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Center for Earth and Environmental
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RITCHEY WOODS NATURAL AREA
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis transferred ownership of the Ritchey Woods Nature Preserve property to the Town of Fishers in June 2004. |
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Center for Earth and Environmental
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Ritchey
Woods is an important natural area in a rapidly urbanizing setting
within Hamilton County. The Center for Earth and Environmental
Science, with support from J.F. New and Associates and the
Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, has been conducting ecosystem
restoration within Ritchey Woods by converting 130 acres of former
agricultural land to prairie and wetland ecological communities as
well as protecting and improving the existing flatwoods community.
Wetland restoration projects began in 1997 and have included
restoring the naturalistic hydrology to the depressional wetlands by
removing or plugging drainage tile networks to create a wetland /
wet prairie / sedge meadow mosaic. A prairie successional community
was seeded with native genotype plants in summer of 2001 and is
on-going. Native genotype tree species were planted around the
flatwoods community in fall of 2000 to establish an ecotone buffer.
Installed groundwater monitoring wells are collecting wetland water
levels as well as surface and ground water chemistry. The research
program is additionally combining research scientists with graduate
and undergraduate students from IUPUI, K-12 students and community
families to deliver environmental educational outreach
opportunities. A major goal of this project and its programs will be
to instill a shared sense of environmental stewardship among all
participants regardless of their age, level of expertise or
involvement.