Day trails explore prairies at Indiana Dunes

Mnoké Prairie during the fall at Indiana Dunes National Park. NPS photo.

Prior to the arrival of settlers from the East Coast and Europe, about 1 in every 7 acres of Indiana was prairieland. Agriculture, drainage and urbanization quickly decimated the prairies, and by the end of the 20th century, only a few pristine remnants remained.

Fortunately, some of those parcels – as well as new efforts at restoring prairie – can be found at Indiana Dunes National Park.

Three prairies that day trails explore at the park include:
• Mnoké Prairie – Indiana sits in a zone where the Eastern forests give way to the grassy Great Plains of the West. While oak savannas made up much of the area’s meadows in that transition, swaths of tallgrass prairie did exist in the Hoosier state. Most were converted to farmland once settlers arrived. Recently, a tallgrass prairie was restored near the historic Bailly and Chellberg farm. You can walk the edge of it on the first segment of the Little Calumet River Trail; park in the lot at the end of of Howe Road south of Oak Hill Road and head west on the trail until coming the river bridge for a 1.8-mile round trip.
• Dune Ridge black oak savanna – Before Euro-American settlers arrived, black oak savannas were among the Midwest’s most common ecosystems. Today, less than .02% of oak savanna remains. They still can be seen at Indiana Dunes, though; one great route for walking through them is the 0.7-mile Dune Ridge Trail, a lollipop trail near Beverly Shores, Ind. Park in the lot off of East State Park Road north of U.S. Hwy. 12.
• Hoosier Prairie – A great way to explore the different types of prairies is the Prairie Marsh and Savannah trails, located in Hoosier Prairie Nature Preserve. The 0.8-mile hike consists of a stem and two connected loops in a 1547-acre area being restored and protected by a variety of agencies from the U.S. and Indiana governments to private nature preservation organizations. Pick up the trail from the parking lot off of Main Street east of Kennedy Avenue in Griffith, Ind.