​LC Nature Park is a cornerstone nature organization in Northeast Indiana. It is a farm that has restored much of its land to pre-settlement status. That includes wetlands, prairie, grassland, and a dune. It has also established a herd of elk and a herd of bison, animals that are indigenous to the area. The education center is a beautifully restored and highly functional barn. The park partially supports itself by hosting social and educational events. One of those events was Coffee and Calves.
 
The presenters were from Utopian Coffee. This is a company that is involved in the whole journey of the coffee bean, from planting to drinking. Participants met in the beautiful education center with a pillar of elk antlers and a mounted bison head. The participants enjoyed baked goods and delicious and aromatic coffee while learning about the production of coffee and the challenges of a monocrop or plantation crop becoming sustainable. The journey starts with planting, growing, and harvesting. Then transportation and finally a variety of methods of roasting. By the time we had taken our sip of coffee the beans had been handled by fourteen different people.
 
After the presentation we all took a short hike. Our goal was to spot elk and bison calves. These were two very different animals with different behaviors. Elk  can grow to 700 pounds and the males sport antlers for half the year. Still, to protect the calves they hide in the woodland. We saw a few adults and that was enough to make us smile.
 
Bison males can weigh up to 2000 pounds and both males and females have horns. They do not hide, the were out in the field.
 
It was gratifying to see both species living in the Little River Valley. Prior to settlement there were up to 60 million bison in North America. By 1884 that number had dwindled to 325.  These animals that were so important to the health of the prairies and plains are precious. Prior to settlement the elk population was estimated to be around ten million.
 
Everything about this event was inspiring. We learned about coffee production and the challenge of growing coffee responsibly during climate change. We got to appreciate some of the five miles of trails in the park and appreciate the plant life. The herds were breathtaking. So, if you’re looking for events with pie, learning, and reason to hope, check out LC Nature Park. 

​I value the Lakota phrase Mitakuye Oyasin, “all are relations”. If we are to care for our home, then this attitude is essential. The rivers, forests, deserts, tundra, oceans, and lakes and all the creatures are our relatives, we are all connected.  I was acutely aware of this while attending a concert of The Hu.
 
The Hu are a Mongolian folk metal band formed in 2016. They use traditional instruments and themes derived from Mongolian history and culture and combine it with heavy metal music. The instruments they use include the Morin Khuur a horsehead fiddle that contains the spirit of the horse, the Tovshuur, a lute played like a guitar or fiddle, and the Jaw Harp. They also sing using a method of vocalization known as throat singing. This is a guttural singing that contains a minimum of two notes at the same time. Throat singing is most closely associated with the Russian Republic of Tuva and the countries of Mongolia and China. However, the method of vocalizing is recognized in Buddhists chants in India and Tibet, the Inuit in Alaska, the Xhosa of the Bantu in South Africa, and possibly in Viking rowing songs. The Sami peoples of Sapmi (Northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the Kola peninsula of Russia) joik (or yoik) which serves a similar function in chanting but is not guttural.
 
These forms of singing are also connected in that they have shamanistic roots. When I spoke to members of The Hu they recognized these roots as foundational to their music. Shamanism is a religion that connects individuals and communities with the spirit world and to ancestors. It is animistic and believes in the spirits of living organisms and minerals as well as the sacredness of places. This is important to a group that sings about a land that feeds them, gives them life, and nurtures them.
 
The Hu has had an incredible professional rise to fame since their founding. They became the first Mongolian band to make the  Billboard charts and had a #1 hit with the single Wolf Totem. On 17 May 2019 they met the Mongolian president and were honored for sharing Mongolian culture with the world. Their first album was titled Gereg a term used for diplomatic passports during the reign of Genghis Khan. In 2020 they hosted a COVID-19 relief concert on YouTube. Since then, they have completed a European tour and are currently on a world tour.
 
I had VIP tickets so I could meet with the band prior to the concert. They demonstrated the use of  traditional Mongolian instruments, provided some history, and talked about their music. I asked them if since Mongolia was so impacted by climate change, if they were writing any songs about their rage toward a world that is not doing enough to stop climate change. Their answer surprised me. Many of their songs use battle cries and focus on competition. Still, they said they saw their world tour as diplomatic, that the world was hurting, and we all needed to work together. Therefore, there was no place for rage, just cooperation. This was consistent with Pax Mongolica, the period of stability brought to vast areas of the world during the Mongolian Empire.
 
Looking at the impact of climate change on Mongolia puts this emphasis on cooperation in context. Mongolia is a vast, sparsely populated country. It is also one of the countries most impacted by climate change. The result is that rising temperatures have negatively impacted on animal husbandry. 77% of the land has been degraded due to a combination of climate change and over grazing. The country is experiencing climate refugees as nomadic farmers and herders are migrating to the city. There is also an increase in natural disasters and extreme weather. Mongolia has a unique weather phenomenon, dzud. A dzud occurs when there is a summer drought and then winter snow makes the depleted pastures inaccessible to herd animals. Dzud previously occurred approximately once a decade. They are now occurring about 50% of the time during the same 10-year period. The result is food shortages and people leaving agriculture. All of this means I understood why The Hu were focusing on nature and cooperation.
 
The example The Hu gave for a focus on cooperation and healing was their song and video Mother Nature. The song’s refrain is Fear Not. It is a song that highlights the processes of nature but acknowledges present anxiety. Dear Mother, are you worried? Fear Not. This is a song of Nature caring for itself and for others. It is a song with a message, Granting loving heart to common sense, it is a great destiny. It is a video of vivid, breath-taking beauty. The Hu does not take nature for granted and they share this message.
 
When I first heard the chanting, I found myself reflecting on the music of the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island. I thought of the joik chanting of the Sami. I watched a program through Vesterheim Norwegian American Museum on joiking. In 2022 I completed a program of study through Coursera and Yale School of Divinity, Religions and Ecology. This is a five-course program that focuses on the world religions but also on Indigenous religions from around the world. This connection of being connected to land, place, the interconnectedness of all beings, Shamanism, and the learned wisdom of living in harmony with the land reminded me of The Hu, of Mongolian cultural history, the Sami, and indigenous peoples of Turtle Island.
 
I have been a fan of throat singing for years. I heard Tibetan Buddhist monks chanting at the Indiana Buddhist Temple. I heard throat singing at a concert at Jesus People USA in Chicago. The singers were from Kyrgyzstan.  The style was different, as were the instruments and clothing and still, it reminded me of the Tuvans.
 
I had followed The Hu for years on the internet. Thanks to a heads-up by a friend, Maraiah Russell, I was now able to talk with them and best of all, watch them perform. In a room packed from wall to wall the room throbbed, the people swayed and held two fingers out, they danced, they chanted with The Hu. And The Hu, they rocked.
 
I know I will be writing about the Sami people, about Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island and ecology, and I will attempt to learn to joik. But for now, I am just so happy to bang my head and let the deep, guttural songs of The Hu flow through me. And as for all the work we have ahead of us to correct the damage we have done to our home I will remember, Fear Not.

​I remember taking a night hike at Eagle Marsh. It was a Beaver Hike. I learned a lot that night, from the LRWP staff, about beavers, their impact on the environment, their challenges living alongside humans, and about their importance to the health of wetlands. Mostly I was excited to be seeing beavers swim the ponds, going to their lodges, and to see their handiwork. Beavers are amazing animals.
 
Luckily it is not difficult to learn more about beavers. Beaver hikes can be found throughout the nation. Beaver reintroductions to lands they originally roamed are being studied. Conferences, seminars, community lectures, and books are plentiful. That is not bad for a species that in North America was almost hunted to extinction.
 
The Beaver Hike at Eagle Marsh that I attended back in November of 2021 had a lasting impact on me. I learned about their near extinction, for their furs, and to “control” potential farmlands.  I learned about the beavers at Eagle Marsh. I saw how they cut trees down and how the marsh had to protect trees from rampant destruction. I learned how their lodges were superficially similar to muskrats but also different. They differed in building material, size, and function. Later I would attend a Breakfast on the Marsh presentation on winter animal adaptations. There I would learn that on occasion muskrats and beavers spend the coldest months of winter together in the beaver lodges.
 
In the Master Naturalist classes we would learn that beavers are the largest rodents in North America. They were essential for environmental health. Part of the citizen science directed by Purdue University Fort Wayne was studying the beaver at Eagle Marsh.
 
On September 13 and 20 I attended the virtual Midwest Beaver Summit. The summit was sponsored by eleven different agencies that work to reintroduce beavers to old habitat or study the impact of beaver on habitat. The speakers were experts on various aspects of beaver behavior and impact.
 
On the first day we heard from authors Ben Goldfarb and author of Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter; and Leila Philip, author of Beaverland.  The presenters talked about the benefits of beaver eco architecture including lodges, dams, and channels. They talked about the creation of wetlands, the filtering of water and flood control. During the past 100 years wetlands have been drained to create farmland and rivers have been straightened, ditched, to move floodwater away from farms. In the process we have developed what the presenters refer to as “ecological amnesia”. We forgot what the geography and the hydrology of the land was prior to the eradication of the beavers. Beavers are now seen as cornerstone species and an integral part of river systems.

The second presentation was by Emily Fairfax, Assistant Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. She spoke on the Ecosystem Services of Beavers. This was an important talk. Her research highlighted how, across ecological settings, beaver created wetlands protected the surrounding prairies and forests from wildfires. This included protecting the area from megafires. These are fires with 70-foot-tall firewalls, fire tornadoes, and immense size and heat. The beaver created wetlands did protect the plants and the animals living there. Emily provided research on multiple mega fires. She also shared the value of beaver engineering which is calculated to be worth $179,000 per square mile. That includes increasing wildlife and diversity, stabilizing the area, flood control, and fire mitigation. Clearly beavers are important components to an ecology impacted by climate change.
 
The final talk of the first day was by Olivia Dorothy, Director of River Restoration at American Rivers.  Her talk emphasized the importance of beavers to wetlands and rivers as she presented from the captain’s house of a river barge on the Mississippi River. Floodplains are important to the economy; we cannot grow without a source of water. They are important in terms of reducing flood risks, providing recreation, and being a source of fish and wildlife diversity. She talked about the loss of floodplains and the impact of that loss. This includes issues of connectivity between wetlands and the floodplain, hydraulic disconnect and removal of heterogeneity. Olivia Dorothy then went on to explain how beavers can be helpful in all areas of restoration. When beavers are not an option then using technology that mimics their eco-engineering is helpful.
 
The second day of the summit highlights just how beavers positively impact environments. The first presentation was by Steve Windels, Wildlife Biologist at Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota. He talked about how beavers were a keystone species. Their reintroduction led to the reintroduction of other species. Their lodges, dams, and channels created wetlands that lead to a diversity of plants, fish, and birds. They provided feeding grounds for moose and therefore increased the moose population. Ecoengineering also accounted for lower temperatures in the wetlands which is important during climate change. Finally, he described how the beaver engineering led to an increase in reptiles, amphibians, and bat populations. Speakers at the summit referred to beaver communities as the coral reef communities of North America because they were so pivotal to the success of so many other species.
 
The next presentation was very specific, it was about how beaver wetlands play a role in restoring trout and salmon populations during a time of climate change. The speaker was Michael Pollock, a Research Fish Biologist at Northwest Fisheries Science Center for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He presented how beavers restore habitats and, in the process, make the rivers livable again for trout and salmon. He also described how man-made structures that manage the rivers and provide water passage for fish replicate some of the functions of beaver engineering.
 
The final presentation of the summit was by Mike Callahan, Founder/President of The Beaver Institute, and Loren Taylor, BeaverCorps Program Director at The Beaver Institute. They presented how to manage beavers, when their populations and building become a nuisance, in non-lethal ways. This included describing the training available to land and park managers and wildlife specialists.  The summit was exceptional, the speakers based their presentations on data and research as well as lived field experience. The topics were varied. It was a veery good summit.

The last meeting I attended was Beavers, Biodiversity, and Climate Resiliency  on September 28th. It was hosted by Voyageurs National Park and  Great Lakes Now.  Panelists included Anna Sysling, Great Lakes now, Emily Fairfax. Steve K Windells, Shelby Weigand and Sally Petrella. They all talked about the impact ecoengineering had on environments and the importance of keystone species on the vitality of an ecosystem and on biodiversity.
 
This town hall also focused on the two species of beaver. The one we have been focused on is the North American beaver which can be found from Canada to northern Mexico. The other species is the European Beaver which can be found in Europe and Northern Asia. The two species are very similar in appearance and behavior. They however differ chromosomally and therefore cannot interbred.
​
Just as much of the beaver population was hunted to extermination in the United States, beaver had also been exterminated in England. They showed parts of a documentary about the reintroduction of the beaver to England. This was seen as an attempt to mitigate some of the consequences of climate change. The beaver did in fact increase wetlands and provided farmers with water during dry periods. This townhall meeting was considerably shorter than the Midwest Summit and yet it provided a lot of useful information.
 
Beavers are incredible animals. They are valuable to the land and other animals. I look forward to watching them and their impact at Eagle Marsh.

​Little River Wetlands Project hosts a monthly community presentation, Breakfast on the Marsh. This past month the guest presenter was Dr. Larry “Doc” Wiedman. He is a professor emeritus from the University of Saint Francis. He is a biologist and has taken students to Appalachia, Wisconsin, and the Bahamas. He is a researcher, a past board member of LRWP, and he is an artist.
 
It is in this last capacity that he recently served LRWP and presented at Breakfast on the Marsh. Dr. Weidman is an award-winning artist. He carves wooden statues representing the natural world around him.  This past month he became LRWP’s first Artist in Residence. He set up shop at the Eagle Marsh barn. He displayed many of his carvings and he worked on current projects. He also exhibited his art during the recent Monarch Fest.
 
Doc’s presentation focused on his inspirations. He talked about his particular type of art and his connection to the natural world.  It is his hope that the new Artist in Residence program will inspire artist in the area to become involved in LRWP and to display their nature-focused artistic expressions. This may include statues, murals, paintings and drawings, dance, poetry, or dance. Dr. Wiedman’s presentation was well received and the conversation continued well after the presentation ended. 

LC Nature Park is a unique preserve in Northeast Indiana. It is a 200 acre preserve in the Little River Valley. The land was originally the preserve of Chief Akima Neewilenkwanka of the Myaamia. The goals of the park are to:

• Preserve native species.
• Preserve the park as one unit.
• Expose the beauty of Indiana flora and fauna.
• Provide a venue and opportunity of education, camaraderie, friendship, and fun through food and fire.

 
You know the valley is a natural beauty because ACRES LandTrust and Little River Wetlands Projects also have neighboring preserves down the road. However, the other preserves look like preserves. They are either wetlands or prairies. L.C. Nature Park is different. It resembles a safari park. It has two old barns that have been restored. It has grasslands, ancient dune, and wetlands. The park has a herd of bison representing the biodiversity that was pre- European settlement Indiana. There is also a herd of elk. They also represent the other large mammal population that was part of pre-settlement Indiana.  The park has five miles of hiking trails. It is home to the Trillium Fest. Events include birding, lectures, bonfires and singing, and camps. In the future both the two herds and a foraging hike will be highlighted. However, this post is not about animals, it is about barns.
 
 On a beautiful Friday evening in July the park presented, Under the Beams. This was a presentation by Duncan Campbell. He served as past director of the Historic Preservation Graduate program at Ball State University. He is the acknowledged local expert on all things related to historic barns in Northeast Indiana. The presentation was held in the educational center which highlighted many of the concepts of barn architecture he discussed. His lecture and PowerPoint presentation drew a picture of immigration to the area. The forms of barns were determined by the materials present and the jobs the barns were tasked with. He gave an ethnohistory of the structures while we enjoyed locally brewed coffee and apple pie. The evening ended with a hike to the second barn and as a group we applied what we learned. LC Nature Park proved you can have an interesting educational experience, have fun, and enjoy a beautiful setting at the same time.