Green Infrastructure in Central Indiana

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Green Infrastructure in Central Indiana

• Cliff Chapman
• Conservation Director
• Central Indiana Land Trust
• www.conservingindiana.org

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The Central Indiana Land Trust

• Formed in 1990 and based out of Indianapolis, The
  Central Indiana Land Trust is a 501c3 charitable
  non-profit organization working in 11 central
  Indiana counties

Dutchmens Breeches
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The Central Indiana Land Trust

• Through land protection, stewardship and
  education, the Central Indiana Land Trust
  preserves natural areas, improving air and water
  quality and enhancing life in our communities for
  present and future generations.

White River at Burr Oak Bend Preserve
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The Central Indiana Land Trust

• We have protected over 3,000 acres of land
  through partnerships, conservation agreements,
  and outright ownership.

Forested wetland, Marion County
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The Central Indiana Land Trust

• We manage 15 preserves and oversee four
  conservation easements. We own five state
  dedicated nature preserves supporting rare
  species, relict stands of Eastern hemlock and the
  states largest great blue heron rookery.

State threatened flowering raspberry, Blue Bluff
Nature Preserve
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Why do Conservation Planning?

• The Central Indiana Land Trust sees the need to
  be strategic and proactive maximizing time and
  financial resources protecting our natural
  resources

Great Blue Heron Rookery
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Why do Conservation Planning?

• A regional conservation plan can serve more than
  a land trust, but be shared (both in conception
  and implementation) with private and public
  partners

Eastern Box Turtle
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Why do Conservation Planning?

• As urban growth pressures continue to threaten
  natural areas and open space, having a
  conservation plan for central Indiana can be a
  valuable tool for both natural resource managers
  as well as city planners, county commissioners
  and zoning boards

Burnett Woods Nature Preserve
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Partnering with The Conservation Fund

• The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust awarded
  Central Indiana Land Trust funds to draft a
  regional conservation vision
• The Conservation Fund is a national conservation
  organization specializing in regional planning
  efforts
• Combining local knowledge and relationships with
  planning experience and respect from a national
  organization is a successful formula

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Green Infrastructure What is it?

• A strategically planned and managed network of
  natural lands, working landscapes, and other open
  spaces that conserves ecosystem values and
  functions and provides associated benefits to
  human populations

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Relating Green to Gray
Green Infrastructure and Gray Infrastructure
Both Require

• Ideally Are
• Planned simultaneously before development
• Given equal priority in the planning process
• Planned as complimentary systems
• Given equal attention in the funding process

• Strategic planning to ensure optimal /
  functional systems

• Financing for design and
  maintenance

• Management to maintain
  services maximize benefits

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Conceptual Model of Approach
Cores are unfragmented natural cover with at
least 100 acres of interior conditions.
Corridors link hubs and allow animal, water,
seed and pollen movement between hubs
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Green Infrastructure What Is It?

• 1. Lands and Water that Support
  Natural
  Ecosystem Values and Functions

• Ecological communities with natural
• and/or restored features
  
• Fish and wildlife habitat
• Watershed and aquatic resources
• River and stream corridors
• Aquifer recharge areas
• Fish spawning areas
• Working landscapes with ecological values
• Farmland rangeland with native habitat,
  fishing, hunting

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Green Infrastructure What Is It?

• 2. Lands that Provide
  Associated Benefits to Human
  Populations

• Recreation and Health
• Parks, trails and greenways
• Public access points to recreational waters
• Cultural and Historic Sites
• Growth Pattern and Character
• Greenbelts
• Viewsheds and vistas
• Working Land and Water
• Working farms
• Sustainably managed forests

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The Green Infrastructure Approach
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What Green Infrastructure is Not!

• A regulatory program
• A short-term solution
• An isolated effort
• No growth or anti-development
• Green engineered
• structures

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The Green Infrastructure Approach
A process that includes three primary elements

• Leadership Forum
• Convening of stakeholder group to articulate
  vision, goals and objectives

• Network Design
• Identification of key network lands

• Implementation Quilt
• Formulation of a framework for matching available
  resources to the needs of the network

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Land Use (2001)
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Landscape Types
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Prime Farmland
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Outstanding Rivers List
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Impaired Streams
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TNC and Audubon Sites
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Focal Species

• What makes for a useful focal species?
• What are potential focal species for Central
  Indiana?
• Could you name species for forest, wetland and
  aquatic resources?

Steven Wayne Rotsch/Painet Inc
USFWS Photo
USFWS Photo
US NPS
Pennsylvania Fish Boat Commission
USFWS Photo
Robert Barber/Painet Inc.
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Focal Species How do we choose?
1. Representative?
2. Can status be addressed realistically?
3. High conservation need?
4. Potential to stimulate partnerships?
5. GIS data available
Source The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services
Focal Species for Migratory Birds Measuring
success in bird conservation, 2005.
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Landscape Type Forest Species Forest Interior
Birds (FIBs) and others
Indiana Bat (Myotis sodalist)
Worm-eating warbler (Helmitheros vermivorum)
Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina)
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Landscape Type Wetlands Species Amphibian and
turtles

• Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum)

• Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica)

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Landscape Type Aquatic Systems Species fish,
mussels, benthic macroinvertebrates Stream
conditions IBA scores, ecologically significant
streams or high quality stream sites.
River Otter (Lontra canadensis)
Photo credit US FWS
Photo credit Illinois State Museum
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Questions?

• Contact Information
• Central Indiana Land Trust
• 324 W. Morris St. Ste. 210
• Indianapolis, IN 46225
• 317.631.5263
• www.conservingindiana.org
• Cliff Chapman
• cchapman_at_conservingindiana.org