News

At ACRES Land Trust, we’re working on a new idea—a breakthrough idea, as deemed by the Foellinger Foundation of Fort Wayne, Indiana. We envision a 300-500-acre natural area development to accommodate multiple uses by Allen County nonprofits—a shared cultural area surrounded by nonprofit offices and facilities, giving each nonprofit group on the perimeter access to …

Additional 19 acres helps keep preserve wild, protects entire pond. Silver Lake, Ind. (September 17, 2018) – ACRES Land Trust’s Wildwood nature preserve in Kosciusko County has grown by 19 acres enclosing the preserve’s small pond, thanks to a purchase from neighbor and tenant farmer Roger Wagoner and his wife, Carla. “We’re eager to work …

The late Dr. Frederick O. and Elfrieda Mackel expanded a neighborly legacy of preserving the Cedar Creek Corridor through ACRES Land Trust. The Mackels originally purchased land overlooking Cedar Creek in 1956, moving there from Fort Wayne so their four children could grow up exploring fields, creeks and woodlands. The Mackels’ neighbors and friends, Jim …

Inspired by generations of family history, two families recently donated their adjacent land and lake to ACRES Land Trust for permanent protection. Little Lake, just west of Albion, served as outdoor haven to two generations of the Richman family who owned the north portion and to three generations of Tiptons who owned the south portion. …

A stunningly unique habitat of native, endangered species flourishes on ACRES Land Trust’s recent acquisition eight miles southeast of LaGrange. The 102-acre Grass Lake property contains a marl prairie – an unusual mix of acid-hungry plants and basic soil-loving plants growing heartily atop the limestone-rich sand and gravel. Some say the marl is almost 30 …

ACRES Land Trust recently completely acquisition of 193 acres of Cedar Creek land appraised at $3 million, leveraging a matching award from Indiana’s Bicentennial Nature Trust. With the latest acquisitions, ACRES now permanently protects over 1,000 acres of the  largest natural feature extending through Allen and DeKalb Counties. In total, the local nonprofit recently reached …

For immediate release (Huntertown, Indiana—February 1, 2018) ACRES Land Trust has reached a significant community milestone in its preservation efforts in our region. The nonprofit organization’s members and donors have helped protect 7,000 acres, for good. The acquisition pace is increasing—in the last 14 years, ACRES acquired the same amount of land as it did …

ACRES’ mission is to preserve natural areas. By doing so, we often fulfill the goals of other organizations and people as well. ACRES’ 2012 acquisition of Marion’s Woods in Steuben County is a good example. Marion Eberhardt Art Eberhardt has been an ACRES’ member since April 14, 1962. His late wife, Marion, was also active …

Velma Caprarotta has a long history with and a deep-seated love of the Elkhart County land she recently donated to ACRES Land Trust. Born in 1924, she grew up in the farmhouse just across the road from her recently protected property. Her late husband, Francis, and his family emigrated from Italy to Chicago in 1925 …

Fast-growing parts of Fort Wayne have special natural places, too, and ACRES Land Trust celebrates an addition to its Emanuel M. Popp Nature Preserve that adds a fifth chapter to a story being built by families who care for land and are working with ACRES to protect it forever. The parcel joins what was originally …

Kristie Fuller’s recently donated 56-acre Wells County farm and forest, named for her father, Francis Fuller, and her grandfather, Hurb Fuller, tells her family’s story on the land. Fuller’s tale is a firsthand account of a larger narrative of Hoosier land use history in the 200 years since European settlement. By 1910 when her grandfather …

ACRES Land Trust and the Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters announced they have closed on the sale of 107 acres of prairie and forest at the Motherhouse in Huntington, Indiana, forever preserving the land from development. The closing took place June 6, 2017. “Over the years this land has been a place of recreation and enjoyment, …