Discover Natural Gems in our Community’s Backyard Shirley Heinze Land Trust

Shirley-Heinze-MapThis year, the Heinze Trust’s friends and supporters will gather to celebrate four spectacular nature preserves, each a biological treasure with significant recreational opportunities. The Spring Benefit will take place at Sand Creek Country Club in Chesterton at 5:30pm and will be hosted with a new style of party. They will have an elegant buffet dinner and plenty of unreserved seating throughout the club as well as a beer, wine, and cash bar. The four Natural Gems being celebrated are Meadowbrook, Ivanhoe South, Ambler Flatwoods, and Little Calumet Wetlands Project. Students and Young professionals can contact the office to receive discounted tickets. Please RSVP on their website.

Shirley Heinze Land Trust manages approximately 1,300 acres of natural land in LaPorte, Lake, and Porter Counties. Five of its properties – Cressmoor Prairie, Seidner Dune & Swale, John Merle Coulter Preserve, Barker Woods, and Ambler Flatwoods – have been dedicated to the people of Indiana as State Nature Preserves. Included in the Heinze Trust’s holdings are examples of the entire spectrum of natural communities in this area: tallgrass prairie, high dune, oak savanna, boreal flatwoods, dune and swale, woodlands, marshes, swamps, ponds, fens, and riparian habitat. The Heinze Trust has also made contributions toward the purchase of natural areas owned by other entities, including the Indiana DNR, The Nature Conservancy, LaPorte County Parks, Lake County Parks, and the Portage Parks Department.

If you have additional questions, please contact Shirley Heinze Land Trust at 219-242-8558, visit their website at www.heinzetrust.org, or e-mail land@heinzetrust.org.