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Published: October 28, 2009 09:44 pm
Vote on Newport Depot reuse plan set Nov. 19
By Howard Greninger
The Tribune-Star
NEWPORT —
Tallgrass prairie is a part of Indiana’s natural history and some groups are hoping to retain several hundred acres of restored prairie as part of a master reuse plan for the Newport Chemical Depot.
The Newport Chemical Depot Reuse Authority expects to vote Nov. 19 on a plan that will be sent to the U.S. Army on how best to use 11 square miles at the former U.S. Army weapons facility that once produced and stored VX nerve agent in Vermillion County. The Army is to shut down the depot by 2011.
The Reuse Authority’s responsibility is to create a plan and implement a strategy to convert the depot to civilian use. The five-member authority, appointed by Vermillion County Commissioners, this year conducted three public meetings as well as stakeholder meetings, which include local and state officials, and focus groups, such as land use attended by farmers and soil conservation experts.
Three plans were reviewed and a draft final preferred use plan was posted last week by the Reuse Authority. That plan can be viewed at www.necdra.com.
However, the final draft makes no provision for preserving all of a restored tallgrass prairie, which could be plowed for industrial development or agricultural use.
David E. Burns, president of Ouabache Land Conservancy and former president of the nonprofit Sycamore Trails Resource Conservation & Development Council, said the land conservancy group sent the Reuse Authority an e-mail this week stating its preference to place more than 300 acres of tallgrass prairie under a protected area that excludes industrial or commercial development.
“We have lost tens of thousands of acres of tallgrass prairie and now are down to just remnants of the prairie in Indiana,” Burns said. “We need to preserve the biodiversity we have up there. It is a huge opportunity or it can be a great loss if that land is converted to row crops.”
Prior to the settlement of the United States by western Europeans, tallgrass prairies extended from Iowa and Missouri to central Ohio. In Indiana, prairies made up about 15 percent of the area in the state, largely in the northwest and west-central portions of the state, according to the Indiana Division of Nature Preserves, part of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Most of that tallgrass prairie was plowed under after the introduction of the steel plow.
Army restores grassland
The U.S. Army in 1994 contracted to have small portions of agricultural fields at the Newport Depot annually restored to tallgrass prairies. These reconstructed prairies have grown to 461 acres, according to a preferred plan of the Reuse Authority.
“We are trying to emphasize the preservation of the prairie,” Burns said. “The temptation could be there in the future to turn this area into more [agricultural] rental property. It would be a shame to destroy more than 300 acres when we have over 3,000 acres there in row crop now.”
The Army has crop leases on about 3,300 acres, earning more than $460,000 a year. That lease money can be used to help develop the site under the reuse plan, said Bill Laubernds, executive director of Newport Chemical Depot Reuse Authority.
Other groups also have sent notices to the Reuse Authority, such as TREES Inc. The group this week urged its members to write the authority in support of tallgrass prairie areas.
“We think this has merit. I think the value of land with prairie grass is very valuable,” said Trish Eccles, president of TREES Inc.
TREES member Mary Beth Eberwein, who served as a naturalist at Dobbs Park in Terre Haute from 1978 to 1994, said restored tallgrass prairie areas often use seeds native to Indiana, with some grasses growing more than 6 feet tall and containing wildflowers that bloom all summer.
“It is very important for grassland birds. We don’t have many grasslands left anymore,” she said. “It is great for insects, butterflies” and even snakes. Also, prairies are home to mice, which are food for foxes, coyotes and hawks. One hawk, the rough-legged hawk,” is a big, spectacular bird, which has been seen around the Terre Haute airport during winter bird counts.”
“Also important is tallgrass prairies make very rich soil, with a lot of legumes that fix nitrogen,” she said.
The Vermillion County Soil & Water Conservation District earlier this month sent a letter, signed by a five-member board of supervisors, to the Reuse Authority saying the prairie is a unique habitat.
“We recognize the 300-plus-acre tallgrass prairie on the Newport Chemical Depot as a unique and irreplaceable resource that should be preserved in its entirety. The conservation benefits of maintaining the prairie include specific diversity, habitat and breeding areas for many species of wildlife (including rare and endangered), soil and water quality and carbon sequestration,” the letter stated.
“Cultural and community benefits include recreational, educational and research opportunities that exist particularly with the trail system that is envisioned. We urge the reuse authority to place the prairie off-limits to so-called ‘other agricultural uses,’ and to include it in natural resource areas and open space,” the letter states.
The Vermillion conservation district would work with the Reuse Authority to develop a management plan for the prairie. The Wabash Valley Audubon Society also supports preserving the restored prairie.
Plan to balance business growth/natural areas
Laubernds said input from some “visioning surveys” showed most people wanted a balanced reuse plan, one that supports both industrial and business growth and preserves natural areas.
“When we asked the population regarding the existing prairie restoration area, how should it be used, 47 percent of survey respondents said maintain it as a prairie restoration area and 53 percent said the prairie restoration areas could be used for agricultural, business or other types of development,” Laubernds said.
In the final draft reuse plan, “in terms of total land area, 49 percent would be a built environment and 51 percent would be a natural environment. So we have 3,645 acres being used as natural areas and open space, agricultural and forestry and park land. Then we have 3,485 acres being used for business and technology, conference, share and support facilities and some highway-orientated commercial areas,” Laubernds said.
On the prairie restoration area, “we have total acreage of 461 acres. Of that, 69 acres would remain as natural areas and open space. Two acres would be part of an adjacent park land, which is 90 acres. Then 137 acres [of tallgrass prairie] would be used for business and technology and 253 acres [of tallgrass prairie] for agricultural,” he said.
“This doesn’t prevent tallgrass prairie from being established on other parts of the depot. There are areas that have constraints to them, such as buried footings or buried pipes, and while the depot will be cleaned up, there are some areas that these prairie restoration areas can be established,” Laubernds said.
The plan includes a parkway that connects Indiana 63 with Indiana 71, near a prairie restoration area. “There is no reason that the land between the parkways couldn’t be established as a prairie restoration area,” he added.
“Our hope is that people view this as a balanced reuse plan … that provides jobs and tax base as well as preserves the environment. My goal is to see this develop as a business and industry campus, using the forested areas and prairie restoration areas and park areas to add value to the business and industry areas,” Laubernds said.
“The challenge wasn’t taken lightly and I think what we tried to do is come up with a plan that is doable and that we have the resources to accomplish it. We want to improve infrastructure and job opportunities and tax base as well as preserve the environment and I really believe this plan does that,” Laubernds said.
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com
Check it out
• A draft final preferred use plan was posted last week by the Reuse Authority. That plan can be viewed at www.necdra.com.
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