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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana National Guard's Camp Atterbury will be able to train thousands of more soldiers under an expansion plan in which the base will take over 1,200 acres of a neighboring wildlife area.
Gov. Mitch Daniels announced the $105 million expansion plan on Thursday for the military base near Edinburgh, about 25 miles south of Indianapolis.
The additional property will be taken from the state's Atterbury Fish and Wildlife Area in a land swap under which a 2,100-acre wildlife area will be developed on what is now state prison system land near Putnamville.
The Camp Atterbury expansion will increase its training capacity from 4,000 to 7,000 soldiers.
Officials say the remaining 5,000 acres of the Atterbury wildlife area will stay open for public use.
The expansion is expected to create about 800 full-time jobs, mostly in the military. More than 50,000 troops have trained at Camp Atterbury for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2003.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, the Indiana National Guard and the state departments of correction and natural resources all are cooperating on the project.
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