On July 14 and 15, 2024 local historian Nelson Ross-Miller, of Olive Branch Media, presented on the Native American NorthWestern Confederacy and the Waterways. The presentation was at the main library of the Allen County Public Library. 

This blog focuses on the environment, climate change, and approaches to becoming greener. However, it also has a focus on Indigenous Peoples. That is because, before the colonists, the indigenous people had a long history of effective land management. The focus of this blog has included recording and writing about  historical fiction author Pickett writing on the clash of cultures in Northeast Indiana, Indiana Master Naturalist Greta Sirois presenting on Miami culture, a presentation on Algonquin history, and a post on Learning from Indigenous Peoples. 
 
So, while Nelson Ross-Miller’s presentation did not focus on environmental issues it was foundational to understanding the evolution of a land of wetlands, forests, elk, and bison becoming a drained land of monoculture farming.
 
Ross-Miller described the make-up of the Confederacy. These included the Cherokee, Iroquois, Delaware, Miami, Odawa, Ojibwas, Potawatomi, Shawnee, Wabash Confederacy, and the Wyandot. He touched on some of the leaders of the Confederacy. Northeast Indiana and the upper Midwest is rich in famous Indigenous leaders. These include Little Turtle, Blue Jacket, Metea, Tecumseh, and the Prophet.
 
As Nelson Ross-Miller pointed out, the European/American leaders were initially ineffective and arrogant. Ross-Miller described how this arrogance contributed to some of the worst defeats of colonist/early Americans by Native Americans. These battles included the battles of Kekionga, LaBalme’s defeat, and the Harmar campaign.
 
Finally, Nelson Ross-Miller presented on the riverways. His documentaries are local and specific. His presentation focused on the Spring Creek and the Eel River. He introduced the audience to a person important to the area and the waterways, George Crogan. The impact of the changing cultures in the area could not have been more profound. Northeast Indiana went from a land of woods and wetlands (The Great Swamp) to a drained and deforested land of farms, industry, and towns and cities.
 
Nelson was open to questions. He was enthusiastic about the importance of local, objective history, and he let the facts, historical logs, and artifacts speak for themselves. I look forward to hearing Nelson present in the future, about the past. 

​The three species of invasive Asian Carp in our waterways and fisheries are within 30 miles of Chicago. Yet, after years, they have not made it into the Great Lakes. This is good news because would they over-populate the Great Lakes, they would destroy a multibillion-dollar sports fishing industry, and they would devastate the ecosystems of the Great Lakes.
 
On July 11th, 2024, at Indiana Wesleyan University Fort Wayne, Little River Wetlands Project hosted the public forum, Breakfast on the Marsh. The speaker was LRWP board member John Goss. He answered so many questions such as:

• Why haven’t the carp made it into the Great lakes?
• What is a berm?
• Why was the continental divide at Eagle Marsh separated?
• Where is the most vulnerable area around the Great Lakes for the invasive carp to enter the Great Lakes?
• What is a Carp Czar?
• To be sure John Goss was the perfect person to make this presentation. The talk was in a classroom near the shores of Eagle Marsh, the berm, and the continental divide. John served as a White House Taskforce chair coordinating the efforts of eight states and three Canadian provinces addressing the invasive species.

 
John talked about the problems regionally and internationally (the U.S., and Canada), but he also addressed the important work LRWP is doing to protect the Great Lakes. He described the barrier system just outside of Chicago. He shared a video of the edible solutions that could help offset the damage the species have done to riverways and lakes.
 
The presentation was captivating. The work of our very own Carp Czar was inspiring. To be sure, the leadership at LRWP is pretty impressive.

​The Hoosier Riverwatch program is part of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). The program was established in 1996.  One of its many services is to provide Volunteer Stream Monitoring training to the public. This is both an opportunity to participate in citizen science and to be part of a watchdog service. The program has the unattended purpose of making me feel more connected to my colleague Giiwedin, an Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) water protector.
 
The program is designed to increase public awareness about water quality issues by training volunteers to monitor flowing water quality. This is a daunting task. Indiana has over 100,000 miles of rivers, streams, and ditches. Additionally, there are over 35,000 miles of surface waterways that measure more than a mile in length. Training volunteers to objectively assess the quality of these waterways is critical.
 
The Hoosier Riverwatch program defines its mission as, To involve the citizens of Indiana in becoming active stewards of Indiana’s water resources through watershed education, water monitoring, and clean-up activities.  
 
A group of volunteers from northeast Indiana participated in Stream Monitoring Training this past spring. The formal part of the course took place at the Nature Center of Metea County Park. Besides the classroom training there is a fieldwork component. That could not occur on the day of the classroom training. The Ceder Creek was running too high and too fast to safely navigate for training. The following month the group completed the field work component at Eagle Marsh, one of the sites of Little River Wetlands Project.
 
The classroom training focused on the history of the program, the materials needed, and: Habitat Assessment, Chemical Monitoring, Assessment of Macroinvertebrates, Aquatic Invasive Species, and Hoosier Riverwatch Database.
 
Training was provided by Jacquelyn Buck, Executive Director of St. Jospeh River Watershed Initiative and Deanne Jensen, Education Director of the Maumee Watershed Alliance. The first video focuses on the formal classroom training with emphasis on Habitat Assessment and Chemical Monitoring. This included lectures and hands-on training. The second video continues with the hands-on training and then focuses on the biological assessment component of the program.
 
After the training has been successfully completed volunteers complete their applications to become certified Hoosier Riverwatch monitors. I am looking forward to being part of the LRWP monitoring team. Eagle Marsh is on a continental divide. This means we will be monitoring the water quality of watersheds for the Great Lakes and the Mississippi/Gulf of Mexico watershed.  If you are interested in citizen science, protecting water, or being part of a watchdog agency then consider signing up to participate in future training.

​On April 22, Earth Day 2024 there was a public forum at the main library of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne. The Pilgrim’s Baptist Church Green Team sponsored the event, Plant vs. Plastics: Reduce, Replace, Renewable Energy, The forum was coordinated by Sheila Curry Campbell. Sheila has a long history of activism and environmental advocacy in the community.
 
The forum had several vendors, both for profit, non-for-profit, and governmental agencies that handed out useful information. There were several keynote speakers, and afterwards there was food.
 
The forum had a special guest. Mayor-elect Sharon Tucker greeted the gathering. This was special because she was in a whirlwind of activity, within 24 hours when would be sworn in as the Mayor of Fort Wayne. She especially acknowledged the continual environmental advocacy contributions of Sheila Curry Campbell.
 
The video highlighted a sampling of some of the speakers. They include the City of Fort Wayne’s Office of Sustainability. This was a review of the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. Brian Flory presented on Solar United Neighbors. The forum ended with Jalisha Mauldin presenting on the work of Faith and Place as it works to assist houses of faith become greener in Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin.
 
This was a morning of learning, energizing, and of camaraderie. Sheil can be proud of her efforts. This was a memorable Earth Day. 

​
Eco Fest 2024 was held at Headwaters Park in downtown Fort Wayne on May 19th. This was the fifth annual festival. Eco Fest Fort Wayne was founded in 2019 and has continued to grow. The goal of the festival is to promote local sustainability at a family friendly venue.   

The festival was held at Headwaters Park. That was appropriate. It borders the St. Joseph Watershed. It is a vibrant greenspace connected to Lawton Park and Promenade Park. It is a place of wildlife, greenery, and culture and history. 

The festival was home to non-for-profit green organizations, environmental groups, for profits that worked to be sustainable, and earth friendly food vendors.  Old friends were plentiful: LC Nature Park, ACRES Land Trust, Little River Wetlands Project, Dick's Organics, The Farm Micro Sanctuary, and so many more.  

It was a day of gathering information, interesting conversations, games for children, workshops, food and music.   If you want to learn about planting native, go to Eco Fest. Interested in monitoring the health of our rivers, go to Eco Fest. Want to participate in citizen science then go to Eco Fest.
 
While the festival was packed with vendors and agencies the video is a sampling of some of those presenters. Make sure to put Eco Fest 2025 on your Calander.  

Once a month Little River Wetlands Project hosts a public forum, Breakfast on the Marsh. The focus is on nature. The forum usually takes place at Indiana Wesleyan University Fort Wayne on the shores of Eagle Marsh. On June 13, 2024, the presenter was Carrie Vrabel.  

Carrie is a true Renaissance woman. She is a writer, a singer, songwriter and past librarian but for the presentation she focused on specialized skills, wild foraging. Ms. Vrabel is famous in northeast Indiana for her knowledge of wild edibles, medicinals and toxins. She has advanced training in plant identification, foraging, and ethnobotany. She is certified in the States of Indiana and Michigan in wild mushroom identification. She has provided foraging hikes to the public at Fox Island County Park, Eagle Marsh, LC Nature Park, Chain O’Lakes State Park and Salomon Farm.   

Carrie teaches about wild foraging in class and on-line. She has written about foraging and is currently writing a book for Indiana University Press, Wild Edible Plants Native to the State of Indiana. She has an active Facebook group Wild Edible Indiana. Her website is also titled Wild Edible Indiana.  

Her presentation focused on identification of plants, safety, the occasional ethnobotanical examples, and a nice nettle tea. The plants she focused on included: Stinging Nettle, Mulberry, Yellow Wood Sorrell, Elderberry, Wild Bergamot, and White Pine.  

Carrie is running a seasonal foraging hike series at Eagle Marsh. The audience had many questions. The presentation was full of facts without being dry and her enthusiasm was clear.