Land Protection

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 daily walks …

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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 detail on one of them—the …

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plastic bottles

Plastic Free July

By Rory Kosior, GLISTEN intern from Indiana University, studying Environmental Science In Prince-Ruiz’s 2020 TedTalk in Perth, Australia she says, “Here’s the thing about big change, it’s got to start somewhere and it often starts with an individual.” Removing all plastic from our lifestyles is almost impossible, but it’s important that we don’t let that …

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Shirley Heinze Snapshot 3: The Great Marsh, June 1, 2023

By Dale K. Nichols (Board Member) Dear friends of Shirley Heinze Land Trust:  This is the third in a series of “snapshots” featuring our Beverly Shores/Great Marsh preserve.  It will focus on the types of plants that can be found in our Great Marsh properties, those whose seeds we harvest for planting in the fall, …

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Shirley Heinze Snapshot: The Great Marsh, March 20, 2023

By Dale K. Nichols (Board Member) Welcome to the Shirley Heinze Beverly Shores/Great Marsh preserve!  This is the first in what will be a series of “snapshots” featuring the preserve over the course of 2023. The Great Marsh properties of Shirley Heinze Land Trust comprise about 70 of its 87 acres of landholdings in the …

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a line of colorful autumn trees at Meadowbrook Nature Preserve

Student Experiences in Conservation Program

Shirley Heinze Land Trust had ten high school and college students participate this year with our Student Experiences in Conservation program. These experiences covered a wide variety of topics including water quality, wildlife monitoring, climate resiliency, interpretive programming, and environmental stewardship. A big thank you to our faculty partners from University of Notre Dame, Holy …

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michelle benson of swcd with a student

Porter County Soil and Water Conservation District: Partnerships Make an Impact

By the people and for the people is how the Porter County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) came to be. Hundreds of Porter County landowners successfully petitioned the State of Indiana for its creation and in 1952 the SWCD was established as a sub-division of state government. From the start, the SWCD office was …

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Tom Murphy in front of his crops

Interview with Valparaiso Farmer Tom Murphy

Tom Murphy, a Northwest Indiana farmer, partners with Shirley Heinze Land Trust on the Agricultural Land Program, developed with local farmers and agricultural organizations in order to surface resources and planning guidance to preserve NWI farmland for generations to come. Murphy has been instrumental in helping Shirley Heinze reach farmers and strategize effective means to …

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Photo of Rick Goltowski Granger Community Church

Flower Power: Plant Natives with Bringing Nature Home

The Bringing Nature Home Award is due August 20, 2022. Apply here! Native plants are pretty groovy—they have the power to sustain wildlife, protect our homes, and beautify communities. Shirley Heinze Land Trust works hard to restore natives throughout our nature preserves, and we also recognize the power a person holds to restore natural habitat. …

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Frogs Hopping Around Lydick Bog Nature Preserve

Growing up with a forest in my backyard, I thought I knew all the sounds that Indiana spring nights had to offer, from the distinctive hoots of owls to the occasional chirp of bats. Apart from these somewhat rare springtime noises, it seemed like the forest, for the most part, held on to the blanket …

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