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Moores Creek
The Moores Creek site is 7 miles southeast of campus along the shore of Lake Monroe. This 261-acre tract of land is contiguous with federally owned land managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The area is larger than Griffy Woods and has a more consistent landscape. Nearly 100% of the site consists of heavily-forested and steeply-dissected ridge and ravine topography. Access is difficult and there is little evidence of human presence. The area was logged in the past (during the 1930s or earlier), but there are many very large trees with continuous canopy cover. This site will allow extensive, highly-replicated long-term field studies under more-or-less pristine conditions.
Quick Facts
| Driving time from
campus: 15-20 min. |
Date Acquired by IU: 1967
(244 acres) in trade with US Army Corp of Engineers
for land now under Lake Monroe, 1987 (17 acres) |
| Nearby Public Land: Indiana
DNR, US Forest Service, US Army Corp of Engineers |
Current Land Use: Forest
preserve with no formal land management; informal
use for hiking, fishing |
| Land Forms:
Flat-topped elongate ridgetops;
rugged, highly ravined slopes; elevation range 540-750
ft; 1.4 miles of shoreline on Lake Monroe |
| Vegetation:
Mature Oak-Beech-Maple forest varying
with topographic position and exposure; some bottomland
forest in ravine bottoms; evidence of logging in
some areas (in 1930s or earlier); pawpaw and spicebush
understory in mesic areas and more open in drier
areas; population of rare trailing arbutus; rich
flora of spring wildflowers, especially in bottomlands. |
| Geology:
Thin layer of Harrodsburg/Ramp Creek
limestone on ridgetops and Borden siltstone/shale
in valleys; exposure along lakefront bluffs and
in deep ravines; unglaciated thin soils |
| Access: The Moores Creek site is not available to the public. |
Relevant Publications
- Vitousek, P.M. 1984. Anion fluxes in three Indiana forests. Oecologia.
61:105-108.
View more RTP-related publications
Moss-covered boulders |
Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens) |
Adult Bald Eagle sitting on iced-over lake |
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