Tri-State woman transforming property into wetlands

WARRICK COUNTY, Ind. (WEHT) – An ‘environmental gem’ is slowly growing in Warrick County.

“When I was out there with the land, it was healing me. I thought how can I give back to heal the land,” says Lisa Friedman.

Friedman purchased over 60 acres of land near Friedman Park, named after her parents, in 2010 to help cope with her husband’s cancer diagnosis. After he died in 2015, Friedman says she continued working on the land, thinking about how to use it. With a past in environmental work, Friedman decided to transform the property into ‘Sage Winds Wetlands Mitigation Bank.’

“It was kind of a saving place for me. And I would drive my tractor, it was a peaceful grounding place,” Friedman says.

The process began in 2020 and continues four years later. Friedman tells us she has received her approvals to turn the land into a wetlands restoration and conservation area.

“We had to prove that there was connectivity between this land and open space because there is so much development here now. We had to show where the eagles live, and where the bobcats are,” she says.

In order to be considered a mitigation bank, Friedman says she has to reforest the area, by planting over 15,000 trees.

“We have to plant 300 trees per acre, and they are native and historical trees that were here before it was drained for farmland,” Friedman says.

Friedman says she can finally begin designing the finishing touches.

“We are going to put a walking trail up and we are going to have a few lookout points where you can look down into it,” she says.

It is expected to open to the public in a couple of months.

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