Dubois County Community Foundation has completed the purchase of a 25-acre addition to The Parklands thanks to funding assistance from the Bicentennial Nature Trust and local, philanthropic support.
The newly acquired property represents a 50 percent expansion of the existing 50-acre park.
The funding from Bicentennial Nature Trust was a matching grant designed to encourage local participation by matching dollars raised one for one.
The funds raised came from grants from Dubois County Community Foundation and Indiana Heritage Trust along with a generous bargain sale of the land by the Eversman and Gramelspacher – Nordhoff families.
Private donors helped raised the remaining funds needed to secure the grant needed to purchase the land.
The Foundation will grant the property to the City of Jasper in 2017.
In a release community foundation Associate Director Nona Baker says the Community Foundation is proud to be a partner in this project.
Baker says the land will be protected for generations, and they are grateful to the Bicentennial Nature Trust and local donors, without whom the acquisition would not have been possible.
The sale was completed at no cost to local taxpayers. The additional land secures the wooded property adjacent to the existing park.
Jasper Mayor Terry Seitz says the collaboration of so many benefactors to enable The Parklands of Jasper to expand is indicative of the generosity of our community.
The Community Foundation will hold a Parklands Endowment to the help the City with future maintenance and upkeep of the park.
The BNT is a project of the Bicentennial Commission, co-chaired by former Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman and former U.S. Representative Lee Hamilton.
The program was established to acquire land for conservation and recreation to serve as a perpetual gift to all Hoosiers in celebration of Indiana’s 200 years of statehood in 2016.
This statewide effort honors the establishment of the state parks system, which was created in 1916 to commemorate Indiana’s centennial.
