An Investment in Indiana’s future: the Indiana Heritage Trust
The Heritage Trust is Indiana’s only dedicated acquisition program for state lands.
The Indiana Heritage Trust was established in 1992 to ensure that Indiana's rich natural heritage would be preserved and enhanced forcurrent andfuture generations. Because IHT funding is shared by the Indiana DNR’s five land-holding divisions, it benefits virtually every type of outdoor activity and the Hoosiers who participate in these activities – such as hiking, picnicking, camping, boating, fishing, hunting, and bird watching.
The Heritage Trust is a very successful and effective program, proving to be a wise investment of state funds.
The IHT has completed about 400 projects that protect nearly 58,000 acres of land in state parks, state forests, fish and wildlife areas, and nature preserves. By engaging over 100 partners, it has attracted significant added value in private matching dollars.
The Heritage Trust and the outdoor lands it protects provide a substantial contribution to Indiana’s economy and to the communities nearby these state lands.
According to a 2013 report from the Outdoor Industry Association, outdoor recreation in Indiana generates $9.4 billion annually in consumer spending, and $705 million in state and local tax revenue.
For wildlife-related recreation—fishing, hunting, and wildlife watching—participants spend nearly $1.8 billion a year in Indiana on these activities, according to a report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. More Americans are employed in the outdoor recreation industry than in the construction, or transportation, or education sectors.
Public lands are one of America’s best ideas.
Publicly-owned parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and trails are an American tradition. In Indiana, these lands provide equal access to nature and recreation opportunities for all Hoosiers, no matter one’s income, race, gender or physical ability. Great American conservationists, such as President Benjamin Harrison, and Richard Lieber – both Hoosiers—recognized the importance of protecting natural areas, wilderness, and other outdoor lands for public use and benefit. In this vein, Governor Pence’s Roadmap for Indiana recommended that Indiana “Increase the land acreage preserved for conservation and recreation while maintaining sensitivity to the needs of local government.”
Without adequate funding, the Heritage Trust will miss important land conservation opportunities.
Important natural lands may be available for protection only once, before they are lost to other uses. One example of a missed opportunity were the forest lands in southern Indiana offered for sale by Kimball International several years ago. Since the Heritage Trust had limited funds at that time, these lands were lost to other buyers. It is vital that the Heritage Trust have dependable and sufficient funding to act when willing sellers come forward. Even though the environmental license plate is one of the state’s most popular specialty plates, the income it generates has fallen due to the expansion in the number of these plates.
A meaningful appropriation for the Heritage Trust is truly warranted in this time of a state budget surplus and positive economic forecast.
Biennial general fund appropriations for the Heritage Trust have been as high as $5 million in past budgets. Despite the recommendation of the Hoosier Environmental Council and our partners in the Indiana Conservation Alliance for a $2 million a year general fund appropriation in the 2013-2015 budget, only $97,000 a year was approved.
“Our parks and preserves are not mere picnicking places. They are rich storehouses of memories and reveries. They are guides and counsels to the weary and faltering in spirit. They are bearers of wonderful tales to him who will listen; a solace to the aged and an inspiration to the young.”
--Col. Richard Lieber, founder of Indiana’s state park system
Prepared by Hoosier Environmental Council
April 2013