The unassuming White River; Hoosier National Haskins Tract, Pioneer Mothers
I’ll admit that, when Indianapolis filmmaker Katelyn Calhoun asked for an interview about the White River, I kind of shrugged. Image-wise, the White pales before the Wabash, in both officialdom and the imagination. Indeed, the White is considered a tributary of the official state river to the north. No songs that I know of have been written about the the White's slippery banks.
On first blush, it didn’t seem Indiana’s second-longest river had factored much into my Natural Bloomington work these past five years. I told Katelyn I’d be glad to talk but wasn’t sure I’d have much to offer. Then I prepped for the interview and reassessed my perception.
Meanwhile, the week just passed also included a morning trip to the 125-acre Haskins Tract in the Hoosier National Forest, celebrated by the U.S. Forest Service as a wildflower haven, with a stop at the Pioneer Mothers Memorial Forest
Coming Spring 2019
A Guide to Natural Areas of Northern Indiana
The latest Natural Bloomington nature book – A Guide to Natural Areas of Northern Indiana: 125 Unique Places to Explore — will be published by IU Press in Spring 2019.
Like its companion – A Guide to Natural Areas of Southern Indiana, IU Press 2016 – this roughly 400-page volume will tell the stories of what little is left of the state’s natural history, this time from Interstate 70 north to the Michigan State Line.
Both guides provide readers with comprehensive descriptions of the natural characteristics and recreational opportunities found at nature preserves, forests, wildlife areas, parks, and lakes in all four corners of the state – from Posey to Lake to Steuben to Dearborn Counties – with historical contexts and turn-by-turn/GPS directions.
The Northern Indiana sites are owned and managed by a variety of public and private organizations, including ACRES Land Trust, whose Executive Director Jason Kissell wrote the Foreword. Landscapes run the gamut, from canyon to prairie to swamp to lake, much forested, much in open sun. All are open to the public.
A Guide to Natural Areas of Northern Indiana will feature 140 color photographs captured between June 2016 and November 2017.
The cover has been designed. The manuscript is in the copyediting process.
Nature Photo eBook - This is Indiana?
Natural Bloomington is pleased to announce release of our first Nature Photo eBook This is Indiana? - The Natural Bloomington Journey: 2013-2015.
This is Indiana? is a photographic retrospective of Natural Bloomington's first three years and features 105 hi res, full-color images of the Southern Indiana landscape from the Switzerland Hills to the Southwest Lowlands.You can download a copy of This is Indiana? for free. A $10 contribution is requested.
