Chrys Cook has long envisioned that her 147-acre property in Dearborn County would be protected from development and maintained as a nature preserve. Located in the scenic Laughery Creek Valley, just a mile from its confluence with the Ohio River, the wooded property supports a rich diversity of native trees including sugar maple, red oak, tulip poplar, bur oak, white oak, blue ash, American beech, shagbark hickory, and basswood. In addition, two prairie and pollinator plantings, one atop a ridge and one along an intermittent stream at the base of the hillside, contribute about 20 acres of diverse meadow habitat.
A longtime Oak Heritage Conservancy (OHC) volunteer, Chrys approached the organization, offering to sell the land at a bargain sale (below market value), motivated by her goal to see the land preserved.
With Chrys’s offer in hand, OHC partnered with the DNR Division of Nature Preserves to secure funding through the President Benjamin Harrison Conservation Trust to permanently protect the land. Once the land transfer is completed in 2025, OHC will own and steward the preserve, and the Division of Nature Preserves will hold the conservation easement.
The President Benjamin Harrison Conservation Trust is supported in part by purchases of the Environmental License Plate. When you renew, choose blue to support Indiana land and water conservation.
This story was originally published in the 2025 State of the Lands. Read the entire edition here.