MUNCIE — Young children reportedly can recognize more than 1,000 corporate logos, but far fewer can identify one of the classic sounds of old forests, the barred owl's call: “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?" Or a tree based on its bark. Or spring wild flowers. Or bugs.
That's one of the reasons then-Gov. Mitch Daniels announced in his 2012 State of the State address the creation of the Bicentennial Nature Trust (BNT), a statewide effort to preserve and protect conservation and recreation areas to honor Indiana's 200th anniversary this year.
Supported by $20 million in state funding and a $10 million Lilly Endowment Grant, 183 BNT projects have been approved for funding in 66 Indiana counties, including $872,415 for 11 projects in East Central Indiana.
"We got a slow start in the beginning, just because it took a while to set up the Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County's Land Conservation Fund," said Barry Banks, director of Red-tail Land Conservancy. "But once we got started, we got our fair share of projects."
Because BNT was designed to encourage local participation, each project required local nonprofit, private or corporate donors to provide matching funds on at least a 1:1 ratio, or one local dollar for every BNT dollar awarded.
"The Ball Brothers Foundation and the George and Frances Ball Foundation established the Land Conservation Fund to provide our match, which is really the big story here," Banks said. "We were in the forefront. Most other foundations in the state, they just don't have the environment as one of their points of interest. Very few do."