| BHM Projects Featured on Environmental Educators’ Field Trip by Fred Wooley On November 10-12, the Environmental Education Association of Indiana (EEAI) met for its annual fall conference at the Pokagon State Park Potawatomi Inn. The gathering was particularly interesting for me, as I hosted the conference in 2003, exactly twenty years ago, while I was the park interpretive naturalist at Pokagon State Park.The Friday evening through Sunday morning event features general and concurrent sessions, special early morning and evening events and speakers, and Saturday afternoon field trips. I was contacted several months ago to see if I would be interested in leading a field trip. I jumped at the chance.And I volunteered Blue Heron Ministries’ Executive Director, Nate Simons, to help me! We co-lead the trip and both with great enthusiasm. Me, to show off some very special areas with which I have great history and developed love. Nathan, to also show off very special areas he loves and in which Blue Heron Ministries has played a major role in restoration and continued resource management.The theme for the conference was water and wetlands. What better place to experience such but the lakes country of northeast Indiana. We visited three sites on our all-afternoon tour. |
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| Nate addressing field trip group at our first stop at the Pokagon State Park Trine State Recreation Area. By Fred Wooley. |
| The first was the Pokagon State Park/Trine State Recreation Area. At this site, I covered the rich cultural history of the Wing Haven Resort, then a sprawling church camp and finally in 2007, acquired by State Parks and returned to the more quiet atmosphere of the historic resort and special natural area.I highlighted that the area was noted for its special place in all of Indiana’s natural history, by its inclusion in the 1969 book Natural Areas of Indiana and their Preservation by Lindsey, Schmelz, and Nichols. I produced my copy (signed by colleague and friend of the IDNR, the late Father Damian V. Schmelz!) and read their description of the area and their hope for its preservation in 1969. It took almost 40 years, but a very dedicated group of organizations and individuals succeeded in setting aside this area for protection and quiet recreation. |
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| Tamaracks were the perfect smoky gold as described by Aldo Leopold in his classic A Sand County Almanac. By Fred Wooley |
| There, Nate proceeded to tell the story of the unique wetlands and fen environments. We stepped out into a fen under the perfectly golden needles of the northern fen endemic tamarack trees and experienced the floating, hummock environment. The group divided in half and took turns with a timed jump, so the other half could feel the fen vegetation and muck soil mat move below them! |
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| Nate pointing out fen and oak woodland restoration efforts of BHM partnering with IDNR at Trine SRA. By Fred Wooley. November 11, 2023 |
| Nate also described the restoration efforts of the former resort beach, returning it to the fen environment it originally was, post glaciation and over 10,000 years in the making.We then carpooled to the BHM Badger Barrens Sanctuary, in the far northeast corner of Steuben County and the state of Indiana. There, we saw the property just a week after a prescribed fire. Enlarged photos were shared of the spectacular display of wild blue lupine that covers the preserve every May. Many of the 15 field trip participants spoke of the desire and plan to return to see the phenomenon equaled only in a few Indiana places.To continue the lake theme, we stepped across the lane to the Mirror Lake portion of the Sanctuary and further discussed the glacial-made, kettle hole lake region. |
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| Nate and group look on as Fred Wooley makes a point about how rain water percolates through the barren’s sandy soils and then moves toward Mirror Lake at Badger Barrens. Photo by Jill Vance |
| Our field trip continued to our final stop, the Wooley Nature Preserve, my home! In 1997, my late wife Jackie and I purchased 21 acres of an old farm. We built our home four years later and she, our son Joseph, and I moved here and began creating a preserve of native landscapes.Of high quality already was the wetland fen below the home that straddles the Indiana/Michigan border. For over six years, I have been actively managing it, with the help of Blue Heron Ministries. Improvement comes annually. We again hummock hopped into the fen, across the headwaters of the Little Fawn River, and discussed this very special environment found only in a few northern Indiana areas. |
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| Fred Wooley interprets restoration efforts in the fen he and Jackie purchased on the Indiana-Michigan border in 1997. By Jill Vance |
| I think I speak for both Nathan and me, what a treat it was to share our projects and properties with kindred spirits in environmental education. With me was a visiting friend from Japan. I got to see Hisa’s reaction at the same time to this very world-special environment. It was her first time to “jump” in a fen and feel the ground move.For me the event was coming home, literally, and figuratively. I came to my home on the Indiana/Michigan border and shared a growing love and sense of place dear to me. I came home to an organization of long-time friends, colleagues, loved ones, all committed to caring for and sharing the love of the land.This is home. This is what we do. |
| Call of the Wild By Nate Simons I hope I never tire of hearing the sound. To me it is the call of the wild. The raucous call of the sandhill crane is primordial. Sandhill cranes have been around for millennia. And after extirpation from Lakes Country for several decades in the early to mid-twentieth century, a pair of cranes spilled over from Michigan’s flock and nested again in Steuben County in the early 1980’s. Since, their numbers have grown due in part to habitat restoration efforts of conservation organizations. Now, pairs of cranes nest at the edge of lakes and open marshes throughout Lakes Country.Migratory in nature, the cranes typically fly south to Georgia and Florida in early December and return in late February in search of nesting spots in northeast Indiana and Michigan. During the fall, small flocks of cranes gather from their whereabouts and stage together before migrating in large flocks. During the staging event, paired birds and juvenile cranes spend much time together getting reacquainted and doing a little family planning. The daily routine looks like waking up around sunrise, leaving the marsh in little bands, descending upon grain fields for a late breakfast, returning to the marsh for a mid-day gathering and naps, leaving the marsh again to feed on waste grain in the afternoon, and then returning to the marsh at dusk for a long overnight’s sleep.One marsh in particular has become the fall staging area for our Lakes Country groups and the flocks from Michigan. The Waterfowl Resting Area at Pigeon River Fish and Wildlife Area on the Steuben-LaGrange County line serves as that stopover location. A highly-manipulated wetland, the former natural lake and marsh was scraped and diked and equipped with water level control structures to create an enlarged, shallow water waterfowl resting area…for geese. Somehow the cranes found out about it and have used it for a couple of decades now. According to Savanna Vaughn, Pigeon River property manager, upwards of 2,500 cranes rest at the marsh each autumn. |
| This November, I had the opportunity to assist the Pigeon River crew with a prescribed fire at the waterfowl resting area. The intent of the fire was to help restore the immediately adjacent grasslands by returning a natural, historic process to the landscape to benefit the habitat of the waterfowl. As the smoke rose, so did the flocks of cranes. The flocks actually flew large circles through the lofty smoke, calling wildly as they circled. The cacophony was marvelous! You could almost hear the birds say to each other, “I remember my great-great-great-great grandparents telling us stories about this fire stuff.” |
| Two weeks later, the snow fell. And the cranes are still calling. In two more weeks, they will be flying south. Wild! |
| View from the Crew by Josh Hall |
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| Michigan Audubon’s Otis Farm Bird Sanctuary. Tamaracks in the background have turned golden. Photo by Freya Berntson. |
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| On a combined hike with the Pigeon River Fish and Wildlife Area crew and Blue Heron Ministries crew inspecting the Nasby Fen Nature Preserve in preparation for a large restoration project (more on this next month). Photo by Josh Hall |
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| Lesser fringed gentian in Pigeon River Fish and Wildlife Area. Photo by Josh Hall |
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| Black-eyed Susan in Pigeon River Fish and Wildlife Area. Photo by Josh Hall |
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| John Brittenham protecting trees at Lake George Conservancy’s Orchard Place during a prescribed fire. Photo by Josh Hall |
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| Smoke settling in the wetland after a burn at Cedar Swamp Wetland Conservation Area. Photo by Josh Hall |
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| A fallen tree that caught ablaze at Cedar Swamp Wetland Conservation Area, during a prescribed fire. Photo by Josh Hall |
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| Matt Neff leading his first fire with BHM on a CRP project. Photo by Josh Hall |
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| Freya Berntson leading her first burn with BHM at Michigan Audubon’s Otis Farm Bird Sanctuary. Photo by Josh Hall |
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| Collecting Little bluestem at a remnant prairie at the Steuben County Airport. Photo by Josh Hall |
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| The brushes strip the seeds off the stems and toss them into the hopper in the back. Photo by Josh Hall |
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| Diagram on how the brush operates. Photo by Josh Hall |
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| The hopper full of Little bluestem seeds and some stems. Photo by Josh Hall |
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| Drying bins full of different wildflowers. Also, large totes full of partially cleaned Little bluestem. Photo by Josh Hall |
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| Matt Neff organizing the Little bluestem. Photo by Josh Hall |
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| Shelves near max capacity of dried seed, awating to be cleaned. Photo by Josh Hall |
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| Stiff goldenrod prior to screening. Photo by Freya Berntson. |
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| The first round of cleaning Little bluestem. Photo by Josh Hall |
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| Tamaracks in the background of a fen turned gold for the fall at Michigan Audubon’s Otis Farm Bird Sanctuary. Photo by Josh Hall |
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| Golden Tamaracks at Michigan Audubon’s Otis Farm Bird Sanctuary. I included this photo because I think it looks like an oil painting. Photo by Josh Hall |
| Upcoming Events |
| Annual Prairie Planting December 2nd at 1-4PM |
| Each December, some of our crew and volunteers gather to plant a new prairie. This year, we will be using some the seed that was gathered during the fall harvest to establish a small site in Angola.No experience is necessary to participate, and we welcome newcomers!We’ll meet at the parking lot on S. Elizabeth St. (map), across from the Carnegie Public Library in Angola, at 1PM. |
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| Volunteers in position and ready to seed the recent addition to Badger Barrens, in December of 2022 |
Blue Heron Ministries 