in spreading the word about conservation efforts, and letting woodland owners know about the resources available to help with those efforts.
“[IFWOA is] connecting with those landowners. In fact, I make connections directly with landowners through them and then they promote these practices out to them,” he says. “Just in conversations I’ve had with these great landowners, it really resonates how that message is getting out there to a large number of people. By them being able to combine that outreach power with us bringing new resources into Indiana for this work, we’re really going to see some benefits over the next five years.”
Click HERE to learn more about the Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape.
Click HERE to learn more about the Indiana Forestry and Woodland Owners Association (IFWOA).
Click BELOW to hear C.J. Miller’s full conversation with Michael Spalding with Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape.
