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BY DREW NEUENSCHWANDER
The ACRES area west of Murray is a preserve, which simply means that it is an area that is being protected because of specific plants, animals or geologic features.
Driving by the preserve on Ind. 116, the entrance to ACRES Along the Wabash is fairly easy to miss despite a wooden sign that is offset a short distance from the road. From first appearances then, ACRES might not seem, particularly interesting, but the eye is easily fooled. While the gravel lane leading into the reserve may look to some like a dead end, it is actually the threshold to an undisturbed haven full of life.
The preserve, which started out as a gift of 29 acres from Roland and Catherine Maxwell in 1973, has grown to include 87 acres since that time. The preserve’s owner is the ACRES Land Trust organization, which controls more than 70 preserves in 17 northwest Indiana counties, a total acreage of nearly 4,500. ACRES also owns preserves in five counties of Michigan and 10 in Ohio.
In a very recent development, a sign has been installed at our nearest ACRES preserve, ACRES Along the Wabash, which is located a little over a mile west of Murray on Ind. 116. The sign, which overlooks a scenic observation point along the Wabash River, provides a brief history of the area, explaining its geography‘s historic origins; it also provides visual aids to help visitors identify trees and flowers common to the preserve. ACRES Along the Wabash contains five flowers that are considered rare or unique as well as fox squirrels, chipmunks, woodchucks, raccoons, muskrats, wood ducks and hosts of assorted birds.
Although the preserve has been maintained and modified due largely to the efforts of ACRES Land Trust and the Conservation Reserve Program, the development of the preserve started long before the efforts of either group came into play.
Scientists believe the geography of the Wabash and its surroundings were carved into a flattened plane by the Huron-Erie ice lobe between 12,000 and 20,000 years ago. The area was built up with moraines, which are glacial deposits of finely-ground till. As the glacier moved south, it melted and a large quantity flowed off beneath it, forming a sort of natural drainage channel. That waterway, left in the glacier’s wake, formed what we know today as the Wabash.
At ACRES, the effects of this powerful glacial gouge are still evident and the natural ecosystem that has grown up around it at the ACRES preserve provides an enjoyable, educational public offering.
On a recent spring day, Master Naturalist Doug Rood, who was a National Park Service ranger in Colorado for a couple of years and has taught outdoor education in various venues, escorted a group of 10 visitors through a portion of ACRES Along the Wabash. Rood, who must rely on a motorized scooter to get from place to place, was particularly excited that ACRES Along the Wabash features a trail for limited mobility visitors in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. In fact, the event was originally offered as a limited mobility hike. However, when Rood discovered that his visitors were fully mobile, Rood elected to take a slightly more rugged course as his scooter would allow.
Right off the bat, Rood explained the concept of natural succession. He asked the group to picture a field that a farmer stops cultivating and allows to grow wild. He explained that first weeds would sprout and grow, followed by some sun-tolerant trees, then oaks and less sun-tolerant trees. Rood explained how, over a span of 50 years, this process can develop an area with virtually no vegetation into a “climax forest,” in which the trees reach their maximum sizes. Such a forest also contains specific levels of vegetation known as “life zones.”
In the case of ACRES Along the Wabash, the upper canopy is formed by towering beech and maple trees. Beneath the canopy of these trees grows a second tier of sun-intolerant vegetation such as cherry trees. This life zone is known as the under story. Below this level, there are shrubs. Finally, there are herbs and wildflowers on the forest floor.
While this process would normally occur naturally over time, ACRES was able to accelerate the process thanks to a CRP group that induced “assisted” succession by going into the preserve and manually installed the natural components of each life zone. As a result, the preserve has achieved a climax forest in less than 35 years.
As the tour began, Rood was a fountain of information, immediately introducing the group to a bedstraw plant known as cleavers, which was used as stuffing in early American mattresses and served as the inspiration for Velcro. He also explained that the honey locust tree received its name from a sweet slime found in its seed pods.
Rood also provided a fascinating bit of history on weeds, explaining that many of the invasive buggers were brought over from England as ballast in the hulls of trading ships. When the ships were emptied of their light, manufactured British goods, they took on heavy lumber and metal ores, often discarding British soil on the banks. As a result, many kinds of weed seeds took root and quickly consumed the coastal and interior regions of the Americas. Rood added, however that we gave the Brits poison ivy. “I’ve always felt it was an even trade,” he joked.
This story brought Rood to perhaps his most important lesson of the day: “If it has leaves of three, let it be!”
But the day wasn’t exclusively about plants and their historic uses. From time to time, Rood lightened things up by dropping in humorous tidbits, stories and jokes, including that of a botanist and nature guide who supposedly insisted on leading all of his hikes so that he could stomp down any piece of vegetation he couldn’t identify.
Sharing stories and interesting information, Rood pointed out plants whose various parts ranged from edible to toxic and whose applications ranged from natural pesticides to less-than-successful, old-fashioned remedies.
By experiencing the preserve in Rood’s tire treads, the hikers were able to experience a new dimension of the reserve’s natural features while soaking in its scenic grandeur.
Many would agree that more of us should take advantage of the pieces of preserved nature in our area, particularly now that the warm weather has rolled in. However, ACRES Along the Wabash is one such resource in our area that is often overlooked.
Measured up against comparable parks in our area, ACRES may not offer camping, tennis courts or boat rentals, but for no admission fee, it offers its visitors — who may range from the casual hiker to full-blown nature buff — several large trails, a variety of wildlife, and an remarkable degree of immersion into nature and the gift of tranquility it offers.