About Outdoor Indiana
Outdoor Indiana, the state's premier magazine, delivers the wonders of the Hoosier outdoors to subscribers' homes and offices in 48 pages of vibrant color. For the best of state parks, lakes, wildlife, forests, trails, hunting, fishing, wildflowers and outdoorsy people, plus inside information from DNR experts, subscribe for $15 per year or $28 for two years. Follow the magazine staff on Facebook.
Dunes Nature Preserve at Indiana Dunes State Park is one of 30 National Natural Landmarks in the state. Photo by Brent Drinkut.
- From the Director
RESOLUTIONS? DNR CAN HELP
DNR Director Dan Bortner
Like many folks, you may be thinking about setting resolutions this time of year, even if you’re reading this after New Year’s Day.
Maybe you’re aiming to travel more, save more money, improve relationships, get outside more, or improve your physical fitness. As you work to achieve those goals, the Indiana DNR is here to help.
DNR maintains hundreds of thousands of acres ready to explore in all corners of the state, and you don’t need to wait for it to get warmer. We’re open year-round, with far fewer crowds during winter. There’s a list of winter activities near you at events.IN.gov/dnr.
Going for a walk, hike, or run is a great way to improve your physical and mental health on days when daylight hours are limited. For the hardiest Hoosiers, we offer activities like ice fishing and winter camping. Or—if you’re like me—maybe a stay at a state park inn is more your speed when the mercury dips.
Getting outside with friends and family can make these experiences even richer. My fondest memories growing up include visiting DNR’s special places with parents and siblings, and now I explore them with my wife, adult children, and grandchildren.
We can even save you the cost of a gym membership. An annual pass to Indiana State Parks is just $50 a year for Indiana residents, and you can visit many other DNR properties for free.
When those gloomy winter days fade into the bright days of spring, we’ll still be here to help you make your resolutions a reality in 2025.
- NATURAL WONDERS APLENTY
Only California has more National Natural Landmarks than Indiana
By Phil Bloom
The largest urban old growth forest in the United States, Wesselman Woods lies just west of Stockwell Road in Evansville. Photo by Brent Drinkut.
Tucked inside the city limits of Evansville, Indiana’s third most populous city, is a place perhaps unlike any other—nearly 200 acres of virgin forest, believed to be the largest in an urban setting in the country.
“I call it the Mona Lisa of ecosystems,” said Zach Garcia, the now former executive director of the Wesselman Nature Society who managed the preserve before recently taking a new job. “What we have is incredibly rare.
“When I say rare, I’m talking old growth forests in urban areas. If you look at other urban areas in the United States, some have old growth forest, but nothing compares to the 197 acres of Wesselman Woods.”
It’s rare enough that Wesselman Woods carries dual recognition as a state-dedicated nature preserve and a National Natural Landmark (NNL).
NNLs are one of the lesser-known programs of the National Park Service (NPS) even though there are 605, nearly 10 times the number of national parks. Introduced in 1962 by then-Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, the program identifies natural features that illustrate “the basic geological and ecological story of America.” According to the NPS website, recognition as an NNL tells “the world that this place is an excellent example of an important ... landscape feature, worthy of protection.”
To read the rest of this article subscribe to Outdoor Indiana or pick up a copy at one of our state park inns. To subscribe, click here or call (317) 233-3046.
- ABANDONED BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
DNR works to plug old oil and gas wells
By Scott Roberts and Marty Benson, OI staff
DNR Oil & Gas Program manager Brian Royer joins the plugging crew to measure the depth of the well’s cement plug.
As Indiana miners dug for coal in the Delaware County town of Eaton in 1876, they came upon a surprise that shocked and scared them to their core.
At a depth of 600 feet, after one stuck his pickaxe in the dirt, a loud hiss and foul odor emerged. The miners must’ve thought they’d breached the roof of hell. Briefly stunned, they quickly regained their senses, covered the hole, and dug elsewhere.
Their discovery, of course, wasn’t the depths of Hades. It was a large natural gas deposit. But it took 10 years for producers to turn it into the first commercial well on the site in 1886.
In 1889, oil was discovered in the same area. Soon, many businesses came to see if there was more gas and oil. The area became known as the Trenton Gas Field because the gas was found in an area called the Trenton Group, a layer of limestone that also includes parts of Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York, the state in which the town the group is named for is located.
The combination of Indiana’s oil and gas production peaked in the 1910s. It declined when many companies went out of business, and many of those companies didn’t have the means to plug their wells. Indiana has had oil-and-gas well-plugging standards since 1903, but they were sporadically enforced in the early 1900s, and many were less stringent than modern requirements …
DNR’s Oil & Gas Program, part of the Division of Reclamation, works to plug as many wells as possible through its Orphaned and Abandoned Well Program (OAWP). Orphaned wells are abandoned wells for which an operator can’t be found.
To read the rest of this article subscribe to Outdoor Indiana or pick up a copy at one of our state park inns. To subscribe, click here or call (317) 233-3046.
Reader Photos
Each issue, Outdoor Indiana staff will select reader submitted photos to feature in the magazine. If you would like the chance to be featured, please submit your photo, along with your name and phone number to:
Please, only submit original photography that you have taken. Do not send files over 9 MB in size. JPG format is preferred.
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Visit the Indiana State Parks online store to subscribe. Cost is $15 for a one year subscription or $28 for two years.
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Printing and distribution costs for Outdoor Indiana magazine have increased. One way we’re offsetting these costs is through the Friends of Outdoor Indiana Group administered through the Indiana Natural Resources Foundation. Donations to our friends group helps keep our subscription price low and ensures we’ll be around to bring you the best of Indiana’s outdoors for years to come. Donate at the INRF website and include “Friends of Outdoor Indiana” in the “In Honor Of/In Memory Of” line.
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