The Year in Review
This was another exciting year for Hoosier conservation. Thanks to our generous donors and partners, and the tireless work of Indiana DNR staff, 2025 was filled with accomplishments. These included increased outdoor education opportunities, expanded forests, special habitat projects, and so much more. Below are reflections of rewarding and successful projects you made possible.
If you wish to join us in celebrating and preserving Indiana’s natural legacy, please donate today.
Discover the Outdoors continued connecting students with the outdoors
More than 5,600 students from 63 different schools have the chance to swap their classroom for an Indiana State Park during the 2025-26 school year. Each Discover the Outdoors trip is a unique opportunity for students to learn about Indiana’s natural resources, conservation, and cultural history. In the spring we joined a large group of elementary students as they walked through history at Lincoln State Park.
Students learn about native reptiles at Lincoln State Park
Since Discover the Outdoors began in 2013, more than 30,000 Hoosier students have created meaningful connections with Indiana’s outdoors through the program. These connections are made possible by the continued generosity of our donors and partners. In April, we celebrated the program with one of these partners. A $10,000 gift from STAR Bank helped create another record year of Discover the Outdoors trips.
We look forward to another special spring semester of students exploring the outdoors. Applications for Discover the Outdoors trips are accepted March 15 – April 30.
STAR Bank presents a check to the INRF for Discover the Outdoors.
Indiana Tree Project expanded Indiana’s forests
In the spring, we celebrated Arbor Day with our partners at Huston Solar as they continued their dedication to Indiana’s forests and the Indiana Tree Project. The group’s third planting overall and second at Prophetstown State Park added 3,000 oak trees to the park. As these trees take root, they assist with DNR’s ongoing oak savanna habitat restoration work.
Huston Solar volunteers plant oak saplings at Prophetstown State Park
Alongside the trees planted by our generous partners, hundreds more will be planted in Indiana state forests thanks to individual donors. For every $10 donated to the program, a tree is planted and managed in an Indiana state forest.
Happy Little 5K funds helped McCormick’s Creek heal
This year more than 2,300 of you joined us in running for the trees in the Happy Little 5K. This impressive support was the second highest among the 13 participating states. Most important, this generous participation will support healthy forest initiatives at Indiana State Parks for years to come.
Some of the INRF staff completed the 2025 Happy Little 5K at Fort Harrison State Park
Funds raised from the virtual event helped McCormick’s Creek State Park staff restore its Wolf Cave Nature Preserve this fall. After the 2023 tornado left the area damaged and vulnerable to invasive plants, species like tree of heaven began to take over. Thanks to the 5K funds, extensive work was performed to combat the tree of heaven and give native species more room to grow.
“We are grateful to Hoosiers’ support for this important work,” said Brandt Baughman, director of State Parks. “The work funded by the Happy Little 5K will help champion healthy forests at Indiana’s oldest state park.”
McCormick’s Creek staff treating a tree of heaven plant growing among native tulip trees.
Partners continued their support of special projects
Moontown Brewing Company’s Pints for Parks series continued its journey through Indiana State Parks with four new brews this year. Brews themed for Versailles, Shades, and Whitewater Memorial state parks, and Lieber State Recreation Area debuted, taking the series total to 16 different beers since the effort began in 2020.
A portion of proceeds from each brew is donated to the INRF in support of special projects at Indiana State Parks. Any time a Pints for Parks brew becomes available, visit a Moontown location to get it on draft or in commemorative 4-packs.
Moontown presents the INRF with a check from Starve Hollow, the 11th beer in the series.
We began the year by highlighting TC Energy’s continued support of habitat projects at Patoka Lake. A recent grant helped the property upgrade its resource boat, an integral tool in helping them create more fish habitat and help with search and rescue needs.
Recently, we joined TC Energy once again as they awarded us another grant that helped Ferdinand State Forest staff purchase a mulching attachment. This grant supports the property staff’s ongoing work of removing invasive plants and restoring native species to the property. We’re excited to share more about this project soon.
DNR, TC Energy, and INRF staff members with the new mulching attachment at Ferdinand State Forest