Each month we will be highlighting various opportunities, events, and notable volunteers. Check out our website, and call or email us for any questions you may have. We look forward to seeing you at Indiana Dunes National Park!
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Sap Collection Crew
Thanks to the sap collection crew, we are heading into our Maple Sugar Time Festival with over 300 gallons of sap! The crew tapped more than 200 trees, and mother nature is being very cooperative this season. Special thanks to Perry Hollett, John Roquet, Rudy Moyado, Rich Zimnawoda, Calvin Aardsma, and Wayne Aardsma for all their hard work.
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Awww!
Thanks again to Paul Kemiel, who captured this resting beauty.
Do you enjoy taking pictures of the park? We're interested in seeing your work! Volunteering as a park photographer is your opportunity to showcase both your photography skills and the work of our volunteers in action. Please contact us at parkconnection@gmail.com. for more information.
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Thank you everyone! The volunteer office and the Friends of Indiana Dunes would like to say thank you. Your compassion, support, and positivity have been such a bright light to everyone over these last few challenging years. We haven't had the chance to formally gather at our annual appreciation dinner and express our gratitude. So, we thought we would pick up a little something for you. We still have a few left!
You can stop by the volunteer office on Wednesdays from 9 AM - 3 PM to pick up your special pint glass. If you can't make that time, feel free to email us at parkconnection@gmail.com to make other arrangements.
Thank you for being the most amazing volunteers!
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Beginning March 31, the park will require an entrance fee. What does that mean for volunteering? While you are actively volunteering, your park fee will be waived. Depending on the type of volunteer work, you will receive either a vehicle parking sticker or temporary paper waiver.
All volunteers that participate in an episodic volunteer project or special event will receive the temporary paper waiver. All other volunteers will receive the vehicle parking sticker. Please note, these passes are only valid while you are volunteering.
Volunteers will be able to pick up their vehicle parking stickers every Wednesday from 9 AM - 3 PM at the Volunteer Office beginning March 23. Stickers will also be available every third Saturday of the month from 12 PM - 1 PM beginning April 23. If neither of these options work, contact parkconnection@gmail.com.
Episodic volunteers will be issued temporary paper waivers on an as needed basis. Contact parkconnection@gmail.com if you have any further questions.
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Maple Sugar Time Festival
MARCH 12 & 13, 10 AM – 4 PM
Chellberg Farm
Enjoy a sweet taste of spring during the 45th annual Maple Sugar Time festival. In addition to self-guided tours of the sugaring operation at historic Chellberg Farm. The farm will be bustling with maple sugaring activities.
Learn how American Indians first boiled maple sap into sugar and how early settlers used large iron kettles to make syrup. While walking along the maple trail you will pass by the sugar shack where sap is still boiled down the way the Chellberg family did it back in the 1930s. Kids can learn how to tap a tree at the Maple Fun Zone and can meet some of the farm animals while enjoying a maple syrup snow cone.
Before you head home stop by the front of the farmhouse where Indiana produced maple syrup and related products like maple-flavored popcorn will be for sale. You can even learn how to make maple syrup at home and how modern maple sugar farmers use advanced technology to make syrup today.
If you can’t make this festival weekend, feel free to stop by Chellberg Farm and visit with our volunteers at the sugar shack. They will be operating the shack from Saturday March 5 through the festival weekend.
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Drop-In Volunteering
MARCH 19, 9 AM - 12 PM
The Park Connection Office
Drop-in volunteering provides hassle-free opportunities at Indiana Dunes. With no previous experience or sign-up required, drop-ins are perfect for those with just a few hours of free time or those visiting the dunes for the weekend.
Join us every third Saturday at the Park Connection office (618 N Mineral Springs Rd) from 9am to 12pm for drop-in volunteering. Projects vary by date and season, but can include working with invasive species, land and building restoration, or preparing for special events.
You can also volunteer through Trash Trekkers, a drop-in litter clean up program. Simply check in at the Visitor Center to receive trash bags, then choose from one of our many beaches or hiking trails to collect trash. Visitors are awarded with a free, reusable water bottle for filling up their bags.
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Spring Interpretive Programs
Indiana Dunes' interpretive rangers bring in the spring with public programming in March. Join a ranger at the Heron Rookery for a two-hour hike to celebrate the first day of spring and discover what woodland flowers are blooming. The Heron Rookery is perhaps the best location in the region to see spring wildflowers. See the park's event calendar or Facebook events page for the full schedule of guided hikes, interactive events, and presentations.
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what's new
with the Friends
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The Friends of Indiana Dunes, Inc. sponsor invaluable educational and recreational opportunities. Since 1982, our mission is: “to enhance and foster understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the Indiana Dunes through financial and volunteer support of the National and State Parks as well as the Dunes Learning Center."
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The Friends of Indiana Dunes are happy to support the 46th Annual Maple Sugar Time at the Chellberg Farm on Saturday, March 12 and Sunday, March 13. You will find our Board members throughout the event and at the different sites, particularly at the new Maple Syrup Snow Cone site located just outside the Chellberg barn. Stop by and try this sweet treat. For those who are volunteering at Maple Sugar time, the soup available for you to enjoy is graciously provided by the Friends of Indiana Dunes.
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The Friends of Indiana Dunes will be hosting their 26th Annual Native Plant Sale on Saturday, April 23. This year, the Native Plant Sale will be held at the Friends Office located just north of the Chellberg Farm on the northwest corner of Mineral Springs and Oak Hill Roads. The plant sale will be outside under a large canopy and run from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM For those interested in pre-ordering plants, the Native Plant Sale order forms are available at the National Park’s Visitor Center and at the State Park’s Nature Center. Pre-Orders must be received by April 9, 2022.
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Interested in helping? Contact Friends Chair Angel Goins at 219-707-3617. Hours donated on Friends projects that benefit the National Park count as VIP hours.
www.friendsofindianadunes.com
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Are you bored at home, missing the excitement of serving the park? Never fear, you can volunteer without ever leaving your computer! Below is a list of free trainings that may help you prepare to get going when we reopen -- or just stimulate your mind! Time spent on training DOES count for volunteer hours, so make sure to include it on your monthly hours report.
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Trail Riding 101
Equine professionals created this course to prepare riders to make informed decisions when riding horses on trails. This 3-5 hour course will prepare you to take on Indiana Dunes' riding trails like a pro!
Find course here.
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Foundations of Interpretation
This introductory course provides the philosophical groundwork for why we do interpretation, what interpretation is, and how interpretation works form personal connections between the meanings of the resources and the interests of the audience.
Earn certificate issued by the Eppley Institute for Parks and Public Lands, Indiana University
Find course here.
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Leave No Trace Online Awareness Course
This brief course will provide you with a better understanding of recreation-related impacts, the Seven Principles and how Leave No Trace skills and ethics can help protect the outdoor places we love.
Earn Leave No Trace certificate
Find course here.
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Trail Safe!
This program is a unique safety training program designed specifically for National Park Service (NPS) Trail Volunteers, but is useful to everyone! It's based upon NPS Operational Leadership Training, where the Human Factor of safety is explored. Trail Safe! captures the core learning objectives of the 16-hour Operational Leadership course while allowing volunteers to learn from their homes online.
Earn Trail Safe! certificate, SPE/GAR card, and pin
Find course here.
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Introduction to the National Park Service
Learn about the ideas that formed and later transformed the National Park Service (NPS), the people who generated those ideas, and the laws that continue to shape the NPS today.
Earn certificate issued by the Eppley Institute for Parks and Public Lands, Indiana University
Find course here.
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Fire Extinguisher Training
National Park Service employees are required to complete annual fire extinguisher training. It's important to knowing how and when to operate an extinguisher, whether you are volunteering at the park or not!
Find course here.
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We are working hard to restructure and update our database, but we need your help. Please take a brief moment to review these tasks:
1. If your contact information, address, or emergency contact has changed since you were onboarded as a volunteer, please fill out and sign a new Volunteer Service Agreement and email it to parkconnection@gmail.com.
2. We rely on your feedback to be the best supervisors we can be. If you have suggestions or comments about your volunteering experience, please respond to this brief survey and send it to Volunteer Program Manager Jim Whitenack at james_whitenack@nps.gov.
3. The park's resource guide has been updated for 2022 and contains tons of valuable information about the park. Feel free to review it for background on the park's purpose, history, ecology, and more!
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Please don't forget to turn in your times monthly to parkconnection@gmail.com.
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