A letter from our executive director
We hope you’ve enjoyed this series of nine off-the-beaten-path preserves. The final featured place and a recap are below, but we also wanted to step back, this Earth Day, to talk about the big picture of land protection.
So much of what we do is dependent on partnerships. We partner with landowners to move swiftly on land protection opportunities, and with scientists to evaluate land’s ecological significance. When it comes to bringing land under protection, we work with our partner organizations like The Nature Conservancy and the DNR’s Division of Nature Preserves. We regularly collaborate with our land trust counterparts elsewhere in the state.
And of course the partnership of you, our members and supporters, makes all this work possible, so that future generations can continue to find sustenance in Indiana’s beautiful natural landscapes.
Each of these key partnerships plays a role as more and more land comes under protection every year. Whether Central Indiana Land Trust’s name is attached to the property or not, we celebrate every acre that gets protected, every bit of habitat that gets restored, and every nature preserve that brings people back to a sense of awe and wonder.
That is what this work is about, and that is why we have showcased many nature preserves stewarded by other entities in this series.
Scroll down for today’s final featured place, plus a link to the places that you make possible through your support of our organization.
This final preserve in our list of nine is one of my all-time favorites, and one every Hoosier should visit at some point. Whether that is possible for you now or sometime in the future, I hope that you will be able to enjoy its wonders.
Be well,
Cliff Chapman
Executive Director, Central Indiana Land Trust
Nature Preserve #9: Dunes, Porter County
Visit the captivating landscape of the Dunes in spring and you won’t be the only ones passing through: Migrating birds returning to Canada from the tropics use Lake Michigan to navigate, and they pause on the sandy shores of Porter County before continuing north.
“A nationally famous dunescape”: Learn more about this one-of-a-kind DNR-owned preserve by clicking here.
Recapping the Series:
Preserve No. 1: Twin Swamps
Preserve No. 2: Donaldson’s Woods
Preserve No. 3: Meltzer Woods
Preserve No. 4: Shrader-Weaver
Preserve No. 5: Rocky Hollow
Preserve No. 6: Pine Hills (currently closed)
Preserve No. 7: Portland Arch
Preserve No. 8: Hoosier Prairie
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(You can also get a nature infusion closer to home at one of our preserves this spring. Wildflowers bloom in profusion at places like Burnett Woods and Meltzer Woods. See “Places to Visit” to plan your outing.)
Cliff Chapman
President and CEO