(Michigan City, IN) - A new public trail opened on Thursday at a 93-acre wooded nature preserve in Michigan City. The trail is at the Amber Flatwoods Nature Preserve on Meer Road, just south of U.S 12 on the eastern corporate boundary of the city near Michigan City Municipal Airport.
The 3,600-foot long, mostly level trail has a
smooth gravel surface, making it easier to navigate especially for people with physical challenges and in wheelchairs, along with individuals pushing baby strollers.
Eight boardwalks over wetland areas were also built into the trail on the property, acquired from the Shirley Heinze Land Trust in 2023 by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
“It’s a fresh acquisition. A fresh protection for conservation and we look forward to managing it,” said Derek Nimetz, an ecologist for the DNR Division of Nature Preserves near Valparaiso.
Both organizations did most of the work to create the trail, except for the parking lot put down and striped by a contractor. It’s the first trail with a gravel surface at the nature preserve, which has about four miles of trails with dirt surfaces and the roots of trees, which pose a tripping hazard, running over the top in spots.
“This is definitely more of an improvement out here,” said Doug Botka, a Stewardship Ecologist for the SHLT.
About a dozen people involved in the project were taken on a guided hike. The trail loops back to the parking lot, but also has connections with the existing dirt paths for extended hikes.
“This is a great addition to what was already here,” said Claudia Wood, who monitors the trails for any repairs or litter that need addressing as a volunteer for the land trust.
There are also signs along the way containing information about the trail and the nature preserve.
Dr. Shirley Heinze was a psychologist at the University of Illinois in Chicago and had a beach home in Ogden Dunes. She had an interest in land conservation and was involved in early efforts to preserve the Indiana Dunes along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Porter and LaPorte counties. Heinze died in her 50s from lymphoma.
With a $30,000 endowment, some of her patients, wanting to do something in her memory, created the Shirley Heinze Land Trust and organization in 1981 to acquire and preserve land deserving of protection. Currently, the group has over 3,000 acres of land under its protection in LaPorte, Porter, Lake, Saint Joseph, Starke, and Marshall counties.
“Shirley never knew about this organization. She was the inspiration for it and it lives on,” said Ron Trigg. Trigg of Valparaiso is a former longtime executive director of the organization and a current member of the group’s advisory board.
The nature preserve in Michigan City features more than 600 species of plants with some not found anywhere else in Indiana.
Eric Bird, an ecologist with the land trust, said the term flatwoods means the ground is closer to the water table, leaving it prone to flooding in the spring and winter. Bird said such moist conditions make it a great habitat for a wide variety of plants and wildlife, including many native species, particularly frogs, toads, and salamanders. One of the most unique aspects of the nature preserve is how it has some of the species normally found in Michigan and other places further north because of its close proximity to the southern border of that state.
“It’s one of the most bio-diverse places in the area,” he said.
Bird said the new trail is the third gravel one at nature preserves under the wing of the land trust, which likes how they open up nature preserves for all people to enjoy, not just the ones wanting a more rugged experience.
‘This is a really big effort to make places more accessible,” he said.
