What IS Phenology?

Seasonal change is no stranger to those of us familiar with the Midwest. As each month brings us either closer or farther from the sun, we observe changing temperatures, plant and animal life, and weather patterns. We will soon be entering into a period filled with crisp temperatures, migrating birds, and colorful leaves. Autumn is near.

Typically, even the youngest of learners can recall the basic changes that occur during seasonal shifts. The cold, dark, and snowy winter breaks into the rainy, budding spring, emerging with the hot, blooming summer, eventually quieting to the colorful and pumpkin-filled autumn. The cycle repeats again and again, year after year. That is where the concept of phenology comes in! 

If you are like me prior to learning about this concept, you might be thinking, pheno-what? Phenology! The study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, especially in relation to climate and plant and animal life. So studying how the tree in your front yard changes over the year? Phenology. Observing the tidal changes of Lake Michigan from season to season? That’s phenology too! Making a list of the birds you see in your backyard? It is all phenology!

As an environmental educator, I am always looking to learn about concepts and activities that hold the power to bring people closer to their surroundings and place. I aim to provide learners with an opportunity to feel connected to the experiences they have in their everyday life and to provide them with a seed that can grow after their interactions with me. 

Phenology has been incredibly interesting for me as both an educator, and as a learner myself. To me personally, phenology is a way to be more observant and intentional with my surroundings. It is a way to really notice and make note of how life ebbs and flows in patterns built from the everyday events that unfold into the unique and ever-changing world around us.

From my perspective as an educator, phenology allows for learners to find their niche, to slow down, and to begin to make connections with the more than human world. Phenology combines art, literature, and science and helps the learner grow in patience, connection, and curiosity. 

Phenology does more than connect people with their surroundings. Making notes or art can serve as a way to connect the past, present, and future. On a wider scale, phenology records can act as a way to detail climatic change, new patterns, and shifting times of  organism interactions, potentially serving as an important tool in understanding climatic change over time. On a personal level, phenology can serve as a reference to who you were and what you intentionally took the time to make note of. You can use this to connect with your future friends, family, and generations to come.

So, the next time you find yourself staring out your window at the maple in your front yard, or walking down your favorite trail that you visit frequently, take note. Allow environmental change to foster creativity. You have nothing to lose!

Bella Santana

Interpretive Naturalist

Catch and Release

Bottom right corner - the phone is taking a dive!

One of my last groups here at Dunes Learning Center was one of my favorites. They were teens from Chicago, coming to experience our Duneversity program, where we let kids experience field work. They explore the ecosystems, come up with a scientific experiment, collect data, analyze it, and then present their findings to their classmates and teachers.

This is my very favorite DLC program. I never had this opportunity as a kid, and I think it really helps kids who are hands-on learners build a better understanding of the relationships between things and promotes the idea that anyone can be a scientist!

It was a rainy day and my group had decided they wanted to do a study on water quality in the Little Calumet River. We finished sampling in our first spot and were heading to the second data collection spot when I was mentioning that in a tributary the day before we had seen two huge northern pikes. One of the kids exclaimed, “Like that big fish?!” I looked over the boardwalk and saw a giant pike stuck in the river, half of its body was exposed to the air, it couldn’t move. The kids asked me if I could save it and of course I said yes!

Fueled by their confidence in me I ran to the rescue. Good thing I had my waders on, the only fish I had ever really touched was a bluegill; this was MUCH bigger. My plan was to escort it down the tributary and back to the river. As I reached down to touch it, one of the kids warned me that they had crazy sharp teeth. I must admit I faltered to grab it for a second after that comment. I quickly found out that our original escape route was not going to be possible, as it was blocked by fallen trees. The river was about a quarter mile from where we currently were, over a field of old ragwood and fallen ash trees. I could carry the fish, but it would be hard with how big and wiggly it was. Pike have this funny ability to create slime all over their skin, to avoid being eaten and swim fast in the water. This pike was sick of my shenanigans and decided to slime itself! I could not hold it and as it was whipping around in my arms, it fell back into the river.

The kids yelled, “You dropped something! Your phone.” As seen in the above picture, my phone did indeed take a swim in the river as well. I started frantically searching for my phone in the river. A kid soon came to my rescue and pulled it out, so I handed the phone off to a chaperone. I needed to complete this pike rescue for the kids.

I asked the kid if he was ready to walk this fish to the river with me, and the kids on the boardwalk clapped. I carried the behemoth for what felt like an eternity, then let it go in the river. We high fived before turning back to reconvene with our group. Though I was covered in smelly pike slime, the kids cheered, and then we finished our data collection. Later that night at dinner, another staff member overheard one of my kids talking about how their naturalist had carried a huge fish - almost as big as their mom - across a field to the river.

Pike Rescue Squad

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Sierra was the 2021-22 Naturalist Fellow, supported by global sustainability firm Keramida.

Learn more about how you or your company can support Fellowships at Dunes Learning Center!

Sierra Necessary

Keramida Fellow

Adventurer, Thrill-Seeker, and Adrenaline Junky

Adventurer, thrill-seeker, and adrenaline junky. Typically, I would not associate myself with any of these words. By definition, adventure is “an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity.” To me, this means exploring the science experiment growing in the back of my refrigerator.

However, adventures are important because they allow us to grow personally and learn more about ourselves. As part of my professional development and training as Chief Naturalist with Dunes Learning Center, I went on an unforgettable adventure last fall.

I’ve been to remote places a handful of times, but this was my first time to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota. As we loaded our canoes and pushed off for the first time, my ears began ringing. Not a subtle ringing but an almost paralyzing ring. Being a Region Rat born and raised in NWI, I’ve become accustomed to the sounds of urbanization and industry my whole life. As I stopped to reorient myself, I came to a realization. For the first time in my life, I was in complete silence, and it was deafening.

I quickly learned an adventure in the boundary waters would be a lot of work. It is filled with paddling, portaging, more paddling, and more portaging. However, “the best view comes after the hardest climb.” Each portage brought an even more breathtaking vista. Each paddle awoke something that has been dormant inside me. I felt connected to the land and envisioned the many people who would have used the same portages before me. As we sat around the fire under the stars, I felt alive. My soul was rejuvenated. I had the best night’s sleep in quite a while.

When the trip ended and we headed back to Dunes Learning Center, I reflected on my experience. The Boundary Waters taught me how important it is for everyone, even me, to step out of our routine lives and have adventures. Doing so gave me a sense of accomplishment, I experienced something new, and rejuvenated my soul. Most importantly, it reassured me how crucial natural areas like these are to have adventures.

After getting my feet wet in the Boundary Waters, I am looking forward to leading a group of 5 teen campers on the very same experience this summer. Thanks to support from the US Forest Service Urban Connections program, they too will experience the Boundary Waters for the first time.

In hindsight, I may be more closely associated with those words than I thought.

Anthony Escobedo

Chief Naturalist

Springtime Memories at the Indiana Dunes

What comes to your mind when you think of the spring season? The blossoming and budding of dormant flowers and plants? Or the heightened smell of the earth after a light drizzle? It’s hard to not hear the symphony of bird songs and frog calls ringing in your ears. For me, spring season is time spent at the Indiana Dunes. It has always been the perfect place to explore and witness the awakening of the earth.

Springtime invokes much nostalgia of my childhood experiences with nature. I have very fond memories of spending my spring breaks in grade school exploring the Indiana Dunes with my family. In fact, it was these spring break trips that sparked my love and passion for the outdoors.

My parents would take my brothers and me to different parts of the park. We would hike up and run down the dunes of Mt. Baldy (before they were restricted). We would explore the trails and lake shore of West Beach and stop to picnic at the shelters. We would always have to make a pit stop to the nature center where we would visit the exhibits and watch the visitor education video in the theater where we got to learn more about the National Lakeshore (at that time). I have to chuckle thinking about how some of the classes that come to DLC watch and reference that same video.

I credit experiences and memories like these to where I am at today and having the opportunity to serve the DLC's mission as a naturalist. This opportunity has not only allowed me to further enjoy working at a place I truly love and cherish, but has allowed me to provide similar and meaningful experiences to hundreds of youth that I have had the great pleasure of exploring, teaching, and playing with during my time here.

Nate Bibat

Senior Naturalist

Wild Food

Growing up in the Chicagoland area might not seem like the most ideal place to have a nature-filled childhood, but I was fortunate enough to grow up on a forest preserve. As the name might suggest, Oak Forest had thousands of old mature oak trees. My parents would take my brother, sister, and I for walks in the woods all year long. It was in this chunk of woods that I fell in love with all things outdoors. The older we got, and the more often we walked, the more my dad would teach us about the woods and the outdoors in general.

When we were at an age where he knew we could be trusted with the knowledge, he taught us how to forage for mushrooms (not in the forest preserve). It was this single activity that changed my view on the woods for good. Knowing that there was food just growing out of the ground consumed most of my thoughts during the spring and fall. As we got more familiar with mushroom ID and differentiation, we would expand our search for different edible species to bring back to the kitchen.

This love for the outdoors, and the nourishment it could provide was also compounded by two of my other favorite activities, hunting and fishing. As I got older and got into each of these activities on their own, I realized how interconnected they really are! While springtime fishing along a creek or river, you might just find yourself in the perfect place to stumble into a patch of morels. While you are out looking for sheepshead in the fall, you might find an oak that is having a bumper crop of acorns… maybe a great place to set up a tree stand, if you have hunting access. The more time I spent enjoying these outdoor activities, and the more comfortable I got with my ID and orienteering skills, I found myself wanting to share this information that is so near and dear to me.

In late spring of 2021, I applied for the Cabin Leader position at Dunes Learning Center and was lucky enough to get the job. I knew immediately that this was a place that could provide many unique and amazing opportunities. As the summer progressed, I got to hear from the kids about how much fun they had on their hikes with the Naturalists. One of the favorite things that was repeatedly mentioned by kids was how cool the “wild edibles” were.

I must admit, I found myself a little jealous of the naturalists, because as a cabin leader, I was not authorized to give the kids wild edibles. I was fortunate enough that a Naturalist position opened up as soon as the summer Cabin Leader job finished and I was able to fill that position. Once I was given the OK to give wild edibles to the kids on hikes, the job completely changed for me. The hikes with the kids had a whole new layer added to them, and it was something we could all be excited about: FOOD!

Getting to teach kids about the food that grows around them has been one of the most rewarding things I have done in my life. With that first bite of “wild” food, a whole new world can be opened up. Flavors that you might have never tasted before, places you might have been walking right past your whole life, new directions you’ve never seen while outdoors, familiar things can seem “new” to you again. Sharing that “ah ha” moment with a kid, when they bite into their first wild black raspberry, or nibble on a mint leaf is something that takes me right back to being a kid in the woods with my dad. As our hikes go on, and the seasons change around us, so do our wild edibles. Every new day brings with it the opportunity to go out and find something tasty in the woods.

Jake Jones

Naturalist

Art From Nature

Have you ever tried to take a picture of a beautiful sunset, just for the picture to not look anything like the real thing in front of you? No matter how hard you try, nothing does the scene in front of you proper justice. If you haven’t had this experience, please tell me your secrets. If you have, I believe this frustration comes from not being able to capture the true essence and beauty of what a place or thing feels like to us. I’ve always loved sharing how I see nature with others, but being a naturalist has opened my eyes to how impactful sharing my connection to nature really can be.

Lately, I’ve been inspired to expand the ways I express this connection. Giving interpretive talks and doing fun, educational programs is of course the name of the game here at Dunes Learning Center. But I think it’s equally as important and special to create something tangible that represents how nature makes you feel. So how better to do this? By creating art out of natural materials! It seems that as soon as I had this thought, I began finding art in shops around this region that do just that.

Art by Regina Walters, Art from Elements

Recently, I found my way to a store called Over Yonder right off of Dunes Highway. In this store I saw physical interpretations of our Indiana Dunes being expressed with materials like beach glass, bark, branches, pebbles - if it can be found outside, it was there. I spent a lot of time looking at these art pieces, feeling the connection the artist had to their environment. Some of them were intricate and some of them were simple, but the sentiment was the same: There is a mutualistic relationship between human and nature, and it can be expressed through art.

Art by Regina Walters, Art from Elements

Making art out of things you can find around you can be a way to connect to the environment around you, while simultaneously preserving the feeling that being in nature provides. This past summer, during one of our camps, we made Sassafras bracelets out of Sassafras branches, wire, and beads with our campers. We cut the branches into 1 inch pieces, hollowed them out with wire, and strung them on string with beads.

While making them, I remember the smell of Sassafras all around me, while my happy campers got lost in their creations. It was amazing watching the campers feel satisfied and proud of themselves for creating something with their own hands out of a plant they may have overlooked in the past. I heard them say how excited they were to take these little pieces of Indiana Dunes home with them, and how they wondered what else they could make with things found in their backyards.

These moments are good reminders that we do have ways to do the beautiful nature scenes around us justice, and you don’t even need your phone to make this happen! Next time you want to capture a feeling that the outdoors gives you, I encourage you to take a look around and see if anything inspires you, and to (literally) take that opportunity into your own hands. Let creating art with natural materials be your time capsule for the intimate moments you have with nature - with the right perspective, the possibilities are endless.

Remember to always follow the NPS’s Leave No Trace guidelines while exploring our Indiana Dunes National Park. Leave rocks, plants, and other natural objects as you find them and NEVER pick any living thing!

Ania Gonzalez

Interpretive Naturalist

Nature and Industry

On the first day of our Frog in the Bog program, we take our trail groups on our “Walk Through Time” hike around the Bailly Homestead and Chellberg Farm where we learn how the area was used throughout time. In one station stop, we learn that some parts of the beach near the National Park are used for the steel industry. 

The different colors on the abstract rug/map represent different ecosystems and the grey spheres represent the steel and glass mills along the beach.

On the second day of the program, we take our trail groups on the Cowles Bog Hike at the Indiana Dunes National Park. When starting on the Green Belt side of the hike (as pictured below) we see some of the steel industry firsthand. I’ll get comments from kids such as “That’s ugly!”- which is valid. Seeing big factories and smokestacks is a bit unexpected when embarking on a hike in a National Park!

Instead, I try to reframe their thinking. 

I’ll suggest to the kids that it’s pretty neat there’s a steel mill right next to our National Park and that the Park is able to thrive beside it; the industry surrounding the trail is simply part of the ecosystem. Despite the industry nearby, we still see amazing plants and animals! Instead of trying to create a perfect protected area completely absent of human impact, we can embrace and care for the land the best we can. 

This concept can be taken outside of our National Park as well- right to our own backyard! We can appreciate nature blossoming despite apparent human influences. For example, we can admire strips of prairie along busy roads, squirrels running between city street trees, or bees visiting a community garden. I hope that through the Cowles Bog Hike, even with the mills in the background, our students can broaden their views on what nature can be!

Genevieve Zilmer

Interpretive Naturalist

Biodiversity in the Dunes

In school I loved studying ecology and the complexity of ecosystems. For as long as I can remember I have always been fascinated with the way animals and plants interacted with one another. Coming to work at Dunes Learning Center has rekindled that curiosity I had as a child. 

Many people would be surprised to find out that the Indiana Dunes National Park is the 4th most biodiverse national park (out of 423 sites). In short, that means we have a lot of cool animals and plants that call this beautiful place home. There are multiple reasons for this: our glacial beginnings, rare ecosystems, migration patterns, and the perfect climate for a lot of species.

In the short time I have lived here, I have already gotten to experience this great biodiversity, and I’m excited to see what winter and spring will bring. Here are some awesome species that you can find in the park.

Prickly Pear Cactus

Did you know there are cactus in Indiana? The prickly pear cactus is Indiana’s only cactus, and it is found in the park. This cactus is edible, and the fruit can be used to make a sweet syrup that is great in lemonade. This is one of my favorite species in the Dunes! They have beautiful yellow flowers that bloom in June/July.

Eastern Hog Nose

This snake has stolen my heart. Hog nose snakes are easily identified by their upturned nose and ability to flatten their head like a cobra. They have a few unique adaptations to keep them safe from predators including pretending to die a dramatic death, “rattling” their tails in leaves, and dry striking (they aren’t venomous to humans). This is the first snake I caught here.

Blue Spotted Salamander

Found in the forests and wetlands, these creatures enjoy moist areas with sandy soils. They are beautiful! I love looking for salamanders with the kids on our hikes through Cowles Bog.

Isabella Tiger Moth

This moth is more common than one would think and is commonly known as the Wooly Worm caterpillar. There’s an old wives tale that the coloring of a wooly determines the type of winter we will have. A bigger brown band means a milder winter, a narrow one, means a cold winter. I love them because they overwinter as caterpillars, freezing and thawing due to a cryoprotectant in their bodies. They also have their own festivals in a few states, including the Woolybear Festival in Vermillion, Ohio.

Ghost Pipe

A non-photosynthesizing plant, meaning it has no chlorophyll (greenery). Ghost pipe is usually completely white because it gets its nutrients by parasitizing tree roots via fungus. It’s a rare plant only found between June-September, a patch will bloom for one week a year, the other 51 weeks it will spend underground.

Bitter Oyster Mushroom

A gem in the dunes. We were night hiking, discussing how neat it would be to find a bioluminescent mushroom on a night hike with kids. When I came across these in the dark, one of the brightest bioluminescent mushrooms in this area. This unassuming tan/orange mushroom is commonly found on decaying logs. It glows neon green, especially the gills of the mushroom.

These are just a few of the cool species I have found in the dunes. I love expanding my knowledge of the natural world around me. I hope this list has inspired you to get out and explore the diversity of the dunes for yourself!

Note: Plants and animals inside Indiana Dunes National Park are protected. Please admire, but do not disturb, anything you may find.

Sierra Necessary

Keramida Naturalist Fellow

Painting Dunes Learning Center

I like painting, and nature is one of my favorite themes. It always gives me countless inspirations. Presenting what I feel, not just what I see on paper, is my most joyful hobby. I have always believed that even paintings with all excellent skills cannot show one-tenth of the beautiful natural scenery; however, the artists' emotions and feelings give nature in their pictures unique and unforgettable meanings.

After coming to DLC, I still use paintings to record my life and express my emotions. Meanwhile, more and more "humans" appear in my paintings. I'm not very good at drawing people. I attribute it to laziness when I was a kid, so I have never laid a good foundation for drawing the human body structure. However, I like drawing people; if there are characters in my painting, it often means that I really want to tell an interesting story. For example, this sketch-like picture.

This picture records the moment we finally came to the beach after a very tiring hike on Cowles Bog Trail. At that time, my campers were so excited and rushed towards the lake. By coincidence, three of them threw rocks to the lake at once. The stones flew and fell into the water almost at the same time. That scene was as if they lit fireworks or gun salutes together. This beautiful moment was deeply imprinted in my mind, so in the painting, I drew big splashes and put different ecosystems that we hiked together in there. The four characters wear clothes from different seasons because I think a happy experience like this may happen on every Cowles Bog hike.

In autumn, we started the "Walk Through Time" activity. I believe both campers and naturalists have had a lot of fun in this activity. We lead the campers to "travel through time and space" back hundreds of years ago to see how people used the land at that time. Hundreds of years of history converge in a three-hour hike and also converge in my painting. This painting is full of people, which I am not good at drawing, and it took much longer than expected. Despite this, I still enjoyed drawing this since I love this project so much.

Trail group leaders and campers are in the front, with clear outlines and bright colors. The characters we see when we stop at each historical moment are standing at the back. They look like have just passed through the dust or fog of history to meet the campers. I added some details to show their interaction with each other through the time tunnel. The Potawatomi is showing a beautiful conch and some shells she traded from the fur trader. The same seashell necklace is also on the fur trader's neck. The chicken held by the farmer looks very interested in the fur trader's clothes; it is trying to peck a string. The land planner was giving his presentation. He grabs an apple in his right hand, maybe it's his snack. The apple is likely from the Chellberg Farm since the farmer holds a basket full of red apples. And the NPS ranger is sitting with his wood duck buddy.

I also made another one with painting software. It blurs out a lot of details, but it's interesting.

I am very grateful for being a naturalist in DLC. I live in beautiful nature, and more importantly, I can experience nature with many interesting people. These people have given me the courage and enthusiasm to paint even more.

Jiangyun Li

Naturalist

Exploring Nature Through a Lens

One activity we like to do with campers and students here at Dunes Learning Center is nature journaling. It typically involves writing or drawing as you reflect on the world around you. Personally, I like to write and draw, but I’ve never been one to sit still very long, so I’ve found an outlet in nature photography.

I got my first digital camera when I was about 8 years old, and after that, I brought it with me on every road trip my family took from Maryland – out west, down south, to the northeast… I took pictures of everything, from bison to bears, from prairie dogs to petrified trees, from signs to my siblings. Most of my photos were landscape photos because my 2007 Nikon Coolpix didn’t have great zoom, focus, or shutter speed for taking close-ups or pictures of moving animals. 

In spring of 2020, I finally got myself a Nikon DSLR camera – a real, serious, big-person camera with a much better zoom lens. Since then, I have had a lot of time to practice and get outside, and I’ve especially fallen in love with bird photography.

Birding (or birdwatching) in general takes a lot of patience, practice, and quiet. When I wake up and am on the trail by 8am, carefully placing my feet one after another as I move closer to an interesting bird call, and I’m all alone except for the natural world around me, it’s a meditative experience that engages my whole brain. I’m simultaneously trying to keep track of where I’m going, make sure I don’t step in anything I shouldn’t step in (whether that’s poison ivy or an endangered plant), filter through forest sounds, figure out where a bird is and what it is – it’s both exhilarating and relaxing, somehow. All I’m worried about is this, not what I’m doing tomorrow or next week or what I need to get from the grocery store.

The 6 S’s I tell kids to look for when they see a bird are its shape, size, shade (color pattern), sound, space (habitat), and other signs that could help us with identification – photography records a few of those things for me, if I can get a good shot! Of course, birds never stop moving, so I’ve had to really practice taking a quick picture with the correct settings and placement in addition to working on my identification skills. I still consider myself a beginner, and sometimes, the picture looks like this:

I think I jumped when this downy woodpecker jumped! But other times, I get lucky – luck is a big part of bird photography, or any nature photography, in my opinion, just as much as practice and getting everything right – and the photo turns out like this one of a perched downy woodpecker with the fall colors in the background.

I think my favorite thing so far about working as a naturalist for Dunes Learning Center has been existing in the national park – with so many cool ecosystems nearby, I can walk to work and see an awesome number of birds. I was recently complaining about how I never had my camera with me when the ruby-throated hummingbirds visited the native gardens in front of Cowles Lodge, so I decided to just have my camera with me any time I was near the garden until I got a good picture of a hummingbird.

They’re so small and so fast, I assumed it would take me weeks to get a picture! But then, the very next morning, I showed up to the lodge early before work, and to my great surprise, there were SIX hummingbirds waiting for me! I got a few lucky shots, and my quest for a good hummingbird picture was accomplished in less than a day.

My next quest while I’m here? A quality picture of the red-tailed hawk that lives by Goodfellow Lodge and the fields. I look forward to the challenge and the time well-spent outdoors!

Ro Bowman

Naturalist

Falling In Love with Nature

I grew up here in Northwest Indiana. My childhood home was in a beautiful place, surrounded by woods and lakes. That’s where my love for nature began, I would spend most of my days playing outside. At the time, we had a creek in the woods in the back of our land. I used to go down there all the time, to play and explore for hours. I’d play “house” and pretend I had a home in the woods, collect bugs, make things out of mud, the possibilities were endless. There was always room to use my imagination. It didn’t matter the season, if there was time to play, I was outside. Hot summer days or cold snowy ones, I’d still be out there.

As I got older, I didn’t spend as much time outside. I would go hang out with friends, play sports, go to school football games --- typical teenager things. Nature was still something I loved, but I had found new interests. Even with my new interests I still dreamed of going to new places, camping, and exploring but I just never made the time for it, or it just never seemed possible.

 As an adult, I was lucky enough to find a group of friends that helped me turn those dreams I started to forget about into reality. We planned camping trips, went on hikes, and started taking road trips. They helped me remember the love that I had put on the back burner. I have visited many of our national parks here in the United States with them. I’ve climbed mountains, trekked through rainforests, seen bears and other amazing wildlife.

Honestly, I didn’t have a direction in my life until I started to immerse myself in nature. That’s when I truly began to fall in love. I fell in love with how hiking made me feel. If I was having a bad day, I knew getting out on a trail would make me feel so much better. I fell in love with learning, there is so much to learn about while outdoors. Tt’s never ending. There is always something that can spark curiosity.

 I started college when I was 25, at that point in my life I knew I wanted to become a Park Ranger. I was lucky enough to become a cabin leader for Dunes Learning Center in the summer of 2019. I was shy and timid, but I knew I wanted to do this. At first, the job was hard for me; I oversaw 8-9 kids every week. It felt like a lot of pressure. Once I started getting into it, it was a breeze. I loved hearing how the kids’ days went with the naturalists. I gained confidence; I was able to come out of my shell; I was able to learn how to make my voice heard.

After my summer at the Dunes, I knew I wanted to go back. I was hired in as a naturalist in the summer of 2020 after I graduated college. Unfortunately, that is when Covid-19 hit us. I felt at a loss, everything I was working for felt like it was just ripped away from me, but I did not give up my dream. I reapplied and started working as a naturalist in the summer of 2021!

 So far, I have learned so much and I am grateful to have this opportunity. I cannot wait to build my knowledge in this field and help make positive impacts on our youth. We have an amazing staff this year and I am so excited for you all to get to know me and my fellow naturalists. Things around here might look and feel different these days with Covid still looming over us… but fear not! We are still working hard to make unforgettable experiences for everyone.

Stephanie Husek

Interpretive Naturalist

My Story with Science

By Kayla Groen, Naturalist

Growing up, science was my worst subject in grade school. I misunderstood science so much that on the day I learned about tornadoes, volcanoes, earthquakes and hurricanes, I feared all of them were going to hit me the moment I got home from school. I was terrified until my parents reassured me what could and couldn’t happen in northwest Indiana.

Feeling so disconnected to science, I couldn’t bring myself to care the way I knew I should about science. What I learned was mostly delivered through a textbook and I figured if I couldn’t understand it from there, then science just wasn’t for me. 

But field trips were a different story. Take me out of the traditional classroom and put me in a museum, aquarium, zoo or park, and science became more than big words on a page.

My second-grade brain at the Field Museum thought I could pull one of those massive, replica pyramid blocks all by myself. It never budged, even with the help of five or more classmates. As I let go of the rope, I was frustrated. How did the Egyptians do it? 

My first-grade brain at the Shedd Aquarium wanted to know how it was possible that humans and dolphins could talk to each other, while my third-grade brain at the Brookfield Zoo wanted to know how lions could sleep all the time. 

If you asked me back then, I thought science was gross. I didn’t realize that the questions in my head from those informal learning moments pointed to a science-curious mind. Back in the classroom, it was back to the formal textbook, and I lost interest.

In high school, however, I took a natural resources class and became captivated with how to identify different trees based on leaves and seeds. Being able to see and touch the different leaves and trees transformed my learning. It was the first time I realized science didn’t have to be something unattainable for me. 

After that class and extra-curricular experiences beyond it, I fell in love with informal education and free-choice learning. These concepts describe opportunities that foster learning beyond formal education in the classroom (i.e. museums, aquariums, zoos and parks). How things come full circle! By the end of college, I knew I wanted to work in these places and help make learning fun and science accessible for students who feel the way I did.

Becoming a naturalist with Dunes Learning Center has helped solidify that passion. I love working with students outside of their traditional classrooms and watching them grow in adventure and curiosity within the Indiana Dunes National Park. I love hearing them ask questions they personally want the answers to and I love seeing lightbulb moments when they connect to nature hands-on.

Yet, my time as a naturalist and the industry of informal education institutions has changed so much within the past several months. I’ve now spent more time in virtual education than in in-person programs.

My heart aches for those places I love. Will informal education institutions be able to return and provide teaching experiences to students again? Will hands-on experiences and opportunities disappear as the fear of contact grows? There’s no way to know for sure. But I remain hopeful no matter the classroom. 

While outside experiences may remain limited, I hope this is a time for exploring curiosity in science and nature, wherever your learning environment is. Many things remain uncertain, but learning and growing can still go on. 

And joyfully, those things don’t require a textbook.

Kayla Groen

Naturalist

A Poem

By Naturalist Bella Santana

I am unable to spend my time doing many of the things I was doing last week.
Many of the things that I would like to be.

But going into nature, that is something that is still available to me.

So I went out in the woods,
And I found an old tree.

I looked up at his branches which were waving at me.

With every wave that they made,
There were words soft and kind,
The tree spoke to me, and tried to ease my cluttered mind.

I began to speak back, telling the tree how I was worried.
Life has become a bit different, and it puts my mind in a flurry.

I don’t want to keep my distance...
I don’t want to hole up in my house…
I just want to feel comfortable and have others around.

The old tree understood, for he has been through it all,
But he felt it important that I do not let my happiness and hope crumble and fall.

The wise tree reminded me that I am not alone
As he swayed and he smiled and he spoke from his heart.

The other trees, they stand by you, hugging you close.
The birds, they sing to you, and urge you to make the most.

The lone frog, she tells you she understands that the unknown is scary.
For year after year, she hibernates, unsure when is best to un-bury.

He urges all of the forest creatures to hold me in their company,
They remind me of their presence, gathering around and embracing me as their own.

They remind that soon I will be outside in this forest,
With my friends, and my family.

The trees, birds, and frogs will be waiting for our return, just like we wait for their return every spring.

And so I leave the woods.

I drop my fears in the river on my way out.

The river takes the burden of carrying my worries with it as it continues to flow.
It claims my fears as its own
and cleanses my mind with every inch that it goes.

______________

 A note from me to the reader:

Until we can all meet again outside, I hope you all continue to get outdoors. Whether that be the forest, your local park, or even a walk around the block. Take the wise old oaks’ advice: learn from nature, listen to nature, and find solace in the life around you.

Bella Santana

Naturalist

From Small Town Mountain Kid to Interpretive Naturalist

By Shay Rule

Growing up in small mountain towns in Colorado and Wyoming, I spent the majority of my childhood outside. I was going on 8 mile day hikes before I could walk, being toted around the trails in a carrier by my parents. Once I got older, my outdoor adventures advanced from hiking to horseback riding, fishing, and camping. As a kid, I thought this was what everyone does growing up; it wasn’t until much later in my life when I realized this wasn’t the case. 

After high school, I moved from the mountain west to Iowa to study at Cornell College. Going into college, I had no idea what I wanted my career to be. The only thing I was certain about was wanting to work outside, and throughout my studies at Cornell, I was able to discover my love for learning and doing field work. 

Since then, I’ve graduated from Cornell and now work in the 61st national park as an Interpretive Naturalist with the Dunes Learning Center. When I applied, I wasn’t sure what naturalists do, but I knew that I would be outside everyday and that was enough for me. I can now say that I embrace the ways of a naturalist by sharing every fun nature fact I have with everyone I can, and continually learn more about the world around me. Working with kids was intimidating at first, but then I realized when kids attend our programs they are just happy to be outside! They don’t care if I mess up, which made me less nervous. 

In one of my first programs, when a student in my trail group told me this was their first hike, I was astonished and thought to myself “This kid has never gone hiking before?! That’s wild!”  

I now realize that every day, I am going to be introducing many kids to nature, and that I better make it a good introduction. I recognize that sharing my passion for the outdoors has been meaningful and empowering not only for me, but the kids too. 

After working at Dunes Learning Center for a few months, I had a deep conversation with my fellow naturalists about our own first exposures to nature, and how those experiences shaped us as adults.  But when I thought about my first exposure to nature, I couldn’t pinpoint a particular time when I was introduced. I was just always outside, playing with my friends and sisters. I could distinguish different formative memories, like when I caught my first fish, or the many different trail rides I went on. But that first exposure -  that initial introduction to nature - is something that eludes me. I may not remember my first exposure to nature, but I hope that my introduction to the students who come to DLC is memorable and has a lasting positive impact, one that encourages them to learn more about the world around them.

Shay Rule

Naturalist

Night Hiking

By Naturalist Haylee Hinton

As the sun sets over the horizon during free time, kids and adults alike start moving closer to the cabins and the lodge, drawn by instinct towards shelter and the light that it provides. Humans have always been drawn to the places they know to be safe, and it can be hard to feel safe in a world where you can’t see what waits in the dark. During dinner, the announcement is made that there are no lights of any kind allowed on the night hike, and that’s when the nervous energy starts. 

As naturalists, we embrace the dark and love taking visitors to experience the wonders of the Indiana Dunes at night. But no matter what, when we get ready to go out on night hike, questions, from both children and chaperones, begin.

“But how will we see?” 

“What if something is out there?”

These are the questions I receive the most often before night hike, so I always take the time to reassure our visitors before we begin. The most important part of night hiking, I tell them, is to embrace a different way of walking through the world, to trust ourselves and our other four senses, despite the path not being visibly clear. Throughout the night, I lead them through activities designed to highlight and allow them to test their other senses.

My night hike activities vary, but there is one activity that every naturalist always includes: a short solo hike. For this, I leave the chaperones with the group and walk ahead of them until I’m a good distance down the path, then I have the kids follow one at a time until they meet up with me. For the adults, this activity is carefully controlled and structured, but for the kids, it’s a moment where they rely on no one but themselves. 

I know this can be scary to the kids, so  I always give them time to warm up to the idea before we start the activity. I make sure they know that they have a choice not to, but I strongly encourage them to challenge themselves by taking those moments to walk by themselves. For those that choose to go (and most have), when they reach me, I always take a moment to tell them I’m proud of them and ask them what they thought. The overwhelming answer is this: “I was scared at times, but I’m so glad I did it.” It’s in those moments, seeing the pride in themselves at what they just accomplished, that I really feel the impact of what I do.

When I started as a naturalist, there were many aspects of the job that I expected I would love: spending my time outdoors, learning about an entirely new natural environment, and the energy and atmosphere that only working around children could provide. However, I could never have imagined how much personal growth our programs could  provide to these children, and acting as a facilitator for those moments - watching them overcome their fears and challenges - fills me with immeasurable pride.

Haylee Hinton

Naturalist

My Winter Wonderland

By Chief Naturalist Anthony Escobedo

“What a beautiful day it is outside!”

When you hear this what comes to mind? A fresh spring day as the violets begin to appear? A vibrant fall morning when the leaves crunch under your feet and the trees are an array of colors? Or perhaps it is a warm sunny day in the summer, with your feet in the sand, listening to the waves of Lake Michigan. But to me, nothing is more beautiful than winter at the Indiana Dunes.

During winter, beauty is all around us. From the frost tips on the trees to the shelf ice on the lake, Indiana Dunes has become my winter wonderland. There is so much beauty around us that sometimes we have to just witness it and bask in our wonder. 

Recently, naturalist Zach reinstalled the Dunes Learning Center bird feeder. To me, this brings a lot of excitement! The mystery of which birds will arrive. The interactions between the birds. How gracefully and nimbly they can land on the feeder despite the strongest of winds. A bird feeder is much like a good bonfire; I could watch it endlessly without giving it a second thought. However this time, I did give it a second thought. One of my favorite birds (a sure sign of winter and the beauty that comes with it) is the black capped chickadee. Small in stature but big in personality. How does a creature so small survive outside when it is so cold?

This has led me to investigate yet another beautiful moment during winter at the Dunes. The main themes of our “Winter In The Dunes” program are adaptation and survival. For example, we learn that birds fluff to retain heat, much like we put on a puffy winter coat. However, the black-capped chickadee does that and much more. 

During my research, I learned that black-capped chickadees can regulate hypothermia. Now just by the sound of that many people would think “Hypothermia!? That sounds dreadful!” But to the black-capped chickadee, this is how they not only survive, but thrive in the coldest of conditions. Their strategy? Drop their body temperature at night by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit! By doing so, they regulate their metabolism to conserve energy. Then they literally shiver the entire night to generate heat to stay warm. Remarkable!

This winter, I challenge you to put on your boots, gloves, hat, and fluffy winter jacket. Then step outside for a hike and explore the beauty of winter. Perhaps you can find some beautiful inspiration to enjoy winter...or at least make it until spring.

Anthony Escobedo

Chief Naturalist

Here's to Summer Camp!

By Naturalist Anne Gundrum

For as long as I can remember, I have always been fascinated by animals. I grew up in the Milwaukee suburbs, close to a pond where my sisters and I would catch frogs. Every summer for about 15 years my family and I would visit my aunt in Northwest Indiana, where we would go to West Beach to find toads.

When I was younger, I did not know there was a summer camp called Dunes Learning Center only two hours away from my hometown where I could explore natural spaces and learn about the animals I already loved. Becoming an Interpretive Naturalist here at DLC was actually my first time attending any sort of summer camp. Working here has made me realize how much fun I missed out on as a child by not going to camp!

During the summer camp season, we went on hikes where we not only found frogs but salamanders, snakes and lizards too! I learned -- and taught the campers -- about different types of plants (some you can even eat!), had campfires, sang songs and put on funny skits, and made many new friends.

I encourage everyone to attend at least one nature summer camp in your life; you learn so much about the world around you, along with team building skills, how to socialize with new people, and overall have a lot of fun. It is truly an amazing experience you won’t ever forget! Registration for Dunes Camp 2020 is now open, https://duneslearningcenter.org/summer, so tell everyone you know that we’re here! We can’t wait to meet the amazing young people you send to us!

Anne Gundrum

Naturalist

The Importance of a Camp Experience

By Naturalist Reid Mosson

It was 2007 and I was in fourth grade. I was sitting at a round table and pouring a glass of lemonade for a girl in my class, when it suddenly overflowed. This is my first memory of Dunes Learning Center, when I came for a Frog in the Bog school study trip. My first ever camp experience consisted of staying two nights in the Cottonwood cabin, as well as trying my favorite wild edible to this day, peppergrass, during our Cowles Bog Hike. 

That shy fourth grade boy who had his first camp experience at DLC went on to attend two 4-H camps in consecutive summers to increase his knowledge of and connection to the world around him. During high school, he was a camp counselor at that 4-H camp, where he discovered a love for leading groups and educating children. 

Many years later, that same boy is once again at the Dunes Learning Center. This time he is no longer staying in the cabins, but still spills things constantly. He has the pleasure of teaching students about the same things he learned here, including his beloved peppergrass. Sometimes he teaches about invasive species and ecosystems, other times he teaches life skills like public speaking. 

As that little boy who came to Frog in the Bog, I understand the importance of a camp experience. Although the name of my naturalist escapes me, the memories I made and life skills I learned at DLC still stick with me today. As a naturalist, I now have the opportunity to instill these life skills into the students that come to Dunes Learning Center. I know that I owe a lot of my life successes to my 4-H camp experience, both as a camper and counselor. But none of that would have been possible if that shy fourth grade boy hadn’t come to Dunes Learning Center to try peppergrass and spend a few days in the woods!

Reid Mosson

Naturalist

A Unspoken Mission

By Naturalist Zachary Mork

On a crisp autumn afternoon, I unlock a small wooden cabin and walk silently inside. Realizing that visitors may arrive very soon, I take one final glance around the room, making sure I haven’t forgotten anything before the event begins. Decor? Check. Apparel? Check. As I finish my mental checklist, a new sound breaks through the quiet atmosphere – the sound of children heading towards me. It is the cue that I have been waiting for. As the eager students get closer and closer to the old cabin, I get to my place, take a deep breath, and whisper to myself…

“It’s showtime.”

For the next two hours, I am no longer Zach the Naturalist. Instead, I am the character “Jacques,” a fur trader from the early nineteenth century. These students have come to see how Jacques used the land now known as the Indiana Dunes National Park. During their visit, Jacques will teach them about his trade, the importance of beaver, and how trappers used their efficient traps to catch them.

Although Jacques the fur trader looks and sounds like a completely different person, it is still me, underneath it all. During the presentations, I often look around at all the students sitting inside the cabin. In my head, I am trying to note if my character has been keeping them engaged and interested in learning more. Most students appear attentive and wide-eyed throughout the entire act.

Here at Dunes Learning Center, our primary mission is to “inspire a lasting curiosity and stewardship with nature.”  While it seems like a straightforward goal, the ways to carry it out are more open-ended. Over my past few months as a naturalist, I found that an effective way to inspire that curiosity is to help students open their eyes to a natural world filled with wonder and amazement.  It is an unspoken mission that, when accomplished, leads to the primary one.

There are many different ways to present the rich history and unique biodiversity of the Indiana Dunes to kids. For example, a hognose snake found on the trail plays dead when it feels threatened, an exciting opportunity to discuss defense mechanisms and food webs with students. Or, a visit to a historical site, where students can physically see how actions from long ago impact our lives today. In some cases, it can even come from our own backyards!

Playing the role of “Jacques” is one of my favorite ways to teach kids about the amazing natural and cultural history of the Indiana Dunes region. On any given day, if my demonstration gave students a sense of wonder, or if I made them feel like they really were back in the 1800’s (even if only for a second), then I accomplished my unspoken mission for the day.

Zachary Mork

Naturalist

Chloe’s Poem

By Naturalist Lily Eligator

“...and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?”
-Vincent van Gogh  

One warm and sunny Thursday afternoon in September, I was getting ready to take my group of sixth graders up the “big dune” on our Cowles Bog hike. Met with a few groans and complaints about the height of the dune (as I frequently am), I told them that I was positive that they would make it up with no problem and promised them a super long break at the top. 

Once everyone made it to the top safe, sound, and out of breath, I had each child sit down and start working on the page in their journals titled “A Few Minutes Alone.”  This page is meant to help kids internalize what they are experiencing, and I encourage them to write or draw whatever they feel has impacted them the most on the hike. After giving my students a few minutes in the shade to write, I asked for volunteers to share with the group. One hand instantly shot up; it was Chloe, a bubbly, outgoing kid, whose hand I saw frequently. 

“I wrote a poem,” she said emphatically, and I encouraged her to read it out loud. I don’t exactly know what I was expecting from this poem, but I know that I wasn’t expecting to be moved by her words as much as I was. This moment really forced me to pay attention to the present. Fortunately, Chloe and her parents gave me permission to share her beautiful poem with you: 

I see the leaves glisten,

I see the trees shine, 

I hear the people around me listen to the birds’ sweet cry, 

I sit in silence all light is above, as I write this poem to express my love; 

The light peeks through, the blocked light that leaks

In the world of nature, 

Where the sun shines and lay, 

The sand is crunchy and I am happy to see all today

-Chloe D., 6th Grader at Francis W. Parker School, written September 2019

Listening to this poem (and reading it multiple times since hearing it) made me so happy. It reminded me of why I pursued environmental education in the first place: I love watching kids create connections with the world around them. Not all of the kids who walk through the doors at Dunes Learning Center will become scientists, climate activists, or naturalists. Some of the kids we meet will become lawyers, doctors, engineers, and yes - poets. I am so happy to help a child to connect with their world, whether they are future scientists, poets, or anything in between.

Lily Eligator

Naturalist