Local Land Conservation for East Central Indiana Red-Tail Land Conservancy was founded in March of 1991 and has been striving to fulfill their mission from the beginning. Red-Tail Land Conservancy preserves,protects,and restores natural areas and farmland in east central Indiana while increasing awareness of their natural heritage. To accomplish their mission Red-Tail offers conservation options to land owners by public speaking,education,and stewardships. In speaking with Founder and Executive Director of Red-Tail Land Conservancy,Barry Banks,he says that he believes passionately that he can make a difference,and is doing so one step at a time. Red-Tail currently holds 18 conservation agreements including the protection of eight different natural preserves. They are currently protecting 1939 acres of natural areas and farmland. Banks explained the different agreements that Red-Tail Land Conservancy holds with their customers. The first of these agreements is when a title is transferred to Red-Tail,this could be through purchased land,gifted land,or land that has been willed to them. The second type of agreement is a conservation agreement,in which the title never transfers,and they are not owners of the land;Red-Tail is there to conserve and protect that land. Although there have been numerous measurable outcomes since Red-Tail Land Conservancy has been founded,in Bank’s eyes on of the most measurable would be the educational programs that Red-Tail provides,and their endowment accounts that help to secure their financial future,alongside all of the land that they have managed to protect over the past 21 years. Banks says he is excited for what the future holds for Red-Tail and he looks forward to hiring more staff and possibly repositioning his office into a different facility. Currently Red-Tail has one salary-paid staff member and he is excited to hire more,but the funding right now won’t allow them to do that. Banks says that he accepts all types of volunteers from different students,scouts,school groups,and more. Red-Tail usually has a roughly estimated 300 volunteers,including board members,throughout the course of a regular year;and Banks is grateful for every single one of them. Red-Tail Land Conservancy presently collaborates with Natural Preserves Division,Indiana Land Protection Alliance (ILPA),and land trusts in Indiana soil and water conservation district Delaware. Although all these organizations help one another and it is very beneficial to have these collaborators,Banks is most excited about the recently announced Bicentennial Nature Trust. The governor publicized the initiative in his State of the State Address. The trust is designed to designate $20 million to be set aside to buy and protect Indiana’s finest natural areas. So what exactly makes it all worthwhile for Barry Banks and Red-Tail Land Conservancy? He sums it up perfectly by saying,“Land owners’ thanking me for giving them piece of mind,citizens thanking me for preserving natural areas for the future generations,and kids thanking me for letting them walk in a big woods. It’s about as gratifying as you can get.” For more information contact Barry Banks Email - redtail2@att.net, Website - fortheland.org,
Phone –(765)288 – 2587 This story written by Brittany Weaver,Ball State student intern for Sustainable Indiana 2016.
Committed to Helping Sustain and Improve water quality in our West Fork White River As part of the Muncie Sanitary District,Bureau of Water Quality (BWQ) has been monitoring and treating Muncie’s water since 1972. The BWQ was one of the first programs formed in the nation due to a former Ball State Student,John Craddock. Since the BWQ was formed,there have been numerous transformations;including a total of 34,000 pounds of toxins each year removed from the White River,and an 80% reduction in the bacterial counts. In speaking with the director of BWQ,Rick Conrad,he says he is very excited about the coming years for the BWQ and the projects that lay ahead of them. Since Conrad has been involved with the BWQ he says that their biggest project was fixing the sewage overflows into the White River,which was a very measurable step,but nothing compared to what is ahead of them. The districts next big project was officially launched last fall. It is a $200 million project to remove the combined sewer overflows (CSO) from the water. Conrad says,“this isn’t going to be a short project,it will most likely still be under way 20 years from now,” but he is looking forward to every bit of it. Another big project for the BWQ in the coming years is the elimination of pharmaceuticals from the White River,and other bodies of water. The BWQ is very cautious about their water and take samples of the water on a daily basis. Along with sampling the water,they also sample the fish and wild life of the river to be sure that everything is healthy. By means of testing,the BWQ is very self-sufficient,with their own in-house labs. During the summer they hire interns to help with the testing and lab obligations. “Having the interns around and seeing them learn and excel is very rewarding,” Conrad states. He says that having them around is very inspiring and makes it all worthwhile. It is encouraging to know that there is someone out there really making a difference in the community,and truly enjoy what they are doing. The BWQ will continue to provide healthy water to the community and strive to improve the water quality. One thing the BWQ wishes was better is the public awareness and support of the projects,he says they are always in need of more support and really appreciate encouragement. Conrad says,“the water is in really great shape,and the community should be thankful for that.” He is proud of the work they have done and excited for the future. Rick Conrad can be contacted at (765) 747-4896. More info can be found at www.munciesanitary.org/bwq/<http://www.munciesanitary.org/bwq/ This story written by Brittany Weaver,Ball State student intern for Sustainable Indiana 2016.
Glenn Livers,Green Power Option Manager,reports that in the 10 year history of the program there has never been a year in which enrollment has not increased over the previous year. When a customer chooses to participate in the “green power” program,the utility matches the customer’s enrolled electricity use with renewable energy. This ensures that for every kilowatt hour of electricity used by the customer,another kilowatt hour of electricity,generated from renewable resources like wind power,is delivered to the power grid. At the end of November 2011,IPL’s Green Power Option had 4,099 customers. Taken together,these purchases of renewable energy accounted for about 88,000 metric tons of avoided C02 emissions. This is the equivalent of taking more than 17,000 passenger cars off the roads for a year. In fact,IPL’s Green Power Option made NREL’s (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) “Top 10” list out of 850 utilities across the US for offering the lowest incremental cost to its customers for renewable power (current rate is 0.001 cents per kw hour). That’s not all. IPL provides more than $2 million annually in community support,850 IPL employees logged more than 11,100 volunteer hours in 2016,43 volunteers regularly provide meals to kids at the Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center,more than 300 volunteers beautified parks around Indianapolis and IPL matches employee’s volunteer hours with a donation of $10 per hour for up to 50 hours per year to a non-profit of their choice. Indianapolis Power &Light Company is headquartered at One Monument Circle,P.O. Box 1595,Indianapolis,IN 46206-1595. Their website is www.IPLpower.com.
North Manchester,Region#9 Four family/7 acre organic cooperative,simple/sustainable/healthy lifestyle,local and world peacemaking outreach.
Rochester,Region#1 Straw bale barn,off-the-grid electric,integrated produce and poultry operation.
| SUSTAINABLE INNOVATIONS ACROSS INDIANA |
