ANDERSON, Ind. (AP):  Opponents of a proposed reservoir along the White River are warning that it would destroy an unusual wetland that's home to rare plants and animals.



Restoration ecologist Kevin Tungesvick says the proposed Anderson-area Mounds Lake Reservoir would inundate the Mounds Fen State Nature Preserve that features a wetland called a fen that formed following the last ice age.



Tungesvick recently told members of the Robert Cooper Audubon Society that fens are a type of wetland “so hydrologically and geologically complex” they cannot be recreated.



The Star Press reports that the state Department of Natural Resources says the fen at the nature preserve is sustained by water percolating through glacial gravel deposits.



The DNR says when that water reaches the surface, it is highly alkaline and creates a rare ecosystem.