Shirley Heinze Land Trust preserves and restores natural lands and waters in northwestern Indiana, and engages people in nature and conservation.
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Preserve
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Restore
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Engage
Since 1981, Shirley Heinze Land Trust has been dedicated to the preservation and restoration of significant natural areas throughout northwestern Indiana. Today, approximately 3,000 acres across Lake, Porter, LaPorte, St. Joseph, Marshall, and Starke counties are permanently protected, and most of our nature preserves are open to the public to explore and enjoy. We invite you to explore our upcoming events, volunteer opportunities and ways to donate, and see how you can help us protect northwestern Indiana’s natural areas, bringing people and nature a little closer in the process.
Featured Events
Nature in the Arts
Shirley Heinze is hosting free, family-friendly, public arts & crafts events all through 2023!
We need your help addressing, folding, and stuffing envelopes! We have lots of letters to send, but it's easy work in the company of your fellow volunteers. Let's get together and help Shirley Heinze reach out. It's true that many hands really do make for light work.
Join us October 16th as we plant the remaining plugs from our Grow One Keep One program. We'll be planting the goldenrod and other native species out in the meadow adjacent to the old Girl Scouts campground.
Nature at Home: a new Shirley Heinze activity series
Nature at Home: a new Shirley Heinze activity series
September Activity: Autumn Adventures Word Hunt – Welcome to the first installment of the Nature at Home series. As the leaves change color and the air gets crisper, there’s no better time to celebrate the wonders of autumn. Each month there will be a printable worksheet for people of all...
Shirley Heinze Snapshot 7: The Great Marsh, September 13, 2023
Shirley Heinze Snapshot 7: The Great Marsh, September 13, 2023
By Dale K. Nichols (Board Member) Dear friends of Shirley Heinze Land Trust: This is the seventh in a series of “snapshots” featuring our Beverly Shores/Great Marsh preserve. You will recall that my last blog post, dated August 15, focused on several of the pink and purple blossomed plants that were...
Shirley Heinze Snapshot 6: The Great Marsh, August 15, 2023
Shirley Heinze Snapshot 6: The Great Marsh, August 15, 2023
By Dale K. Nichols (Board Member) Dear friends of Shirley Heinze Land Trust: This is the sixth in a series of “snapshots” featuring our Beverly Shores/Great Marsh preserve. For reasons that will become obvious as you read this post, I am naming it “Pinks and Purples.” My dog, Riley, and I have taken...
Shirley Heinze Snapshot 5: The Great Marsh, August 1, 2023
Shirley Heinze Snapshot 5: The Great Marsh, August 1, 2023
By Dale K. Nichols (Board Member) Dear friends of Shirley Heinze Land Trust: This is the fifth in a series of “snapshots” featuring our Beverly Shores/Great Marsh preserve. It will focus on some of our lovely native marsh plants (the “good”) and their non-native or invasive cousins (the “bad” and the...
Shirley Heinze Snapshot 4: The Great Marsh, July 3, 2023
Shirley Heinze Snapshot 4: The Great Marsh, July 3, 2023
By Dale K. Nichols (Board Member) Dear friends of Shirley Heinze Land Trust: This is the fourth in a series of “snapshots” featuring our Beverly Shores/Great Marsh preserve. My last post included a high-level overview of the different families of plants that grow here. This one will delve into more...
From globally rare dune and swale in Gary to lovely moraine forests near Valparaiso, to one of the last remaining bogs in Indiana near South Bend, there is likely to be one of our nature preserves near your community, where you have the chance to experience the natural wonders of one of the most biodiverse regions in the country.
The generosity of individuals is the foundation of our support. Whether a few dollars, a few hundred, or more, your donations enable us to uphold our commitment to forever protect and restore lands and waters throughout northwestern Indiana. Discover the ways that you can donate money or land to support the enduring mission of Shirley Heinze Land Trust.
Volunteers are the lifeblood of our organization. Whether you’d like to spend a few hours in nature by helping to maintain our trails and preserves, or assist with workshops and workdays that bring people closer to nature, or contribute behind the scenes to help Shirley Heinze Land Trust run smoothly, we need your help.
You may find us out in the field, maintaining our preserves, or at a meeting with conservation partners, or connecting with people in communities across northwestern Indiana. You may also find us in our offices, located on the edge of Meadowbrook Nature Preserve, just north of Valparaiso. Contact us today to say hello, learn more about what we do, and find out how you can help Shirley Heinze Land Trust protect natural places for generations to come.
