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LRWP Receives $8,000 GM Award
LRWP was one of six local nonprofits, and the only environmental group, selected to receive an $8,000 award from the General Motors Foundation at a special ceremony celebrating GM's 25th anniversary of building pickup trucks in Fort Wayne. Executive director Sean Nolan, director of preserves and programs Betsy Yankowiak, and board president Larry ("Doc") Weidman attended the event at the GM plant in southwest Allen County on December 7th.

LRWP is very grateful for this generous award, to be used to help care for its wetland preserves and offer its free nature education programs in the coming year.

Burn at Eagle Marsh
LRWP staff were out with the crew from Heartland Restoration Services on November 16 for a controlled burn of about 50 acres of vegetation on the east side of Eagle Marsh, near the Towpath Trail trailhead. The burn, part of our 2011 management plan for Eagle Marsh, was a way to keep this area as open marsh habitat and help control Canada thistle, reed canary grass, and other non-native grasses that had become invasive. Plants native to this part of Indiana have evolved to deal with fires set by lightning and later, by Native American tribes who wanted to protect desirable grasses for the buffalo so important to their survival. The native plants have longer roots (also useful for surviving summer droughts). Controlled burns are usually done in early spring or late fall, partly to allow ground-nesting birds and other marsh wildlife to raise their young undisturbed.

New Pedestrian Bridge at Eagle Marsh

Eagle Marsh visitors can now access all parts of the preserve more easily by crossing a pedestrian bridge over the Graham-McCulloch Ditch, thanks to the generosity of Steel Dynamics, Inc. of Fort Wayne and New Millennium, Inc. of Butler, Indiana.

The ditch that runs through Eagle Marsh divides its 716 acres of varied wetland habitats almost exactly in half. Previously, visitors could get from one side of the preserve to the other only by walking the entire Towpath Trail along the north boundary or driving between the east and west entrances on Engle Road and Olde Canal Place Drive.

The new bridge crosses the Graham-McCulloch Ditch from the southeast corner of Trail 1 on the west side of Eagle Marsh to an extension of Trail 6 on the east side. Be sure to check it out soon!

LRWP Facebook photo contest winner named

Mark Bruhn's photo of boneset blooming against a moody indigo sky captured top honors in a September photo contest LRWP sponsored on its Facebook page. Mark visited Eagle Marsh with his family for the Monarch Festival and Open House, and while there captured the image with a Nikon D90 camera with a polarizing filter on the lens.

Monarch Festival-goers learn about butterflies' lifecycle

In spite of threatening and sometimes wet weather, about 300 people attended LRWP's Monarch Festival and Open House at Eagle Marsh on September 24 to learn about these amazing butterflies.

Inside the barn, a host of activities welcomed visitors. Local author Helen Frost inscribed copies of her best-selling children's book, "Monarch and Milkweed," and a volunteer showed a video of monarchs at their wintering grounds in Mexico. Monarch crafts and face-painting drew squeals from delighted children, some of whom zoomed about with child-size monarch wings on their backs. Displays told visitors the story of monarchs' transformation, butterfly mimicry and migration.

The monarch caterpillars on display didn't do much-at least by action-movie standards. A few dangled upside down and prepared to form a chrysalis, while others contentedly munched milkweed leaves. Nonetheless, those attending the Festival were fascinated. "I had no idea they did so many transformations in such a short time," said one young mother, carefully examining the caterpillars' jars with her two small children. Both children sported striped caterpillar designs on their cheeks, having just visited the Festival's face-painting table.

Outside, migrating adult monarchs fluttered over the marsh, despite cooler temperatures and overcast skies. Visitors were welcomed on a self-guided tour, with naturalists "floating" along the trail to point out plants and wildlife of interest. At the trail's end, many participants planted milkweed starts in a prepared bed. Others took the plants home to make their own yards more monarch-friendly, since the butterfly's caterpillars can eat nothing else.

Frogapalooza Raises $44,000 for LRWP
More than 150 people attended LRWP's Frogapalooza fundraiser on September 9 to help celebrate our work of bringing back lost wetlands of the Little River valley and their wildlife. The event netted more than $40,000 for our organization's needs. Frogapalooza attendees arrived at Sweetwater Sound to find auction items ranging from colorful photos of Eagle Marsh landscapes to a Joseph Decuis dinner package and a getaway in Naples, Florida. After mingling and sampling varied hors d'oeuvres, guests enjoyed a dinner of chicken Mendocino, orecchiette with shiitake mushrooms, and seasonal vegetables. The evening closed with a live auction and a ballad, written especially for LRWP, about our work to restore wetlands in the Little River Valley. Watch for photos of our guests in Fort Wayne Monthly soon.

LRWP Named Conservation Organization of the Year

At its annual Conservation Awards Banquet at Pokagon State Park June 3, the Indiana Wildlife Federation honored LRWP as 2011 Conservation Organization of the Year and board President Thom Maher as Wildlife Conservationist of the Year.

The awards are based on LRWP's accomplishments on behalf of wildlife and conservation in Indiana, many of them under Thom's leadership as board president since 2006 and as chair of LRWP's stewardship committee. Thom has also been active for many years in Pheasants Forever Northeast Indiana Chapter 182, of which he is currently vice president. For more information, please visit the Indiana Wildlife Federations's annual meeting page.

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