Photo credit: Aaron Stump
The Northeast Chapter has curated an exciting set of hikes showcasing the natural wonders of northeast Indiana. All these hikes will take place on Friday, October 24, 2025. Registration is required and enrollment is limited. Please register early to secure your spot, but no later than October 17. Be certain that you’re not enrolling in concurrent sessions.
If you find you cannot participate in something you’ve signed up for, please notify us at activities@indiananativeplants.org so we can give your spot to someone else.
9:00 a.m. to noon
Dustin/Whitehurst/Johnson Nature Preserves at ACRES Land Trust
1992 Chapman Rd, Huntertown, IN 46748
Open to 25 participants. Led by Joanna Stebing, Conservation Manager for ACRES Land Trust.
This trail takes visitors through three nature preserves in the Cedar Creek Corridor— the largest forested corridor remaining in Allen County. The Tom & Jane Dustin, Robert C. & Rosella C. Johnson, and Whitehurst nature preserves provide critical habitat for wildlife, including river otters and bald eagles.
Starting at the Tom & Jane Dustin Preserve parking lot, visitors can access the loop trail on either side of the red barn. The trail winds through meadows and woodlands, passing a wetland filled in springtime with flowers and the call of spring peepers. The southwest portion of this trail follows a bluff 80 feet over Cedar Creek, one of only three designated Indiana Natural, Scenic, and Recreational Rivers.
The ACRES office is located at this preserve. Built on a bluff high over Cedar Creek, the office was originally the home of Tom and Jane Dustin, two of ACRES’ founding members.
10:00 a.m. to noon
Fens, Floods & Fancy Water: The Hydro-Ecology of Pisgah Marsh
Pisgah Marsh Boardwalk, 9939 E 350 N, North Webster, IN 46555
Open to 15 participants. Led by Tony Fleming and Freya Berntson.
Located in Kosciusko and Noble Counties, Pisgah Marsh is one of the largest, best-preserved, and most accessible groundwater-dependent wetland complexes in the natural lakes ecoregion. Consisting of a central marsh flanked by large springs, fens, and seepage swamps, the wetland is sustained by several million gallons per day of groundwater upwelling from physically and chemically distinct sources that strongly influence the types and distributions of plant communities. This trip follows the interpretive boardwalk to see examples of these features and learn about the glacial history and hydro-ecology of the wetland. In addition, we will consider the implications posed by surrounding land uses and groundwater extraction when the recharge area is located outside of the protected wetland. This is an easy walk of less than a mile on a hard, smooth, dry surface. Binoculars are recommended: In addition to offering panoramic views, the Pisgah Marsh boardwalk is a renowned stop on the Indiana Birding Trail.
Tony Fleming is the author of geologic maps and water studies in Indiana and beyond, as well as management plans, geological guides, and inventories for a variety of natural areas in the eastern US. A “geologist by trade and an ecologist of necessity,” Fleming is especially enamored of groundwater-dependent ecosystems and likes to remind his master naturalist students and experienced ecologists alike that nature starts from the ground up.
Freya Berntson is the Natural Resources Manager at Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College. She has served as the Stewardship Chair of the NE chapter of INPS since 2019 and holds a Master of Natural Resource Stewardship with a focus on Ecological Restoration from Colorado State University and has several years of experience in ecological restoration work throughout northern Indiana, northwest Ohio, and Southern Michigan.
10:00 a.m. to noon
Camp Scott Wetlands
3615 Oxford Street, Fort Wayne
Open to 30 participants. Led by Leasa Parrish, regulatory compliance program manager for Fort Wayne City Utilities Engineering.
Explore the beauty and purpose behind Camp Scott, a 29-acre constructed wetland owned by Fort Wayne City Utilities. Originally developed to help reduce flooding in nearby neighborhoods, this site features a 1.7-million-gallon underground storage tank, wetlands, ponds, and native plants.
10:00 a.m. to noon
The Reclamation of a 20-Year-Old Native Prairie
Stillwater Hospice Peggy F. Murphy Grief Center, 5920 Homestead Road, Fort Wayne, IN 46814
Open to 24 participants. Led by John Gevers.
The Stillwater Prairie is a 2-acre oasis of native forbs and grasses situated a mile from the Little River Valley in a suburb of Fort Wayne. It was seeded in 2006 to be a re-creation of how a northern Hoosier native prairie would have looked and benefited the environment as it serves its main purpose: as a place of comfort and solace to the people Stillwater Hospice serves in northern Indiana.
John Gevers is the groundskeeper and prairie steward at Stillwater Hospice and maintains, with the help of his “Prairie Posse” of volunteers, a two-acre prairie on its campus which is situated in Southwest Allen County suburbia. John is an Indiana Master Naturalist, as well as a native Hoosier, and is a retired professional photographer who still loves to capture the beauty of flora and fauna wherever he finds himself.
Directions: After turning into the Stillwater campus from Homestead Road, go straight up the wee hill, veering slightly right on the lane to the Grief Center Parking lot. Come into the main entrance of the building and follow signs to the upper-level Community Meeting Room. Restrooms are available. (If you turn too soon and find yourself at an animal hospital or at Stillwater’s Hospice Home, please look for the “hill” and come on up to the Grief Center.)
1:30 – 3:00 p.m.
Promenade Park: Native Plants Designed for Beauty & Education
SE corner of the park by the Winged sculpture. (Corner of Superior St. and S. Harrison St.)
Open to 30 participants. Led by Chad Shaw PLA, Deputy Director of Planning and Landscaping for Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation.
We will look at the design of this unique park that connects Fort Wayne’s three rivers to its thriving urban center. Native vegetation plays a key role in the function of the park as features like the Little Creek Bioswale uses natives to filter and clean stormwater on its way from adjacent roads down to the river.
1:30 – 3:00 p.m.
Dune & Lake Hike at Fox Island County Park
7324 Yohne Rd, Fort Wayne, IN 46809
Open to 35 participants. Led by Eva Webb, Fox Island County Park Environmental Educator, who has worked as an Interpretive Naturalist and Educator for the last 8 years.
Fox Island is known for its unique plants, animals, and geographic features. The 270-acre park is part of a State Nature Preserve and is known for animal sightings, natural marshland, seasonal ponds, sand dunes, and wetland forest.
1:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Old Bogs, High Dunes, Glacial Lakes: The Ecosystems of Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College
2300 S Stone St, Albion, IN 46701 (enter this address into GPS)
Open to 20 participants. Led by Freya Berntson, Natural Resources Manager at Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center; and Tony Fleming, author of geologic maps and water studies in Indiana and beyond.
Merry Lea is a diverse, 1,189-acre nature area in Noble County operated by Goshen College to provide hands-on environmental education and land management training for graduate and undergraduate students and the community at large. This field trip highlights high-quality remnant ecosystems including dune savannas, lakeside prairies, peat bogs, along with other areas in various states of recovery from past disturbances. We will look for cryptic evidence to help interpret the ages, types, and severity of prior disturbances and answer the question of “what was there” prior to European settlement. Throughout the hike we will see examples of how Merry Lea applies a proactive land management ethic, with opportunities to discuss different strategies for recovering original native ecosystems as well as maintaining those that remain. This is a 3-to-4-mile hike through varied terrain, mostly on wide, relatively gentle, dry trails. Some sections could be somewhat wet/muddy depending on recent precipitation. Waterproof hiking shoes and binoculars are recommended.