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 …

  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 …

Last January I walked alone in a preserve, enjoying the brittle cold, the silence of fresh snow. Cedar Creek flowed beside me, black, swift and clear beneath a fragile film of ice shelves. And then—fur and bright eyes. Two river otters poked their heads over ice on the creek’s far bank. We three held still, …

Editor’s note from Carol Roberts, ACRES Quarterly editor and board vice president: Tom was my friend, neighbor, mentor in the natural world. I cared more about nature after seeing it more closely through his eyes. He fought passionately and persevered to protect the Indiana Dunes, Wyoming’s Red Desert…his beloved Cedar Creek. While Tom’s vision was …

You’ve probably read about the Cedar Creek Corridor, but have you stood 80 feet over the creek and wondered how this dramatic topography happened? Right here? Tony Fleming, geologist and long-time ACRES member, shares the story of how a glacier carved Cedar Creek’s tunnel valley, from Lanham’s Promontory on the Tom and Jane Dustin Nature Preserve. …

Joan Garman honors husband, donates 84 acres of forest, wetlands and farm ground Terry Garman always knew the 84 acres of vibrant woods, wetland and farmland his parents, Ray and Dorothy Garman, purchased in the Cedar Creek Corridor in the ’40s and ’50s was special and worth preserving. Through the years, he made careful farming …

ACRES Land Trust will host a Preserve Workday at the 96-acre James P. Covell Nature Preserve, the local nonprofit’s newly-opened preserve in DeKalb County, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Friday, November 11. Workday participants will help fight non-native invasive brush. The preserve is located at approximately 2727 County Road 52, just south of Auburn and …

ACRES Land Trust will host a Grand Opening of its 96-acre James P. Covell Nature Preserve, the local nonprofit’s first public preserve in DeKalb County, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Friday, November 4. The preserve is located at approximately 2727 County Road 52, just south of Auburn and east of County Road 427. “ACRES values …

ACRES Land Trust is coordinating with land management partners to eradicate Japanese stiltgrass, a non-native invasive plant common to southern Indiana and the eastern United States and newly identified in northern Indiana late last fall. In January, the local nonprofit temporarily closed its Little Cedar Creek Wildlife Sanctuary to prevent the spread of the invasion …

ACRES Land Trust is doing something it has never done in its 55-year history: close a preserve. Effective immediately, the Little Cedar Creek Wildlife Sanctuary nature preserve in Allen County is temporarily closed. The preserve’s closure allows the treatment of an infestation of Japanese stiltgrass, a non-native invasive species newly identified in northern Indiana. “Together …