Preservation and Conservation

Preservation and conservation often go hand in hand when it comes to helping the natural environment to remain healthy or become healthier. Related efforts in restoration are aimed at helping the environment recover from destruction caused by human activity.

Dozens of Indiana organizations and even more private individuals work endlessly to preserve, conserve, and restore native habitats, plant and animal species, and other elements of the state's natural environment. The following list briefly outlines a few of those efforts in Indiana.

Private individuals and businesses (including companies that mine or distribute fuel for energy) sometimes finance and facilitate preservation and conservation on a local, regional, or state level.

• Indianapolis Power & Light Company
• Paws, Inc.
• Vigo Coal Company (written by a seminar student)
• See also Governor's Awards for Environmental Excellence

Land trusts are groups that work to purchase land and to set up conservation easements (which legally prevent the land from being developed), so that it can be preserved for future generations.

• ACRES, Inc.
• Central Indiana Land Trust, Inc.
• Indiana Karst Conservancy
• Nature Conservancy's Indiana Chapter
• Red-tail Conservancy (one of our seminar sponsors)
• Shirley Heinze Environment Fund
• Sycamore Land Trust
  
  For a list of all land trusts in Indiana, go to Land Trust Alliance.

Wildlife conservation and rehabilitation takes many forms in Indiana.

Wildlife rehabilitators perform an invaluable service to the survival, preservation, and restoration of Indiana's wildlife. Their primary mission is to take in injured and orphaned animals and care for them until they can be returned to the wild. Encounters with automobiles, pesticide poisonings (from both agricultural and lawn-care products), and attacks from dogs and cats are the most common causes for injuries and illness.

All rehabilitators are licensed through the state and/or federal government, depending upon the kinds of animals they work with, and most pay for animals' care and feeding out of their own pockets, relying on donations of concerned supporters when possible. Dozens of rehabilitators are located throughout the state, and together they save the lives of thousands of wild animals in Indiana each year.

• Indiana Turtle Care
• Pine Haven Animal Sanctuary
• Resqu Haus (moon@indy.net)
• Soarin’ Hawk Avian Rescue
• Wildlife in Need and Wildlife Indeed, Inc.

  For a list of other rehabilitators, go to Licensed Rehabilitators in Indiana

Other efforts to protect Indiana's wildlife are provided through both non-profit organizations and government programs (see "Government organizations and preserves," below).

• Indiana Audubon Society
• Indiana Wildlife Federation
• Indiana Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program
• National Audubon Society (parent organization to one of our seminar sponsors)
• National Wildlife Federation
• Teaming with Wildlife

Plant conservationists and preservationists play a large part in protecting and restoring plant species that are native to Indiana. Such groups are devoted to maintaining native plant species' diversity, range, and habitat, perhaps by removing invasive, non-native plants such as garlic mustard and buckthorn. These groups also play an important role in preserving forests, wildlife habitats, and the larger ecosystems associated with native plants.

• Heartwood
• Indiana Forest Alliance
• Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society
• Upland Prairie Restoration Project
• Wild Ones, Gibson Woods Chapter

Wetlands conservation groups work to preserve and restore the wetlands of Indiana, such as the Limberlost.

• DNR Indiana Wetlands Conservation Plan
• Ducks Unlimited
• Friends of the Kankakee;
  see also Marsh and River Restoration Project
• Friends of the White River
• Indiana Wetlands Reserve Program
• Limberlost Swamp Remembered
• Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation, Inc.
  

Government organizations and preserves work to preserve and restore Indiana’s land, water, plants, and animals. Some federal and state authorities have helped establish a system of preservation areas that protect land from development and set it aside for the safety of the species of flora and fauna that live there.

• Indiana Department of Environmental Management
• Indiana Department of Natural Resources;
  see also IDNR Division of Nature Preserves
• Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
• Office of the Commissioner of Agriculture;
  see also OCA Indiana Land Resource Council
• U. S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service; Hoosier National Forest
• U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Other groups across Indiana likewise are committed to preserving, conserving, and restoring the state's natural environment, sometimes with a very specific focus, sometimes on a broad scale.

• Hoosier Environmental Council
• Save the Dunes
• Sierra Club (parent organization to one of our sponsors)

More information

For other websites concerned with conserving the natural environment of Indiana, go to AreaLinks.net Environmental Websites of Indiana.

For more information about how to join or support environmental organizations in Indiana, go to the Take Action page.