Contact

Rich Hull, Founder

Email: richhull@salixeco.net

Phone: 812-325-4954

The Private Lands Flora Initiative is a targeted conservation effort designed to expand floristic knowledge and ecological stewardship across privately owned lands in Indiana. While the majority of the state’s biodiversity occurs on private property, these lands are rarely evaluated using rigorous floristic methods. This initiative provides private landowners with access to professional Floristic Quality Assessment (FQA) surveys at a significantly reduced cost, helping bridge the gap between academic conservation science and on-the-ground land management.

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Participating landowners receive a site visit and a standard FQA report with no professional labor cost during the promotional period of April 2026. Each assessment includes a vascular plant inventory, mean Coefficient of Conservatism (C̅), Floristic Quality Index (FQI), a summary of rare species documented, and an ecological interpretation tailored to management and conservation goals. These standardized, science-based metrics provide defensible measures of site condition and conservation value while offering practical guidance for habitat enhancement and long-term stewardship.

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To launch the initiative, SALIX will offer complimentary April 2026 site visits focused primarily on spring ephemerals. These surveys will be provided to the first twelve landowners who contact the firm via email at: richhull@salixeco.net. In this correspondence, please include the acreage to be surveyed and the general location of the property. During this promotional period, landowners are responsible only for mileage at $0.725 per mile from Bloomington, Indiana. The standard $65 per hour labor fee will be waived as will an hourly travel rate and the report labor for a standard FQA report that will be included in the free assessment. SALIX will limit promotional site visits to a maximum of three hours per visit anywhere in Indiana.

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An optional photographic report is available for a flat fee of $100. This report includes downloadable, labeled photographs of all plant species documented during the survey, with particular emphasis on spring ephemerals observed.

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By reducing financial barriers while maintaining scientific rigor, the Private Lands Flora Initiative advances conservation across Indiana’s privately managed landscapes and empowers landowners with expert ecological insight previously unavailable at this scale. To explore pricing for assessments done outside of the promotional window, please visit the Floristic Surveys page.