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Building a Bridge: Eagle Scout Graham Seiler supports Bicentennial Woods, connects community

Graham Seiler took the path less traveled. Given options for volunteer work toward earning Eagle Scout status, Seiler chose to replace a slippery, weathered bridge at Bicentennial Woods near Huntertown, Indiana. Wanting something that would last—that his grandchildren might see—Graham, now a senior at Eastside Junior-Senior High School in Butler, chose steel rather than simply ...

  • 10/17/2018
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Eating (non-native, invasive) greens: ACRES to purchase forestry mulcher

ACRES will soon purchase a forestry mulcher, pictured above, to “chew” or shred through dense patches of nonnative invasive shrubs and brush, instead of using hand tools to tackle these sometimes overwhelming jobs. How overwhelming? Watch this video to see a forestry mulcher in action, “eating” dense patches of overgrown Autumn Olive amid a tree planting on the Tom and Jane Dustin ...

  • 08/28/2018
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Managing land with spirit: Happy trails, summer interns!

The land management crew was quieter this week, having said goodbye to our team of ever-laughing, occasionally-singing, summer interns. The team disbanded, cheerfully* returning to classrooms across the state, having gained experience they’ll not soon forget. On the experience, Phoebe Habeck, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Forestry at Purdue University, says, “Along ...

  • 08/18/2018
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Challenging Steps Stewarding Land: Walking Quog Lake with Botanist Scott Namestnik

Scott Namestnik’s eagerness to explore Quog Lake last summer was quickly replaced with trepidation. “It has to be the most challenging site on which I’ve ever conducted a survey,” he said of the ACRES Land Trust property in LaGrange County. Namestnik works for Orbis Environmental Consulting, which ACRES hired to conduct a “floristic quality assessment” ...

  • 06/18/2018
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$500,000 Barrett bequest expands ACRES Land Trust’s land management efforts

With support from a $500,000 bequest, ACRES recently expanded its land management efforts, adding a second full-time specialist to the team that cares for the nonprofit’s seven thousand-and-growing acres. The bequest, from the estate of Patricia Barrett, adds to ACRES’ land management endowment, a fund established by Patricia’s husband, the late James W. Barrett, III, ...

  • 06/04/2018
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Autumn Olive Project Update | A bold goal and call for help

Are you looking for a rewarding service project on the land? ACRES is putting out a new call for help. Last year, volunteers started the process of completely removing Autumn Olive from the Tom and Jane Dustin Nature Preserve. It was a bold goal, and the work continues. With many hands, we can beat this ...

  • 05/23/2018
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Restoring land to protect ecosystems

“In the last three years, ACRES has planted 65,000 native hardwood trees, reforesting 100 acres, while battling non-native invasive plants on over 700 acres. In the next three years, while managing this ongoing restoration, I’ll begin the work on an additional 300 acres.” – Casey Jones, Director of Land Management In land conservation, we sometimes ...

  • 03/28/2018
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Learning from the land | An intern’s view

Lauren Farrell, an intern from Huntington North High School, shares her passion for the outdoors and her work with ACRES over the past 4 months: Because of my interest in nature and the outdoors, I am delighted that ACRES accepted me as an intern this semester. I am interested in pursuing environmental studies in college. ...

  • 12/12/2017
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Protecting Biodiversity: Managing Invasive Species

“Biodiversity that should be there, and has potential to be there, is lost when a non-native species takes a foothold.” While some people can walk through the woods, take in the lush, green views, and be at peace, Casey Jones, ACRES’ director of land management, isn’t one of them. His trained eye goes straight to ...

  • 07/25/2017
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Bee happy: summer solstice in the field!

When you help ACRES donors and members protect land, you’d better spend some time walking it, wondering over it – and working it. You also need to appreciate natural cycles. Last year, ACRES Land Trust staff launched quarterly staff development days in honor of seasonal changes. The ACRES Office is closed for the spring and ...

  • 06/22/2017
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