News & Blog

  1. Home
  2. Blog

Competing for the Canopy

ACRES commitment to protecting land goes beyond ensuring it remains undeveloped. We take a hands-on approach to make sure these places continue to improve under our care. Our stewardship team works to promote the health and biodiversity of these areas by creating or maintaining conditions that allow ecosystems to thrive. When caring for forests, we ...

  • 06/26/2023
  • 0 Comment(s)

Planting and Nurturing Future Forests

By Ben Taylor, ACRES Project Manager Our restoration efforts are my favorite projects to coordinate at ACRES, particularly tree plantings. Since the turn of the century, ACRES has planted roughly 300,000 trees on 600 acres of land! LAYING THE GROUNDWORK Much effort goes into planning and preparing before planting. We typically plant trees in areas ...

  • 02/23/2023
  • 0 Comment(s)

Into the thick of it

By Reena Ramos, ACRES Outreach Manager Each step into the bog meant a full commitment for leg muscles. It was like walking through brownie batter. Pausing to look up could mean a face full of sphagnum moss for those who didn’t watch their footing. I scanned the landscape of dark water with its clumps of ...

  • 09/13/2022
  • 0 Comment(s)

Mimicking Succession

By Reena Ramos, ACRES Outreach Manager ACRES protects more than natural areas. Working lands, such as agriculture fields in production, are also protected. ACRES currently protects about 500 acres of farmland, and some of this land will be restored to forest or wetland. This year, the ACRES Land Management team will use a different strategy ...

  • 11/04/2020
  • 0 Comment(s)

ACRES Research: Endangered Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake

By Reena Ramos, ACRES Outreach Manager ACRES lets nature take its course on the preserves, with the exception of eradicating invasive species. Normally, an endangered or threatened species found on an ACRES property is recorded but not actively managed. This year ACRES is working to develop a management plan based solely around one specific, scaly ...

  • 09/24/2020
  • 2 Comment(s)

Oak Farm & Detering Partnership: Learning Land Protection through Meaningful Work

In a nonprofit partnership, students and staff at Oak Farm Montessori School, near Avilla, Indiana, have partnered with ACRES for the last few years. Our first collaboration, students growing seedlings for ACRES in the school’s greenhouse, quickly blossomed into more, led by Brett Bloom. by Brett Bloom I am the Ecoliteracy Coordinator at Oak Farm ...

  • 06/02/2020
  • 3 Comment(s)

Fighting for the Forest: Volunteers battle autumn olive on the Tom and Jane Dustin Nature Preserve

Did you know that autumn olive was once planted by many conservationists, including Tom and Jane, to provide wildlife habitat? Today, this invasive shrub is a prime target for removal on ACRES preserves and on managed land across the U.S. Why? Because its beautiful brush (with sweetsmelling spring blooms, signature silver-backed leaves and red berries) ...

  • 10/24/2019
  • 0 Comment(s)

We’re so much more: seeing beyond ACRES trails

Each time ACRES acquires a new property, we send “preserve postcards” to our members. Like birth announcements, the postcards welcome new land to our trust and thank our members for making this work possible. It’s a fun way to celebrate our newly protected places with our supporters. Recently, a few ACRES members and preserve enthusiasts ...

  • 07/02/2019
  • 2 Comment(s)

Trine conservation students to help ACRES manage Beechwood, engage in land ethic

This semester, Trine University students enrolled in a Conservation course will help ACRES Land Trust as part of a land management immersion, focused on caring for the Beechwood, Foster and Majneri Nature Preserves, adjacent to Pokagon State Park. Students will work at the preserve 8-10 weeks, battling non-native invasive species, learning land management strategies and ...

  • 02/20/2019
  • 0 Comment(s)

Fossils: Nature’s Clues

[Editor’s note: While it may be difficult to imagine today’s snow-covered Midwest was once a shallow sea, explorers of last Saturday’s Creek Stomp – Winter Edition at Hathaway Preserve at Ross Run had the opportunity to see firsthand what ancient wonders this place holds. If you missed the event or if you did indeed stomp ...

  • 02/01/2019
  • 0 Comment(s)

All Categores