The Indiana Natural
Resources Commission (NRC) approved Lucas Hollow Nature Preserve in Brown
County as a new nature preserve at its meeting on Tuesday at Fort Harrison
State Park.
The move increases
to 282 the number of state-designated sites protected by the Nature
Preserves Act.
The new nature
preserve is located in the southwest portion of Brown County, southeast of
the town of Belmont, and features one of the best examples of relatively
undisturbed mesic upland forest in that region of the state, characterized
by Northern red oak, white ash, American beech, and sugar maple.
Petitions for Rule
Changes
In other business,
the NRC approved the addition of four petitions for rule changes to the
Division of Fish & Wildlife’s 2018 biennial rule change process.
Instead of
evaluating each one individually this year, the petitions would be
incorporated into the rule review process that starts in 2018 with other
rule changes.
The proposed
changes:
* To allow
crossbows that propel an arrow by means of compressed air to be used for
hunting.
* To change the
spring wild turkey season to start earlier in April.
* To remove the
minimum size requirement for Eastern snapping turtles or exempt the size
limit from snapping turtles taken on private land.
* To increase the
minimum size limit of muskellunge at Bass Lake in Sullivan County from 36
inches to 44 inches, with a maximum limit of one fish per day.
Special Concern
Species
The NRC also
amended its “Roster of Indiana Animals, Insects, and Plants that are
Extirpated, Endangered, Threatened, or Rare (also described as Special
Concern) as follows: it added black bear, Northern bobwhite, American
woodcock, and American eel to the list; and it removed red-shouldered hawk
and five fish species, longnose sucker, Ohio River muskellunge, lake
whitefish, cypress darter, and Tippecanoe darter.
2018 Meetings
In 2018 the NRC
will meet on Jan. 16, March 20, May 15, July 17, Sept. 18, and Nov. 13 at
Fort Harrison State Park in Indianapolis.
The NRC is an
autonomous board that addresses topics pertaining to the Indiana Department
of Natural Resources. NRC members include the DNR director, heads of three
other state agencies (Environmental Management, Tourism Development, and
Transportation), six citizens appointed by the governor on a bipartisan
basis, the chair of the NRC’s advisory council, and the president of the
Indiana Academy of Science.