Water Quality Month spurs us to take a look at the health of our most precious resource. We often focus on the importance of wetlands in filtering drinking water. But here’s a surprising partner in protecting a clean water supply: Forests. Continue reading →
Shawndra is in charge of sharing our story and connecting you to our work. Through our print and online materials, she hopes to inspire your participation in protecting special places for future generations.
A Tree ID hike at Oliver's Woods led by volunteer White River Docents
Have you ever attended one of CILTI’s guided hikes and thought that you might enjoy leading a hike yourself? Have you been inspired by a guided hike or program that you’ve participated in? You could join our White River Docent team!
Grace grew up roaming the woods, creeks and wetlands around the Chesapeake Bay watershed. From an early trout-raising project to a “gap year” spent restoring coral reefs in Thailand, her interest in aquatic conservation has only grown. Now she cares for several riverine nature preserves as CILTI’s White River Steward.
Phalen Leadership Academy Youth on the White River
In the year 2023, our commitment to connecting people with nature led us to offer several outdoor activities. From volunteer days to guided hikes and special events, it was a year filled with exploration, education, and environmental stewardship. Continue reading →
Traci has always loved nature, channeling her passion into creating habitat for bees and butterflies (and taking stunning photographs of them). She coordinates our outreach efforts.
The arrival of winter turns nature monochromatic, leaving what might seem like a bleak landscape. The leaves have turned and mostly fallen, and most native plants go dormant.
Shawndra is in charge of sharing our story and connecting you to our work. Through our print and online materials, she hopes to inspire your participation in protecting special places for future generations.
Grace removing invasive honeysuckle at White River Bluffs
Grace grew up roaming the woods, creeks and wetlands around the Chesapeake Bay watershed. From an early trout-raising project to a “gap year” spent restoring coral reefs in Thailand, her interest in aquatic conservation has only grown. Now she cares for several riverine nature preserves as CILTI’s White River Steward.
September is National Self-Care Awareness Month, a time to focus on personal health. One of the best ways to boost well-being is to spend time in nature.
We believe that everyone deserves access to nature. Part of our land protection mission is to enable Hoosiers to enjoy the benefits of the outdoors. Many studies show that time in nature promotes mental health and reduces stress. It can even enhance problem-solving skills. Continue reading →
Shawndra is in charge of sharing our story and connecting you to our work. Through our print and online materials, she hopes to inspire your participation in protecting special places for future generations.
Clear scientific data is crucial in restoring and protecting land—especially data about a site’s plant life. Just as E. Lucy Braun collected and pressed plants in her botanical studies, our field team collects specimens to document plant communities.
Grace grew up roaming the woods, creeks and wetlands around the Chesapeake Bay watershed. From an early trout-raising project to a “gap year” spent restoring coral reefs in Thailand, her interest in aquatic conservation has only grown. Now she cares for several riverine nature preserves as CILTI’s White River Steward.
This month’s Golden Hour was led by Jeanette Jaskula, the President of Friends of the Sands and a moth enthusiast! What’s so special about Jeanette’s passion for moths is that it goes against the grain of common wisdom. People sometimes think of moths as lesser, believing moths are dull in color, gross, and (creepily) only out at night. You’ll also always hear the butterfly glorified over the moth. But Jeanette introduced the joy of moths, reminding attendees of moths’ stunning colors, patterns, and important roles in our ecosystem. Continue reading →
Bridget Walls
Communications and Outreach Intern
Bridget is our first ever Communications and Outreach Intern. She is a graduate of Marian University, where she combined English, studio art, and environmental sciences in her degree studies. As treasurer for Just Earth, the university's environmental club, she helped plan events encouraging a responsible relationship between people, nature, and animals.
Citizen science is when members of the general public help conduct scientific research. It involves real people reporting observations and collecting real data that matters to them.
Grace grew up roaming the woods, creeks and wetlands around the Chesapeake Bay watershed. From an early trout-raising project to a “gap year” spent restoring coral reefs in Thailand, her interest in aquatic conservation has only grown. Now she cares for several riverine nature preserves as CILTI’s White River Steward.
Part 2 of a series for Native American Heritage Month
Archeological records reveal the presence of very early residents on what is now Oliver’s Woods. Thanks to the Indiana Historical Society, we know that around 1060 AD, Late Woodland people lived at the site. (“Woodland” is the name archeologists use to classify a period of North American pre-Columbian cultures from roughly 1000 BCE to European contact in eastern North America.)
This discovery predates the land trust’s involvement with the property. In 1959, according to the Indiana Historical Society, American Aggregates Corporation was contracted to remove gravel at the site. The site had been on the radar of Indiana archaeologists since the 1930s. So the IHS requested to salvage artifacts before the gravel was mined.
Amazingly, the contractors halted operations and did not resume until 1965, allowing over half a decade for the archeological exploration.
Indiana Historical Society report on the Bowen site
The Bowen site, as it was known then, lay on the north bank of the White River’s west fork. The dig revealed evidence of a settlement about 100 yards away from the river’s edge. Pottery analysis indicated that the site was occupied by people with mixed cultural characteristics of Late Woodland and other late prehistoric peoples. Most likely they were seasonal occupants of the land, feeding themselves by growing maize, fishing, musseling, hunting, and foraging.
While the site was disturbed by 100 years of plowing, the archeologists salvaged tools made of bone, stone, and antler. Artifacts made of mussel shell, burned clay, and copper also provided hints of what life was like here in the 11th century.
Tree species that predominated mirrored those of today’s floodplain forest: silver maple, sycamore, American elm, cottonwood, hackberry, cork elm, box elder, black willow, white ash, and red elm. The understory featured small trees like hawthorn and hop hornbeam, as well as shrubs like elderberry, spicebush, wahoo, and pawpaw.
Animal remains found on the site included species one might expect: an abundance of deer and turkey, as well as many raccoons, squirrels, mice, and woodchucks. A small number of box turtles and snapping turtles were present. Intriguingly, 32 dogs were among the remains.
The site also revealed evidence of mammals no longer found in the region—17 elks, six black bears, four gray wolves, and even one mountain lion—and of birds that have gone extinct (three passenger pigeons).
The researchers suspect that the site was the seasonal home for 50 people for three to five years, or perhaps 100 over a generation, around the year 1060 AD.
There was no evidence of house structures, but the dig revealed refuse pits, burned areas, and several burials. In fact, the archeological team discovered and studied nearly 40 human remains.
It can be disturbing to look at the past through the lens of the present, knowing that academic researchers were unearthing and analyzing human bones from the land that is now Oliver’s Woods. This is also part of the history of the property, and Native American Heritage Month prompts us to honor and recognize these early dwellers.
We hope to keep broadening our understanding of the original people whose lives were bound up in these places, and to honor them along the way.
More about the Bowen site can be found here, including a photograph of reconstructed pottery.
Shawndra is in charge of sharing our story and connecting you to our work. Through our print and online materials, she hopes to inspire your participation in protecting special places for future generations.
