Is it Jack Frost or Jack Pine?

The holiday season is here, bringing with it the joy of decorating Christmas trees, baking cookies, singing carols, and more. A prominent symbol of this season is the pine tree which can be seen everywhere. From famous holiday displays at Chicago’s Millennium Park or New York City’s Rockefeller Center to homes across the country. Pine trees, part of the Pinus genus with about 115 species, are found worldwide though they’re primarily native to northern temperate regions. These trees are valuable for both the environment and for people, offering food and shelter to wildlife, erosion control, and improved air quality. 

The Indiana Dunes National Park is home to a unique species called the jack pine (Pinus banksiana). The jackpine can be identified by its fascicles (groups) of two short dark green needles and its gray, flaky bark. It grows between 35 and 65 feet tall and prefers acidic, well-drained sandy soil. Currently the evergreen tree is native to the southernmost regions of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota, extending northward into Canada. Given that its optimal growing conditions are much further north, how did jack pine trees find habitat in the Indiana Dunes? 

Dr. Henry Chandler Cowles, a renowned botanist from the University of Chicago, explored this question in his work The Book of Plants. Around 11,000 years ago, hardwood forests of oak and maple trees were abundant in the southernmost regions (Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota) creating an environment too crowded for jack pines. As the climate shifted, winters grew longer and summers shortened. One might imagine that jack frost gifted a vast accumulation of snow that over time turned into ice, known as the Ice Age. Under the pressure of its own weight, a glacier will begin to move outwards and downwards. Glaciers periodically retreat or advance depending on the amount of snow accumulation or melt. The jack pines could not survive the rivers of ice and their seeds spread further south to Indiana and Illinois.

The pine seeds remained in the barren sandy soil of the young dunes as the glacier slowly melted and retreated north. Hardwood forests could no longer thrive in the conditions of the sandy terrain as the temperatures rose, allowing the jack pines to thrive. These trees, now considered relics of the Ice Age, have proven resilient enough to withstand poor soil and harsh conditions. At the Indiana Dunes, you can find jack pines along the lakeshore on the Dunes Succession Trail at West Beach and on the Paul H. Douglas Trail in Miller Woods. 

The next time you think of Jack Frost, remember how his “gift” of ice reshaped the landscape, making way for the dunes - and the jack pines - that we know today.

Happy holidays from the Dunes Learning Center!

Sources

https://ag.purdue.edu/news/department/fnr/2023/04/intro-to-trees-jack-pine.html
https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/jack-pine/?_ga=2.142990709.1574364819.1731341849-1750240908.1731341848#overview
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/jack-pines-on-lake-michigan-s-southern-shore.htm
https://www.indianadunes.com/explore-the-dunes/plan-your-visit/dunes-101/geographic-regions/the-dunes/

Ixchel Barraza Zapata

Environmental Education Fellow

Eye Spy

One of the first activities we complete with our middle school DuneVersity programs are “eye spy” activities. These activities help students learn and practice the first step in the scientific process, observation. This first step is often overlooked when people think of science. People  will usually think about filling up beakers or mixing different substances together. Others think of memorizing different organelles in a cell. These activities can help us learn more about the world around us, but may not show the big picture like making observations does. 

When I lead groups on hikes, one of things that I will tell students is “If you see anything cool along the trail, let me know and we can talk about it.” This usually leads to the question “What type of plant is this?” or “What type of bug is this?”

I usually respond with “What do you notice about the plant/animal?” Without realizing it, the student starts making observations. They notice that the bug is green and camouflages with the leaf, or that the plant has thorns to protect itself from predators. These observations are often more important than what the species is because it helps inspire curiosity instead of just memorizing a species name.

This curiosity helps students learn that the world around them can teach them a lot. They do not need to know the scientific name of every plant in order to know a lot about the plant. Also, allowing students to use their natural curiosity helps them build empathy. By practicing asking questions about the plants and animals, students can learn to ask questions of others in their community to have a better understanding of the world. By allowing them to be curious and ask questions we are not only promoting empathy, but we are letting students know that it is fine to not know the answer to every single question. This leads to kids growing up to be more curious, empathetic people.

Alex Butina

Environmental Education Fellow II

Invasive Plants Don't Have To Be Scary!

When you take a trip out to Cowles Bog, the first ecosystem that greets you is the wetlands. The signature water-loving plants and birds offer welcoming waves and sing the tunes of the dunes. But looming in the distance is an invasive tall grass more frightening than any halloween ghoul: phragmites! 

Phragmite grass

Invasive species are non-native species that cause harm to the health of the environment, animals, or plants in the area. Phragmites are very aggressive thanks to its seed production and rhizome network. Phragmites spread from ecosystem to ecosystem quickly because they produce up to 2,000 seeds a year! Their rhizomes, an extensive network of underground stems, are also used to create new plants. Rhizomes can grow 1 to 3 feet below soil surface and can creep horizontally up to 10 feet in a season! To make things worse, phragmites can grow up to 15 feet tall and out-compete plants below them for valuable sunlight. All of these factors make it extremely difficult for plants to cohabitate with phragmites. 

For a National Park that is well-known for its plant and animal biodiversity (ranking fourth most biodiverse out of all National Parks), plants like phragmites threaten this biodiversity with their quick reproduction and ability to survive difficult conditions. 

But don't be scared, we don’t have to let phragmites haunt our wetlands! There are different techniques to help bring native ecosystems back from the grave, reviving them to their natural state. Several sites in the National Park were once overgrown with phragmites, but thanks to consistent hard-work of phragmite phighters the native plants are thriving in recovered wetland ecosystems. 

Before and after phragmites removal at west beach

There’s something you can do to help protect your park, too. Using a stiff brush or a boot cleaning station before and after the next time you hit the trails you keep seeds from accidentally planting themselves in the ecosystems you’re visiting. Also, just by visiting your outdoor spaces you’re proving why we should invest into protecting our ecosystems from being overtaken with invasive plants. With your help we can keep our natural gems free from invasives for generations to come! 

NOTE: There are both native and invasive phragmite in the Dunes. Native phragmites have a purple-red hue to the stem and have leaves with a yellow tint, while invasive phragmites have a dull green stem with bluer leaves. 

Lily Olander

Environmental Education Fellow

Orange Flutters of Spring

There are classic signs of Spring all around us: flowers blooming, warm rain, and the emergence of flora and fauna that have been dormant all winter. For me, seasons changing bring with them a sense of excitement and a bit of anxiety. There is a feeling of newness that comes with the springtime. A feeling of evolution from our winter selves that have been bundled up to the emergence of shorter sleeves and sunshine. The perfect visualization of the journey between winter and the new life of spring is the Monarch butterfly.

I hold a hint of jealousy for the Monarch because it gets to migrate to warm places and avoid the snow that we see here in Northwest Indiana (and it doesn’t even send a postcard!). In the spring months, the delicate butterfly begins its migration back from Mexico to the Southern region of the United States, in search of a milkweed plant to lay its egg on. When it finds this special plant, the lifecycle and the miracle of the Monarch begins. After the laying of the eggs, the caterpillar will hatch and eat its egg and the milkweed plant it is laid on. It will feed and feed on this plant until it has the energy and resources to form a chrysalis, a cocoon-like structure where the caterpillar will undergo its final transformation. After about two weeks in the chrysalis stage, the soft orange wings of the butterfly will emerge and it will continue its journey north towards places like the Indiana Dunes!

Just like most things in nature, butterflies rely on signals from the environment in order to start their migration process. When it starts becoming too hot in their winter home, they journey further north to lay eggs and escape the heat. Climate change and habitat destruction are causing major issues for these travelers. Changing weather patterns may give false cues to begin migrating and as a result, they start their journey too early. When they finally arrive at their destination, the milkweed is not mature enough to support their eggs. Deforestation and habitat degradation also contribute to the loss of the ecosystems that allow milkweed to thrive. This can be as severe as illegal logging of Oyamel fir trees in Mexico or the use of dangerous herbicides and pesticides within local communities. It is important that humans recognize and learn about the impacts of these practices in order to better inform their practices in the future!

The Indiana Dunes National Park is in a unique position because it is a stopover point for the Monarch butterfly in both the spring and fall. It is a place where they will stop to rest and gather the energy needed to continue their journey. I would encourage you to do two things this spring. 1) Hike the beautiful trails of YOUR national park and look for signs of spring and vibrant Monarch butterflies and 2) find a spot in your community- it can even be your backyard- to plant a pollinator garden that uses native plants. The planting of milkweed, and other butterfly-friendly plants, can provide a place for Monarchs to pollinate, feed, and lay eggs. In return, like a true symbiotic relationship, humans can enjoy the beautiful orange flutters of Spring!

Lauren Hardebeck

1st Year Environmental Educator Fellow

Photoperiodism

Young leaves blooming on a ginkgo tree in early spring (Photo credit: Margo Taylor)

The seasons come and go every year. The continual shift from spring to summer to fall to winter and then back to the beginning. But as most of us have experienced, we often get a “false spring”. Every year, we get a few days that are warm like springtime when it should feel cold like winter, and then days later we get hit with more winter weather. But during this stretch of warmth, how do plants and animals know that this is only a “false spring” and there is more winter weather to come? Many plants and animals use a mechanism called photoperiodism, which is a response triggered by changes in the length of daylight in a day. This response often comes with the changing of seasons and cues seasonal actions. 

Many plants use photoperiodism to regulate one or several of their functions. These functions include reproduction, flowering, leaf production, and dormancy. Photoperiodism is especially evident with deciduous trees. Deciduous trees lose their leaves in the fall and become dormant before growing leaves again in the spring. But how do they know the right time to start growing? Trees do not want to start growing too early and experience damage due to the cold, but they also do not want to start growing too late and miss out on vital sunlight. To address this issue, trees use photoperiodism. There are special receptors called photochromes in the bark of trees that measure the amount of light it receives during the day. These photochromes help the tree recognize the signs of “false spring” and wait until the arrival of “true spring” to begin growing.

buck with antlers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

antler shed from a white tailed deer (Photo credit: northamericanwhitetail.com)

Animals can also use photoperiodism! Indiana’s largest resident mammal, the white-tailed deer, is one example. Every spring, male bucks will shed their antlers. Antlers are used to signify breeding status, attract potential mates, and also help the buck defend its territory. Antlers stop growing after a certain amount of time, but shedding antlers allows a buck to grow bigger antlers than before. This process is dependent on photoperiodism because light directly influences the hormones that cause the shedding and regrowth of antlers. 

These are just a few of the many organisms that use photoperiodism to respond to the changing of the seasons. Other environmental factors may influence an organism's activities, but the use of photoperiodism is an important tool for plants and animals so they are not fooled by a “false spring”.

Margo Taylor

1st Year Environmental Educator Fellow

Maple Sugar Time

This time of year is prime time in Northwest Indiana for maple sugaring! The Indiana Dunes National Park is unique for many reasons, including that it is one of the only National Park sites where the park taps trees and boils the sap down into syrup on-site. The park’s Maple Sugar Time festival is definitely worth visiting, but my favorite part about this time of year is getting to teach Dunes Learning Center’s high school forestry program on sugar maples because it’s a great opportunity for the students to get to experience maple sugaring for themselves and explore different ways they could get involved in stewardship or forestry in the future.

indiana dunes maple sugar range

boiling sap into syrup in the sugar shack

So many different conditions have to happen just right for us to be able to make maple syrup. Sugar maples only grow in a limited range across the northeastern U.S. and the southeast region of Canada, and their range continues to shift with the ongoing effects of climate change. Not only that, but the prime season for extracting sap to make syrup requires specific weather conditions: usually, temperatures need to reach up to about 40 degrees during the day and then drop below freezing at night. This temperature swing makes pressure build up underneath the bark so that sap will flow out when someone taps it. These two factors and more make it so remarkable to me that there is such a long history of maple sugar production and that we are able to carry on this tradition in the region.

Indiana dunes sugar shack at chellberg farm

It’s also remarkable that high schoolers and their teachers and chaperones are able to take time out of their busy schedules to attend a day-long field trip at the sugar bush across from Chellberg Farm. Our Climate Change in the Maple Sugar Range program is one of the only opportunities we have to work with high schoolers during the school year, so it’s extra exciting for us as educators.

students measuring trees in the sugar range

My favorite part of our Climate Change in the Maple Sugar Range program is getting to see students grow confidence in their abilities with forestry tools and making observations about the nature around them in the sugar bush. Both years that I’ve helped teach this program, I’ve watched the students gain a closer understanding of the trees around them as we work, and I especially enjoy talking with them about what they wanted to do moving forward past high school. Even if they don’t all see themselves becoming foresters, I hope that getting the chance to do field work in the national park plants seeds in students’ heads about how they can grow into stewards of nature in whatever way works for them.

Hope Rodgers

2nd Year Environmental Educator Fellow

Snowy Owls

One of the most prized species for birders in Indiana to find is the Snowy Owl. This bird is elusive to many in the United States but can be found abundantly in its breeding grounds within the Arctic Circle. The Snowy Owl occasionally migrates far enough south in the winter to be seen in Northern Midwest states- including here in the Indiana Dunes. The Snowy Owl has even been seen as far south as Southern California! These owls capture the interests of people across the country because of their unique features and rare visits.

The Snowy Owl is the only species of owl that has mostly white plumage. This coloration lets the bird blend into its surroundings of white snow in the Arctic. It uses this camouflage to help protect it from predators such as foxes and wolves. If they were a brown color like most other owls, they would stick out to their predators in the arctic snow.

This magnificent bird has multiple adaptations that help it survive the cold arctic winters, where temperatures often reach -4°F (-20°C). Eating lots of food is important to maintaining a high metabolism and keeping their bodies warm. An adult Snowy Owl can weigh up to 4.5 pounds (which is surprisingly heavy for a bird) and can eat over a pound of food each day. Can you imagine a human eating one-quarter of its weight in a single day?? Their diet consists mostly of lemmings during the summer months, but if food is sparse they may also eat ducks, fish, and whatever small animals that they can find. Snowy Owls also have particularly long, thick contour feathers- surface feathers that cover the majority of the tail, wing, and body of birds- to protect them from the wind. 

Snowy Owls are one of the most unique birds that we can find in Northern Indiana. So the next time that you are outside in the winter, make sure to look out for these elusive birds!

Alex Butina

1st Year Environmental Educator

Migration vs Hibernation

Something about winter that has often intrigued me, aside from the winter wonderlands, are the reasons why different animals choose to migrate or hibernate. In nature, migration is the act of traveling from one area to another to escape seasonal changes. Hibernation is the act of “shutting down” and “sleeping” to avoid harsh environmental conditions. Many organisms of the Indiana Dunes have evolved to either use migration, hibernation, or a combination of the two during the winter. But what is it that makes these strategies so desirable? Why do some species waste precious energy traveling hundreds of miles, while others stay confined in a cramped-little den for months-on-end? These are the kinds of questions I’m left with when I wonder to myself, “how are our various Dune’s critters doing these days?” 

What I’ve come to think is that these animals may have had the right idea all along. The reason these techniques are so preferable is because they are especially helpful for avoiding the worst aspects of winter. 

Take hibernators for instance; little creatures like groundhogs, turtles, and snakes don’t have the mobility necessary to travel long distances. A winged-warbler can fly from Northwest Indiana to South Florida with (relative) ease, but a lowly-lizard would have a pretty hard time crawling that far. So if they can’t leave their frigid homes so easily, then their only practical option is to stick around. Times are tough in the winter though, and finding enough food, water (that isn’t frozen solid), and shelter can be hard. It’s a challenge that our cold-blooded friends must overcome in order to survive though. Enter hibernation: a real winning strategy! By “going to sleep” for the winter, animals can cut back on the amount of food and water they need to survive. Other animals that stay awake all winter, like deer, need to forage constantly for food or run the risk of starvation. But all a hibernator needs to survive the winter is a belly full of fat and a good shelter to hide in until spring. Of course, when they do wake up, they’ll be hungry and seriously dehydrated, but that’s a problem they can solve when the snow thaws!

Migrators, on the other hand, avoid the problems that come with winter by leaving all together. They COULD stay and try to weather the cold with the rest of us, BUT as we said earlier, times are tough in the winter and finding enough resources to survive is never a guarantee. For those with the means then, getting away for the season is pretty appealing. “Why bother staying amidst the snow and ice when we could go to the tropics instead?” Birds are probably the most recognizable migrants; every year millions of birds travel back and forth between their summer and winter homes during migration season. Traveling so much takes a long time and a lot of energy (like A LOT of energy), but they can just “recharge their batteries” in their vacation homes. Food sources like fruit or insects, especially, are a lot easier to find in warmer, more southern areas compared to Indiana in the winter season.

It’s truly amazing what adaptations nature can come up with to survive. I believe that we all could learn a thing or two from our Park’s winter critters. Maybe we all can try taking a nap the next time a blizzard blows through, or perhaps we may be happier in Mexico enjoying some “invierno” cuisine! Whatever strategies we choose though, we can rest easy knowing our Dunes critters will still be here when spring arrives again.

Alex “Burdy” Burdsall

2nd Year Environmental Educator Fellow

"Sprucing" Up the Holidays

With the arrival of the holiday season, I thought it would be appropriate to write about something that includes both nature and holiday traditions! So if you’ve ever wanted to learn more about the tradition or science behind Christmas trees, you’ve come to the right place.

Evergreen boughs have been used as a symbol of life and a ward against darkness and illness at least since ancient Egyptian times. However, the first written record of a dedicated Christmas tree dates back to 1441 in Tallinn, Estonia, where the men from a local merchants’ guild decorated and danced around an evergreen tree before setting it on fire. Households in Germany soon after adapted this custom, using small evergreen trees decorated with apples, citrus fruits, nuts, paper strips, and candles as table centerpieces as part of their Christmas celebrations. German immigrants introduced the tradition to America during the late 1700s/early 1800s, where the custom evolved into using ceiling-height trees. The tradition of harvesting and decorating a tree became so popular that there was serious concern that the continued harvest of coniferous trees would lead to their extirpation (local extinction). 

In an effort to protect American forests, Theodore Roosevelt was advised to eliminate the use of live Christmas trees. To reduce the risk of overharvesting, the first commercial Christmas tree farm was planted in New Jersey in 1901. Today, approximately 30 million live Christmas trees are sold every year in America. Over the past several decades, the use of artificial trees has become increasingly popular, accounting for nearly 60% of all Christmas trees in the U.S. 

https://www.thechrisfoxgroup.com/blog/what-is-your-favorite-type-of-live-christmas-tree/ 

So what trees do we typically use as Christmas trees? You may be surprised to learn that there are over 600 different evergreen tree species worldwide! The vast majority of Christmas trees used today belong to three different groups- fir trees, spruce trees, and pine trees. While these trees are similar in that they all bear needles year-round, there is an easy way to differentiate them. Pine trees are easily distinguished by having needles that grow in clusters. Each cluster grows from a ‘fascicle’, and the number of needles per fascicle can be used to help determine the actual pine species. Fir and spruce trees have needles that grow individually instead of in clusters, but the shape of the needle can be used to tell them apart. Spruce trees have squarish four-sided needles with sharp, brittle tips. In contrast, fir trees have flat two-sided needles with soft, rounded tips. Below is a helpful guide to identifying some of the most commonly used Christmas tree species in America!

Calvin Williams

1st Year Environmental Education Fellow

Fall Bird Migrations

As fall rolled through the dunes, it brought with it a wave of migratory birds. There was one weekend earlier this fall that I saw a particularly large amount of birds moving through the area. Migration season is very exciting for me because it combines two of my favorite things: photographing birds and learning new birds.

Blackpoll Warbler

On one particular Saturday afternoon, I was on a walk past Dunes Learning Center. It was on this walk when I first noticed the large amount of warblers. It was very exciting because these were birds I haven’t been seeing around here throughout the summer, and many of them were birds that I wasn’t able to identify without looking them up. There were black-throated green warblers, blackpoll warblers, and chestnut-sided warblers. They were mostly hanging out along the stream and in the bushes along the road, foraging for food to fuel up for  their migration south.  

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

The next day, I went birding with another DLC educator (the legendary Alex of the Birding with Burdsall Instagram series) at the state park. Besides seeing a lot more warblers, it was also nice to see some of our more common summer birds before they headed off for the winter. The catbirds were as loud as ever, the hummingbirds were buzzing about outside the nature center, and a summer tanager landed right in front of us almost as if it was posing.

Summer Tanager

That week also brought in signs that our winter birds are becoming easier to spot. The geese were flying overhead, with a couple of them even landing to hang out in the pond along Howe Road. I had better luck capturing photos of chickadees and tufted titmice, which seem to elude me more in the summertime. Alex and I even found a red-breasted nuthatch at the state park, a bird which leaves the dunes during the summer. The dark-eyed juncos have also shown up in the dunes. Just like the changing of the leaves, the return of our winter bird species and the departure of our summer bird species serves as a reminder of the changing seasons!

Written & Photographed by Kate Valentine

2nd Year Environmental Education Fellow

Summer Memories

As the sun sets on summer and we welcome a new school year, I asked some of our environmental education fellows to share a single memorable moment from our summer camp programs. Included below are just a few of the highlights of a summer filled with laughter, adventure, learning, and memories that will last a lifetime. 

Calvin: One of my favorite moments from summer camp was watching the variety of emotions when campers participated in our insect show and tell. Jim Louderman, an entomologist from the Field Museum in Chicago, brought living and preserved specimens from across the world to our camp and gave kids the chance to hold some of the insects from his collection. The room was always filled with excitement, curiosity, wonder, and surprise and the range of facial expressions was fun to watch. Despite many campers having a previous dislike of bugs, the majority of our campers came away from the experience talking about how cool insects can be.

Hope: At the end of every week of camp, the trail groups have a brief reflection time to talk about what we did at camp and our "roses, buds, and thorns" of the week. One of the quieter campers in my group said that their "rose" -- their favorite part of the week -- was learning how to open up and make new friends that they didn't expect to make. This moment warmed my heart and reminded me of how formative camp can be in helping kids develop confidence and make friends.

Kate: During teen camp, we gave campers the opportunity to pick their own adventure. Campers were asked to rank their preference of the following activities: fishing/kayaking, nature photography, a 5 mile hike at Cowles Bog, insect investigations and research, and arts/crafts. Unfortunately, one of my students wasn’t selected for any of their top preferences and ended up being placed into the photography group. Although initially disappointed and disinterested, they quickly realized that nature photography was similar to liminal photography, a topic they were much more interested in. Watching them go from the least excited student in the group to one of the most engaged and passionate students was satisfying and rewarding. 

Alex Butina: During the summer, one of our most anticipated activities is spending a day at West Beach. Unfortunately, we had to cancel a beach party one week when the air quality alert was in place from the Canadian wildfires. The campers were understandably disappointed about the situation and our staff had to come up with alternative plans at the last second. It was a challenge to adjust and adapt, but I was impressed with how our campers were able to turn lemons into lemonade and still get the most out of the day. 

Margo: My summer highlight comes from teen camp, when the campers were divided into small groups and given several tasks to complete in order to earn pieces to a map that would lead to the legendary Sandsquatch. One of the tasks was to build a fire tall enough to reach and burn a piece of string nearly 2 feet above the ground. To add to the challenge, the rain started to come down during the activity. My group struggled to build the fire, but each failed attempt made them more determined to make it work. The sense of accomplishment and pride when they finally succeeded, after nearly 30 minutes of failure, was incredible.

Lauren: On one of the hottest days of the summer, I was leading a group of campers on a 5 mile hike at Cowles Bog. In the middle of the hike, we have to climb several dunes and my students were doubtful that we’d be able to handle the task. We took it slow and stopped many times, sharing many words of encouragement. We were only halfway up the dune and it was clear that energy and morale were nearly gone. At this point, one camper reached out to their trailmate behind them, looked them in the eye, and said, “We will finish this together.” Those words gave me the motivation to finish the steep climb and filled me with a new sense of confidence in the young generation.  

Alex Burdsall: One of my favorite experiences from this summer was getting the chance to see a beehive up close for the first time! Our summer camp theme was insects, and having actual beehives on site was a wonderful way to teach campers about our pollinator pals. Every person that visited the hives wore a special bee suit for protection, which allowed us to get a closer look at the intricate structure of a hive. We learned about the different roles each bee has within the hive, how bees communicate through the “waggle dance”, and why bees are an important part of the ecosystem. As the summer comes to an end, I’m looking forward to even more new adventures and experiences around the Indiana Dunes!

Hannah: This summer only confirmed the idea in my mind that there is something magical about being around a large body of water. There were several kids during our summer camps that didn't seem to enjoy anything we were doing. It being my first year, I thought "maybe camp just isn't made for them." One camper in particular sticks out in my mind: they were overwhelmed and anxious throughout the week. During our weekly trip to West Beach, I was on the lookout for them, hoping they were enjoying themselves. I almost didn't recognize them with their beaming smile and beautiful, carefree laugh as they splashed through the water. This was the first time at camp I saw a kid completely transform. Something about the water was able to wash this camper's stress and anxieties away. It reminded me why we are doing this day after day - kids need to create memories in these spaces so that they want to protect them in the years to come.

DLC Staff

September 2023

2022-2023 Highlights

While we’re gearing up for summer camp and welcoming new seasonal staff at DLC, we’re also saying goodbye to the class of 2022-23 Environmental Education Fellows. For the last Naturalist Note of the spring, the fellows (plus Anthony, our On-Site Education & Fellowship Manager) would like to share some of their favorite moments from the past year. We hope you enjoy!

Kate: The first week of summer camp was really hot, so we played a game one afternoon in the lodge. As part of this game, we asked the campers to do an impression of a trail group leader. One of my kids came up and did a spot-on impression of me on our hike earlier that day: “If you haven’t had water in the last five minutes, take a drink of water!”

Sierra: On a rainy day on the Cowles Bog trail, I found a baby snapping turtle and I got to show all the students! It was cool because it was the first turtle I’d found on trail.

Jarrod: During Dunes Adventure camp, I was on the Cabin Leader shift for one night. After a long day I was very tired, so when we got to our tent in the evening I was falling asleep, leaving the campers to entertain themselves. I heard one of them say, “Let’s play Uno in our minds!” The next words I heard were “red four,” followed by “green four,” then “wild card!” Although it started out normally, they soon played orange cards, pink cards, and made up special edition cards. For a half hour or so this continued. As tired as I was, they were having fun and that was all that mattered to me.

Alex:  There’s a plywood board in front of the garage at Sears House. In the summer, the Fellows living at Sears liked to search under the board for critters. One day, we found two milk snakes curled up underneath! They weren’t the first or last snakes we found, but they were pretty cool!

Anthony: I loved sitting around the fire during our fall staff training trip to Conner Prairie. It was great just having casual conversation and learning more about each other. Everyone was so concerned with me overcooking my hobo packet, and I loved it. 

Genevieve: During a Frog in the Bog program, I introduced the waste dilemma to my trail group and we had a great discussion! We talked about both big- and small-scale changes to reduce waste. My group even felt inspired to make some changes at their school like trying a food waste challenge and starting an environmental club.

Stephanie: One of my favorite memories happened during a night hike. My group and I were starting our “solo hikes,” and we made owl calls back and forth to each other so the next student knows when to start hiking. While we did our owl calls, a real barred owl started calling back to us! It was the first time I’ve had an owl call back during solo hike, it was a really awesome experience!

Travis: During a high school winter program, one student shared with the group after trying a wild edible plant that he had a list of things he had eaten before. Another student commented that the list was full of strange things. The teacher and I both stated we wanted to see the list. The student then turned around and said to me and the teacher, “Have you ever eaten a bus seat before?”

Aoife: I have a few so I will keep them short! My first favorite that comes to mind is when we went to Jasper Pulaski to see the sandhill crane migration. I had never seen anything like that before, it was really special. Next is the first filming of Birding with Burdsall – we had a good laugh! Another was coming home and finding a personal concert in the living room when Sierra and Hope were playing violin and flute. And last I will say seeing a cute little blue-spotted salamander for the first time.

Hope: One day when we were out picking up trash, I found what looked like dryer lint on the ground. When I got closer, I saw that it was actually owl pellets. Sierra came by to look and she said, “there must’ve been an owl right above us!” I looked up and there really was an owl right there – a saw-whet owl, to be exact! That moment made me feel the kind of excitement I see kids have all the time when we spot an animal on trail.

Bella: I returned to DLC as an Educator after two years away, and I felt so grateful to experience something I had done before with new people, new knowledge, and a new mindset. I saw firsthand just how much impact an organization like DLC can have. I met returning campers moving up from Discovery camp to teen camp, teen campers moving on to being cabin leaders, and a new set of Educators who were motivated, passionate, and welcoming. During the school year, every time a student said this was their favorite field trip or a chaperone mentioned how impactful this experience is, I remembered how influential my work is.

Fellows, Class of 2022-2023

Surprise, Surprise!

During my senior year at college, I undertook my first expedition to LaRue-Pine Hills Research Natural Area, part of Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois, also known as “Snake Road.” As one may expect from such a name, there were indeed snakes on the road at Snake Road! The quantity and range of different snakes there though was completely unexpected; over the two-day period my herpetology class visited the area, we saw fifty snakes and almost a dozen different species. To say I was blown away would be a tremendous understatement… I was over the moon with joy! 

I’ve gone back to Snake Road half a dozen times in the years since I first visited, in an effort to top my all-time record for sightings. I just went again this year, on the 15th and 29th of April, in fact. Even though I’ve yet to beat my first trip’s numbers, I still find myself pleasantly surprised by something every time I journey there. For instance, in all my time visiting Snake Road, I had never seen a Timber Rattlesnake until one of my trips this year! I went out there with limited expectations, hoping to see something but not sure what it would be, and the universe rewarded me with my first ever sighting of a wild rattlesnake. 

I’ve found that life has a funny way of surprising us like that. Sometimes you’re out looking for lemons and instead you find lemon sharks! Or maybe you go panning for gold but keep coming up with goldfish! One can never be 100% sure what to expect whenever they step outside. You can look in all the right habitats, at the exact right time of day, at the exact right time of year, under all the right weather conditions and still not find any of the right wildlife if they’re just not cooperative. Likewise, you may find yourself stumbling upon critters in the most unexpected of times and places. One time, while taking out the garbage, I almost stepped on a hognose snake that was right outside my front door! Other days, I’ve spent hours searching high and low for morel mushrooms, only to find sycamore balls, half-eaten walnuts, and other look-alikes.

I find that the more expectations and anticipation I have on the days I go out in nature, the less enjoyable my time feels when I come up short of them. While there are definitely some days that feel more frustrating than others though, there is always opportunity for joy in the form of the unexpected. You just have to be able to see it; you could find happiness in the form of a beautiful cloud formation, or maybe as a hidden grove of wildflowers. Sometimes it even comes in the form of finding a cool snake (though probably not for everyone)! Somehow, I always find something new and beautiful every time I explore, and it always seems to be when I don’t expect it. I guess you could say that nature is just full of surprises!

Alex Burdsall

Environmental Education Fellow

Fishing in the Dunes

During the summer of 2022 I had the pleasure of accompanying a group of teens from Dunes Adventure Camp on a day of kayaking and fishing at Marquette Park in Gary, IN. On this trip, a few of the campers and I fished off a bridge over a small pond. The campers caught some bluegill and almost a smallmouth bass! There was a troublesome turtle chasing down our nightcrawler bait, which slightly complicated our fishing. However, I did manage to catch one of my favorite species of fish in Indiana, the pumpkinseed! 

Pumpkinseed are a member of the sunfish family, which includes bluegill as well. They are a smaller disc-shaped fish growing up to 6 inches in length. They can be tricky to handle because they have 10-11 dorsal spines in their dorsal fin, which grows along their back. They are a very pretty fish with wavy blue lines along their cheek that contrast with their olive green scales. Pumpkinseed get their name from the orange spot just above their operculum, which is the area that covers their gills on the side of their face. This unique feature distinguishes them from bluegills, who lack the orange spot. Pumpkinseed are found in shallow water and are active throughout the day, making them a great fish for all ages to enjoy when casting a line into the water.

As the days are warming up this spring, it’s time for more fishing again! Fishing is a fun way to learn about what’s living under the surface in the Indiana Dunes region.

*Note: In order to go fishing in the Indiana Dunes National Park, you must have an Indiana State Fishing License. It’s always a good idea to check the fishing regulations anywhere you choose to go fishing.

Jarrod Price

Environmental Education Fellow

Evolution in the Dunes and Beyond

I have been lucky enough to travel to some pretty remarkable places. Most recently, I visited the Galápagos Islands. About 1000 km off the coast of Ecuador, the Galápagos are an archipelago situated in the Pacific Ocean. These islands are a “melting pot” of different species. The seismic and volcanic activity that formed the islands continues to shape them today. These processes, along with the extreme isolation of the islands, led to evolutionary patterns that inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. 

During my trip, I saw species including the Galápagos giant tortoise, Galápagos penguin, flightless cormorant, and both land and marine iguanas. The lesson I learned after spending time with these beautiful creatures is that animals either adapt and survive, or else risk their extinction when faced with changing conditions. 

After leaving the Galápagos and returning back home, my trip gave me a new perspective to view some of the species we find back here, in the Indiana Dunes! Every creature on this Earth is a product of evolution, so why don’t we take a closer look at some of the wonders we have close to home?

Here at the Indiana Dunes, we are graced by the presence of a special little reptile called the six-lined racerunner. This lizard can dart across the sand at up to 18 miles per hour—almost as fast as an Olympic sprinter! When we think of lizards, they tend to be in warmer habitats. But wait, the Indiana Dunes isn’t warm all year round…how does this creature survive the colder months? Well, another adaptation that this creature has to help them survive is the ability to bury themselves underground and hibernate for 9 months of the year. Yes. You read that right. Racerunners are typically only active from June through August. No wonder they can run so fast, they must be pretty well rested. 

The wonders of the Indiana Dunes don’t stop there! We are so lucky to be surrounded by animals with diverse evolutionary traits. The red fox has ears so sensitive that they can hear a mouse scratching a leaf 150 feet away. Spring peepers are very tolerant of cold conditions, withstanding freezing during winter hibernation due to a natural “antifreeze” in their blood. And it doesn’t stop with animals. We have some pretty special plants here too. In some of the bog habitats, you can find carnivorous plants! These are plants that feed on small insects thanks to their clever adaptations. 

These, and so many other creatures, are the (not so) small wonders I love to point out to visitors during our programs. There is always something new to learn, even about the species we most commonly think about. 

I am eternally grateful for the experiences I have outside of my Indiana bubble, but boy, is it something special to look closer at what surrounds me near home and remember that this, too, is a unique and special place.

Bella Santana

Environmental Education Fellow

Crinoids, Fossils, and Other Indiana Dunes Treasures

Imagine you’re at one of the many beaches along Lake Michigan. As you walk along the shore, listening to the waves and feeling the sand beneath your feet, you look down and something catches your eye: a tiny rock that looks like a Cheerio! Upon further inspection you realize that it’s not breakfast cereal. It’s a fossil from an animal that lived about 450 million years ago! 

 Pycnocrinus multibrachiatus is a crinoid (sea lily) that lived during the Ordovician Period. During this time, Indiana sat under a shallow sea near the equator. Crinoids, along with other organisms, flourished in the warm tropical waters. Over time as the Earth changed, these animals died and were fossilized. Today, crinoid fossils are one of my favorite fossils to find on the shores of Lake Michigan.

So, what is a crinoid exactly? Well, they’re related to modern day echinoderms which include sea lilies, sea stars, sea urchins, and brittle stars. If you want to get very specific about things, they’re part of the class Crinoidea.

The basic structure of a crinoid can be broken up into two sections: the crown and the stalk. At the top, the crown is made up of the aboral cup, the arms attached to the cup, and the pinnules that make up the arms. The stalk is made up of the holdfast that allows the crinoid to attach itself to a structure, and the stem. The stem typically consisted of disc-like plates (columnals) stacked on top of each other. The part of a crinoid that you find on the beach is most commonly the columnals, which can sometimes look like a Cheerio.

Besides crinoid fossils, you can find other treasures along the beach. There are many types of fossilized corals and brachiopods. If you’re more of a shell enthusiast, there is an abundance of zebra mussel shells along the shore. Hag stones, which are stones with naturally occurring holes, are also a common sight – according to folklore, they have protective and healing powers. With all the industry around the Indiana Dunes, you can also find slag, which looks black and shiny and is a product of steel production and smelting. Beach glass smoothed out by lake waves can also be found along the beach, and is the one thing you can take home from the National Park since it’s considered trash. (The Indiana Dunes National Park allows you to take beach glass, but the State Park does NOT.) 

The first time I found a crinoid, I was at West Beach during our summer camp program. At first I thought it was a button because it was so big! Ever since, I’ve enjoyed finding fossils at the beaches along Lake Michigan. Something about finding one and thinking about how long ago it lived puts everything into perspective. It’s also a lot of fun when a student finds one and I get to tell them all about crinoids and the unique geological history of the Indiana Dunes. 

PLEASE NOTE: Taking fossils from the Indiana Dunes National and State Parks is not allowed.

Sierra Conley

Environmental Education Fellow

Walking to Work in a National Park

One of the many perks of living and working in a national park is there’s almost always a new surprise waiting around the corner on my walk to work. I don’t think I could ever get tired of the simple pleasure that is the walk to or from work at Dunes Learning Center.

The first couple of weeks I lived in DLC housing, I learned to allow about twice the time I actually needed to walk to work because I stopped so many times to look at the nature around me.  As Environmental Education Fellows, we have the opportunity to learn about wild edible plants, and if we pass a certification test every season, we can feed these wild edibles to participants during our programs. For my first test during summer training, I was nervous about recognizing garlic mustard on trail because it looks so similar to a non-edible plant called ground ivy. Every day leading up to the test, my roommate and I practiced our garlic mustard identification skills (and ended up smelling a lot of leaves in the process). In the end, we passed the test, thanks to Howe Road’s garlic mustard supply!

Just as winter fell on Indiana and many of the migratory animals were already gone for the season, a new curiosity started to appear. On a particularly early November morning, I saw a fresh beaver chew with wood shavings surrounding it. This set me off on a months-long search for the beaver. Each week, new signs of the beaver appeared, but it wasn’t until mid-February that I finally saw our local tree engineer! My coworkers and I have found that right at dusk is the best time to see our friend the beaver, because beavers are crepuscular, meaning that they are most active at dusk and dawn.

As I start to see the first signs of spring these past few weeks, I’m excited to find out what’s coming next. Most recently, the wood ducks returned to one of the wetlands near the Little Calumet River and I heard their characteristic squeaky calls joining the red-winged blackbirds that have already been back from their migration for a while now. Soon there will be many more wildflowers – we’ve already seen some spring ephemerals like snowdrops sprouting up from the (very muddy) ground! Even as I approach a full year spent at DLC, I still consistently find surprises on my daily walk.

It’s always exciting to visit new places too, but living here and taking the same route to and from work every day has taught me the joy of observing even the most familiar of places carefully. Even if all you have time for today is to go hug one tree outside, do it! I can almost guarantee that it will make your day better.

Hope Rogers

Environmental Education Fellow

From Cabin Leader to Environmental Educator

From Cabin Leader to Environmental Educator

Before my last semester of college, I decided to pursue an internship position as a Cabin Leader at Dunes Learning Center. Little did I know that after I graduated I would be back as an Environmental Educator.

My first experience of Northwest Indiana included meeting the staff of DLC, becoming a Cabin Leader, and exploring the Indiana Dunes National Park. I was very excited to join the team as a Cabin Leader. With that came some memorable moments that I will never forget. A moment that I cherish from my time as a Cabin Leader was leading a night hike during Dunes Adventure Camp (Teen Camp). During the night hike, I had an activity called solo hike where the campers have a short, 30-second solo hike on the trail.

In order for the campers to know when they can walk down the trail, I would do an owl call to signal to them that the trail is clear to walk down. After campers would finish the solo hike, I would let them call to signal the next person. After doing this a couple of times an actual owl called back to us. I will never forget the look of excitement on my campers’ faces when they heard an actual owl that they called. This moment made me really appreciate the opportunity I had to be a Cabin Leader and to witness these campers calling an owl for the first time. I knew from that moment that I wanted to come back as an Environmental Educator so that I could continue to make an impact on young people’s lives and let them have an experience that they may have never had before. 

Since I have started as an Environmental Educator, I have found that I am still able to enjoy night hikes and other activities that I performed as a cabin leader. I am happy to say that after transitioning from a Cabin Leader into an Environmental Educator, I am looking forward to more of these experiences with campers and students.  

Travis Privette

Environmental Education Fellow

Waking Up to the World Around Me

I always loved the outdoors growing up. Most of my childhood was spent outside, whether it was wandering the neighborhood with friends, heading to West Beach for the day and exploring the sand dunes (before they were closed), or running around fields with my cousins in Ireland. I loved the feeling of being free outside with no boundaries or walls to limit my curiosity. Everywhere I went there was always something new to find or somewhere new to explore. 

Even with all the time that I spent outside, I never took the time to learn about the world around me. I knew very little about what it takes for these natural spaces to stay natural, what animals and birds are native to the regions I was in, what plants I was looking at everyday, and so on. I loved the feeling nature gave me but I never had the motivation to find out about what was really going on around me. 

When I came to DLC, a lot changed for me. I learned about the unique forms of life in the region and how everything that is native to this area has different adaptations to survive here. I found out that Cowles Bog was one of the best spots for bird watching because it is a resting area for many birds that are migrating. I learned that some of the very plants that I walk past every day are edible and have different uses for humans, from medicine to gag gifts. It has given me a new sense of everything that is happening around me and makes me realize that whatever issues I am having that seem big, the world is still continuing to go on around me. It helps me quiet my mind and pay attention to this amazing ride that we are on.

Aoife Burke

Environmental Education Fellow

Exploring the Indiana Dunes

It never ceases to amaze me how much the landscape around you can change within just a few hours of traveling. Growing up in Central Indiana, there was no part of the state I couldn’t reach by taking a trip on one of the highways or an Interstate. From the dazzling streets of Indianapolis, to the sleepy foothills of the great Hoosier Forest, and all the way up to the spectacular coast of Lake Michigan…over the years I’ve been privy to many of the “hidden” gems that make Indiana’s landscape so special. But nowhere have I experienced as many changes in my surroundings within such a short distance as I have at the Indiana Dunes.

Every time I step out into Cowles Bog, travel up to Michigan City, or hike the Succession Trail at West Beach, I’m reminded of how unique this place is. I’ve seen plants here that you’d never find in Brown County, there are birds here I could only dream of seeing back home, and comparing the cultural ocean of the greater Chicago area to the tiny pond that is Indianapolis is like comparing apples to grapes. This entire region is so alive with… well… life! And most days, the only thing you need to do to experience it all is walk around a little. Whether you’re traveling by train, car, bike, or on foot, there’s a whole world of sights to see with every trip.

I think that’s what I’ve enjoyed the most so far about my time at DLC. I certainly don’t plan on stopping my adventuring any time soon, as I continue to investigate my new home. And to all my lovely readers, I’d encourage you to explore the world around you too. Not just so you can get your steps in, mind you, but for the experience! As the great Henry Chapin once said, “It’s got to be the going, not the getting there, that’s good.”

Alex Burdsall

Naturalist Educator