By Roger Moon, Times-Mail
roger@tmnews.com
CAMPBELLSBURG - By late spring or early summer, outdoor enthusiasts should again be able to enjoy the 316-acre Cave River Valley Park.
The park, just across the Lawrence County line and near Campbellsburg in Washington County, is now under the watchful eye of Spring Mill State Park. Last summer, Bert Engler sold the property to the Indiana Nature Conservancy, and it's about to be sold to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Mark Young, Spring Mill State Park property manager, said Friday, "The process to purchase the property from the Nature Conservancy is not complete yet. We're waiting for one more approval, a grant through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
"The last I heard was that it will be approved," Young continued. "So, the process for us to purchase and take over the property, I would say, should be nearing completion toward the end of February."
The grant Young referenced is from the Indiana Heritage Trust.
During the period between the Nature Conservancy's purchase of the property and the sale to the DNR, Spring Mill has been responsible for management at Cave River Valley.
Joe Tutterrow, land protection manager for the Nature Conservancy, said Spring Mill has been in "monitoring mode," which has meant maintaining "a presence to make sure there wasn't any trespassing or damage. It really hasn't been open and available for public enjoyment at this point. They have been monitoring it this winter."
He added, "I don't think anything has been done on the property during the last couple of months other than just monitoring."
The property includes two significant caves - River Cave and Endless Cave. A Nature Conservancy periodical published last fall reports six globally rare cave species, including the northern cavefish and golden cave harvestman, are present in the caves.
The involvement of the Nature Conservancy and the state DNR safeguards the protection of endangered and threatened species.
Mary McConnell, state director for the conservancy's Indiana chapter, said in August, "Cave River Valley presented a wonderful opportunity for The Nature Conservancy to preserve critical habitat for several cave species and the threatened Indiana bat. Areas that contain populations of both Indiana bats and northern cavefish are extremely rare and, therefore, the protection of these areas present us with a nearly unparalleled opportunity for cave conservation in Indiana.
"Equally important," she added, "is the additional recreation opportunities this land will provide to Hoosiers for generations to come."
Tutterrow said, "The long-term goal is to have it open to the public at times when it doesn't affect or impact the bat population, primarily during the recreational season."
He added, "It will be open through the early fall. ... Everyone wants the public to be able to enjoy that property because it's so unique."
Tutterrow said all parties involved with the sale have welcomed the change.
"We're pleased that we were able to work with the Engler family. ... They did a nice job of caring for the property when it was kind of under their watch. It will be open to the public and will receive a level of attention and a level of management that will make it sustainable and that will, hopefully, protect the wildlife populations."
He said caving enthusiasts had come from "all over the place to study the cave community down there. "Bert Engler recognized that value and encouraged folks to come down and enjoy it," Tutterrow said.