Shirley Heinze Land Trust

Shirley Heinze Volunteer Stewardship

Shirley Heinze Land Trust is a non-profit organization endowed in 1981 as a charitable trust to preserve and protect the unique ecosystems of the Indiana Dunes region. The Heinze Land Trust acquires, restores and preserves natural lands in the southern Lake Michigan watershed. Current holdings cover the entire range of habitat communities, including:

Sand dunes and interdunal ponds in Miller (Lake County)

Globally rare dune-and-swale habitat in Hammond and Gary (Lake County)

Wet woodlands, stepped fen, and tallgrass prairie in Hobart (Lake County)

Sand prairie, yellow-birch fen, and oak savanna in Portage (Porter County)

Portions of the Great Marsh in Beverly Shores (Porter County)

Boreal flatwoods, old-growth forest, and wetlands (LaPorte County)

Five Heinze Trust properties - Cressmoor Prairie in Hobart, Seidner Dune and Swale in Hammond, John Merle Coulter Preserve in Portage, Barker Woods and Ambler Flatwoods in Michigan City - are dedicated state nature preserves.

We here at Shirley Heinze are looking for people who are interested in becoming site stewards at our preserves. A site steward is someone who spends a couple days a month visiting their selected preserve and making sure no illegal dumping, vandalism, littering, etc is being done. Since we manage more than 1000 acres it's hard for us to be everywhere all at once. We have properties in Lake, LaPorte and Porter counties. To learn more about how you can make a difference, email Jim Erdelac at volunteer@heinzetrust.org