In celebration of Earth Day, NIPSCO announced the recipients of its 2024 Environmental Action Grant that awards funds for environmental restoration projects and education efforts across northern Indiana. Funding is provided by NIPSCO and the NiSource Charitable Foundation.
Celebrate 29 years of Northern Indiana citizens helping ecosystems survive! Following the NICHES Annual Meeting on June 22, we will be hosting a birthday party from 3:00 – 5:00 pm.
Join NICHES Land Trust on Sunday, April 21 at our Berkshire-Tarnowski Forest Preserve for a Poetry Hike in celebration of Earth Day!
Notes from the Field by Bob Easter, Stewardship Director
NICHES Land Trust was able to complete successful prescribed burns over 460 acres in February and March!
NICHES Land Trust is honored to be the charity selected by Danielle "Nicci" Lee, who will be hiking the Appalachian Trail this spring and summer. We are partnering with Nicci to help spread the word about this undertaking and hope you will cheer her along as she gives updates along her way.
The process of revitalizing and protecting natural areas is an ongoing cycle, and NICHES Land Trust works year-round to restore the rich bio-diverse landscape that was once ubiquitous across Indiana.
Join us during War of the Weeds 2024 for NICHES 5th annual coordinated volunteer effort against our region's worst springtime invasive species: GARLIC MUSTARD!
In September of 2022, NICHES added a new 200+ acre preserve in Tippecanoe County, known as the Laura Hare Bend of the Wabash East. This preserve connects NICHES Granville Sand Barrens and Roy Whistler Wildlife Area to the Wabash River on the opposite bank of the Ross Hills/Ross Reserve. NICHES worked with the previous owner to have them enroll in the USDA Wetland Reserve Easement program (WRE) to permanently retire the 140 acres of previously farmed floodplain. NICHES was then able to purchase the property with major support from Laura Hare Charitable Trust, the Roy Whistler Foundation, the McAllister Foundation, and the Community Foundation of Greater Lafayette.
With the generous support from the estate Lois Lowe Farris, NICHES was able to contract with EcoLogic to perform an extensive invasive species mapping on our 400-acre restoration project in White County. The property, which was part of Farris' bequest to NICHES in 2021, is a massive undertaking for NICHES and was detailed in a blog post earlier last year. In a recent Facebook post, EcoLogic shared their findings with the general public.
While you may not be outdoors as much as you would like, there is a lot going on this season! Board member Lori Marcum shares her suprising observations at Scott Pond in this post for our blog.
NICHES is excited to announce that in 2023 we reached a new milestone and received over 11,500 hours of volunteer service from individuals, hunting crews, businesses, and groups across our service area!
On January 27, 2024, the NICHES Land Trust board hosted its annual retreat at the organization's headquarters, Clegg Memorial Gardens in Lafayette. This dedicated session helped all reach a similar level of understanding of this large, ever-changing topic and provided some clarity on muddy issues. surrounding the proposed LEAP water pipeline.
Last summer, NICHES Land Trust received a $25,000 grant from the Arconic Foundation for its conservation projects and community engagement programs. This generous grant allowed NICHES to perform vital tasks including the removal of non-native invasive species, prescribed fires, and the removal of non-desired tree species to provide more light to native flowers and grasses.
NICHES Land Trust is hiring two Stewardship/Outreach Technicians for Summer 2024!
Application Deadline: March 1st, 2024.
