A nature preserve in southern Johnson County has expanded, now totaling nearly 700 acres of land protected from development.
Preserving the land allows plants and animals a safe place to live and grow, and recently experts discovered a new species of spider on the property, according to the Central Indiana Land Trust, which worked to preserve the land.
Southern Johnson County is now home to three different properties preserved from development — the Glacier’s End Nature Preserve, the Laura Hare Preserve at Blossom Hollow and Bob’s Woods Conservation Easement. And recently, with a new land purchase, another 97 acres was added to the Glacier’s End Nature Preserve, bringing it to 300 acres.
That property, which is near County Road 300W, south of State Road 252, is also where experts found a new species of spider.
A University of Indianapolis professor found the new spider species which measures about 2.5 mm and is for now being called Orenoetides, according to the news release from the land trust.
The Laura Hare Preserve at Blossom Hollow and Bob’s Woods Conservation Easement had already been protected by the land trust. All three properties are next to each other, and include a large forested area in southwest Johnson County that land trust officials said has been found to be the home of new and endangered species they want to protect.
By adding more land to the Glacier’s End Nature Preserve, the land trust can better protect that area, the release said.
“The discovery highlights why this type of land protection is necessary,” Cliff Chapman, executive director of the Central Indiana Land Trust, said in the release. “There is still so much to be discovered in the natural areas that surround us, but it will all remain undiscovered if we fail to protect those areas.”
The Glacier’s End Nature Preserve also is planned to open to the public in 2018, after trails, signs and parking areas are added, the release said.
