Restoration Projects

Merry Lea actively identifies and restores ecosystems representative of the pre-European settlement landscape (ca. 1830’s) found in Northeast Indiana. These include: shallow marsh and fen wetland communities (52 ac.), dry oak woodland and savanna (25 ac) and tall grass prairie (56 ac.). Except for the Bear Lake Prairie, prairie sites were created on abandoned cropland using local genotype (purchased or collected on-site) grass and forb (wildflower) species that have been recorded as native to Noble County (Flora of Indiana, C. Deam, 1940). Creation of prairie habitat and restoration of the dry oak woodland community will continue for decades to come.