INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — An auction of state-owned farmland will go on as previously announced next month, but the largest chunk of that land – 1,250 acres in Porter County – has been withdrawn from the sale. Instead, it will be turned over to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources which will convert it into the state’s largest upland game bird habitat.

In a prepared statement, Gov. Mitch Daniels said, “The acreage of wetlands and waterways we’ve protected has broken all records and won Indiana national recognition. But this is our first big opportunity to expand our upland game preserves and to bring our large-scale conservation program to northern Indiana.”

DNR Director Robert E. Carter Jr. agreed. “The Porter County site is an important addition to our public lands program and will provide much-needed recreational opportunities for sportsmen and sportswomen in northwest Indiana as well as for all Hoosiers.”

State officials estimated the value of the Porter County land at $5 million.

No timetable was announced on how long it will take for the property to be converted from farmland to game bird habitat. Initially, the land is expected to attract quail and pheasant, but later on other species such as wild turkey and waterfowl are expected to live there.

Previously, the Indiana Department of Administration, which oversees the sale of all state property, announced the auction of 2,596 acres of land in three counties. All of the land had previously been used by the Department of Correction as farms where inmates planted and harvested produce used by the state’s prisons. But the state stopped using inmates as farm laborers several years ago, and the DOC no longer needed farm land. In recent years, the land had been leased to farmers, who bid to use it on a year-to-year basis.

Once the Department of Correction made its decision, it was up to the Department of Administration to set up the sale. As a part of that process, a notice was sent to all state agencies asking them if they were interested in the property. That step is required by state law and when the DNR said it wanted the land, the Porter County property near Lake Michigan was removed from the sale.

That leaves 1,346 acres of land in the auction. Among that is 695 acres in LaPorte County in northwest Indiana and 851 acres in Madison County in central Indiana. The LaPorte County sale includes 208 acres near the Westville Correctional Facility and 487 acres near the Camp Summit Boot Camp between Michigan City and LaPorte.

The 851 acres in Madison County is near the Pendleton Reformatory.

Colliers International will conduct the auction. Michael Kuehl represents the company and said the auction of the 487 acres of land near the Camp Summit Boot Camp will begin at 12 p.m. (CST) on Tuesday, Jan. 17, at the Best Western Hotel, 444 Pine Lake Ave., LaPorte. The property will be sold as seven parcels ranging from 31 acres to 184 aces.

The sale of the 208 acres of Westville Correctional Facility property will begin at 3 p.m. (CST) at the same location. The land will be sold as two parcels, one of 151 acres and the other 37 acres.

The sale of 851 acres of land in Madison County will be at 10 a.m. (EST) on Thursday, Jan. 19, at the Garden Hotel, 5920 S. Scatterfield Road in Anderson. The land will be sold as 10 parcels ranging from 20 acres to 108 acres.

Steve Harless of the Indiana Department of Administration said the “highest and best use of the land is agriculture” and thus expects many of the farmers who are leasing the land now to bid. Kuehl said dividing the land into many parcels would encourage as much participation as possible because someone who couldn’t afford a large parcel may be able to bid on a small piece of land. The State Land Office said Indiana owns 377,000 acres, which represents 1.6 percent of all state acreage.