Header1

ECOLOGY ▪ SCIENCE ▪ EDUCATION

Discover the Real Indiana

Indiana Nature is an ever-expanding educational initiative dedicated to celebrating and protecting Indiana’s natural heritage.

Discover the Real Indiana

Indiana Nature is an ever-expanding educational initiative dedicated to celebrating and protecting Indiana’s natural heritage.

Combating Ecological Illiteracy

Today’s general absence of structured environmental education has created an ecologically uninformed society that lacks the understanding and skills needed to be effective environmental stewards. As a result, this website intends to help increase ecological literacy by providing information that is typically untaught, overlooked, and under-appreciated.

I thought I saw everything before. Now I see much more.” — Facebook group member, Porter County.

Community Involvement

Collaboration is a critical element of Indiana Nature, and the success of the platform depends heavily on community participation. Through innovative ventures like the GAIN projects, we strive to inspire and involve people in new and unique ways.

By Hoosier, for Hoosiers

From porches to parks to preserves, there is more to Indiana than meets the eye. This website was built by and for Indiana residents to showcase the rich biodiversity of the Hoosier State. Contributors to this website represent a wide variety of expertise and knowledge levels, but they share a deep curiosity and willingness to share their discoveries with others.

Free to All

For environmental education to be successful, it must be accessible to all and not come in exchange for membership dues or have a price tag. As such, unlike fee-based organizations, we strive to make our content 100% free to all.

May Featured Content

No Mow May

Perhaps you’ve heard of the No Mow May movement and aren’t sure what it is or if you should participate? Following extensive research, the Indiana Nature investigative team have released their findings and conclusions in a brand new installment in “Fact, Folklore, or Fiction.”

A Home for Our Infographics

After several years of compliling ecological-related infographics, we now have a permanent home from them within our Resource Library. These graphics are free to distribute to your well-intentioned friends, neighbors, and science-denying aunts and uncles.

Introducing the Great American Indiana Nature (GAIN) Projects

“You teach me, I forget. You show me, I remember. You involve me, I understand.” — Edward O. Wilson.


Great American Indiana Nature Tree Project (GAIN TP)

Begun in January of 2018, the first GAIN project’s objective is to build a robust website section detailing all of the trees that are native or naturalized in Indiana.

“Such a great resource for IN! ... My kids are always looking for butterflies and moths for me to photograph to add to the project.“—Facebook group member, Tippecanoe County.

Great American Indiana Nature Lepidoptera Project (GAIN LP)

May of that same year saw the release of the second and most popular GAIN project. The objective of GAIN LP is to map the range and the life cycles of Indiana’s Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths, and skippers) while also increasing awareness and appreciation of these important species.

Great American Indiana Nature Resource Project (GAIN RP)

Launched in November 2018, GAIN RP intends to create a comprehensive list of natural history and science resources geared for personal collections and wider educational distribution.

Great American Indiana Nature Wildflower Project (GAIN WP)

The fourth GAIN project began in March 2020. GAIN WP expands upon the IN Nature Quick Guide to Common Native Spring Woodland Wildflowers of Indiana to leverage community participation to create comprehensive web pages for many of Indiana’s best-known wildflowers.

Folklore Facts and Fiction (FFF)

Premiered in December 2020, Folklore Facts and Fiction (FFF for short) is the latest Indiana Nature project that’s intended to shed light on familiar, oft-repeated nature-related claims by examining them through an objective, scientific lens.

Website Features
GAINLP GAINRP GAINTP GAINWP FFF
Community Participation
Detailed Range Maps Coming
Original Artwork and Photography
Conservation Status Reports
Downloadable Resources
Visual Navigation Planned
Phenology Charts
Floral/Faunal Associates
100% Free

Social Media

Facebook: Indiana Nature LLC maintains two Facebook platforms.

IN Nature Facebook group: Founded in April of 2017, the group has grown to nearly 11,000 members. The vast majority of the GAIN submissions come via the Facebook group. The FAQ page contains the membership guidelines.

IN Nature Facebook page: Because the group is private, content sharing outside of the group is impossible. The Facebook page solves that problem by allowing for sharable content.


Other Social Media: In addition to Facebook, Indiana Nature LLC is also on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Clicking on the icons below will link to those accounts.

I’ve learned so much about Indiana native plants and how important they are for our environment. I’m learning what plants are native, non-native and invasive ... IN Nature has inspired me to plant milkweed for Monarchs and to create a beautiful pollinator garden for next year!”—Facebook group member, Marion County.

Partnerships and Recognitions

Throughout 2020, Indiana Nature LLC served as part of the advisory committee on Save the Dunes’ second volume of Living in the Dunes, titled A Homeowner’s Guide to Pollinator Garden Landscaping in Indiana’s Coastal Communities. Published in 2021, a PDF version of the guide can be downloaded by clicking on the image.

In October 2020, in acknowledgment of his volunteer service to the South Bend Board of Park Commissioner’s Ecological Advocacy Committee, Indiana Nature LLC co-founder Steve Sass (second from right) was presented with a Kentucky coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioicus) planted in his honor at South Bend’s historic Leeper Park.

In the spring of 2022, Indiana Nature LLC joined Pollinator Partnership’s Lepidoptera Task Force. Pollinator Partnership is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, “the largest in the world dedicated exclusively to the protection and promotion of pollinators and their ecosystems.”

Beginning with the Gibson Woods Chapter and then with the South Bend Chapter, Indiana Nature LLC has maintained a long, mutually beneficial partnership with the native plant advocacy organization Wild Ones.

For over five years, Indiana Nature LLC has taken part in the Indiana Dunes and St. Joseph County Indiana Master Naturalists programs by teaching classes on general botany, Indiana trees, and spring wildflowers for the Indiana Master Naturalist program. The dunes programs is made possible thanks to funding from the Friends of the Indiana Dunes.

In their December 2019 issue, Atropos, a British Lepidoptera magazine, featured a photo found on this website of an io moth (Automeris io) taken by Tim Bailey and submitted through the GAINLP incentive.

The Unfortunate Case of the Indiana State Flower

The Chinese peony (Paeonia spp.)

In 1940, State Forester Charles C. Deam wrote this of the state flower, “The Indiana flora is rich in the number of native species that are attractive and beautiful. Out of our abundance of native flowers we should be able to select one for our state flower. I take this opportunity which may be my last to voice my protest against designating as a state flower one that is not a well known native of the state nor even a native of the United States. Our first state flower was the carnation of Europe. I assisted in having this changed in 1923 to the flower of the tulip tree which is found in every county of Indiana except in the prairies. It is recognized as one of the most stately trees of the United States. In 1931 the legislature named the blatant zinnia the state flower, Zinnia elegans (a native of Mexico). Why advertise some foreign country and our ignorance of our native plants? I appeal to readers to take a pride in our state and in our native plants. I hope that our next legislature will not consider the state flower only as a buttonhole bouquet and will name one of our many native flowers to represent us and cease paying homage to any other country.

Seventeen years later, in 1957, the Indiana General Assembly adopted the Chinese peony as the State Flower of Indiana, where it remains to this day.



Photographic credits: Io moth (Automeris io) is courtesy of Austin Broadwater, Hummingbird moth (Hemaris thysbe) courtesy of Sandra Tipton, Luna moth (Actias luna) courtesy of Tracy Setze, moth program courtesy of Marie Laudeman, and Arched Hooktip (Drepana arcuate) courtesy of Chris Joll. All other photos are the original work of Indiana Nature LLC.