About

The Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape is a collaborative partnership advancing the pace and scale of conservation and military mission support. The landscape’s efforts across 3.5 million acres in south-central Indiana are centered on Naval Weapons Station Crane, the Lake Glendora Test Facility, Atterbury-Muscatatuck Training Center, and the Indiana Air Range Complex. NWS Crane is the third largest naval installation in the world by geographic area and specializes in acquisition engineering, electronic warfare, and special warfare weapons.

The designation of the Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape in 2022 recognized the significance of these four military installations as well as the region’s rich natural and agricultural heritage. Surrounding these installations is a diverse and expansive landscape covered by 85% farms and forests. The landscape contains 470,000 acres of protected land including state and county parks, the Hoosier National Forest, national wildlife refuges, and land trust properties. These natural areas provide an essential buffer to support military training activities.

Coordinated by the Conservation Law Center at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law, the partnership includes Federal agencies, state and local governments, and private organizations who work with private and public landowners. Together, partners advance sustainable land management practices for natural resource, agricultural, and military interests. Their conservation work prioritizes voluntary land protection by private landowners, recognizing their role in maintaining the landscape’s ecological and strategic value. Partnership initiatives to restore forests, protect working lands, and safeguard watersheds and riparian corridors are key to ensuring the installations can effectively conduct their missions.