Latest news with #ScrubHub
Indianapolis Star
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Indianapolis Star
Indiana state park naturalist enjoys inspiring, teaching next generation of Hoosiers
This is the first edition of our Scrub Hub with a new format. A good marketer might say 'Same Name. New Flavor.' We are reaching out across Indiana to speak one-on-one with Hoosiers who have something to say about our natural environment and presenting those interviews in this new Q&A style. So, if you know anyone who should be features, please let us know. Turtles swimming in tanks greet guests at the Fort Harrison State Park Visitors' Center tucked away on the former military base. Aerial photographs of the property from the 1930s hang on one of the walls of the center where Emilie Sweet, the park's interpretive naturalist, prepares for her daily work. Each day is a little different for Sweet, who could spend them leading kids through the trails or teaching courses for the Indiana Master Naturalist class or clearing out invasive plants in the woods. Sweet has been the park's interpretive naturalist for the last three years and is the first person for our new Q&A series in the Scrub Hub. We met with Sweet in June as the summer heat started to set on Central Indiana. Her answers are edited for brevity and clarity. SUGGEST A SUBJECT: Know someone doing good things for Indiana's environment and want to see them featured here? Email Karl and Sophie at: and to let us know. There's a couple of different things. If I know I'm going to show a big group of kids my rat snake, I really enjoy that. The looks on their faces when I pick up the snake and show them is just priceless. They're either like 'Ewwww' or they're like 'Oh my gosh, look at that' and it's really fun to just see the differences and kind of breakthrough to some of them. Some of them might be scared to do a two-finger touch on the snake, but at the end of it they finally do it and they realize it's not that scary. I love doing reptile programs, and if I know something like that's coming up then I get really excited. And, if I know I have a free day and I can do resource management on the park and just go out and work on invasive management in our park, I really get excited about that because it's getting out in the field and being able to step away from the office and be outside. The more I learn, the more I want to spread that knowledge to others. Doing programs helps me learn as well because that's always been my thing — I really enjoy learning. I like looking things up and I like going out in the field and I like learning how to identify a new plant and things like that. And I want to share that with other people. I want to be able to open doors for people that might not know much about this area. Some people don't know the history of places as well, and that's a big part of my job, too, is just telling people about the history of our parks. Something that I noticed about myself and learned about in school is plant blindness. (It's where) you look and just see a sea of green. So, learning how to stop and look at an individual tree or an individual plant, anything really, is helpful. Just noticing things that you don't notice before. I really make it a priority, especially in the spring when I know things are starting to pop up, I make it a priority to every day to stop and look around and see what looks different based on yesterday. I'll walk a trail and see what's different as far as our spring ephemerals like: which ones popping up, or maybe I see a blood root that is coming up and leaves are curled around it's stem and there's a bud and I know the flower is going to bloom soon. So, I try to go out every day and see if I can catch that one specific flower blooming. You slow down and look at things and notice them, and then you catalog it and then the next year just go back and do the same thing and then you're going to find patterns and you're going to find things that maybe shift and maybe don't and it's interesting to notice stuff like that and be able to tell other people: 'Oh well, if you wait a week, the red buds are going to be blooming on this day, so just wait.' One of my favorite things about bats is that between Indiana bats, if you're comparing them to a little brown bat: one way that researchers can distinguish between the two of them is that Indiana bats have short toe hairs and little brown bats have long toe hairs. I just think that's the funniest thing. IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Scrub Hub: IU's new bison mascot links back to a forgotten piece of Indiana history
After decades with no furry beast repping its athletic department, Indiana University recently adopted an official mascot. Once again, it's a bison. The two-thousand-pound animals used to roam the Indiana landscape en masse, packing down the earth beneath their feet and creating paths as they shuffled along. Indiana University referenced perhaps the most famous of these trails — the Buffalo Trace — in their Star-Wars-style announcement video last month. But after almost 200 years without a bison in sight, it can be hard to imagine how they could have permanently altered the Indiana landscape. So, this edition of Scrub Hub, we spoke with Clark County Surveyor David Ruckman and Director of the Buffalo Trace Land Trust Elizabeth Winlock to help us answer the questions: What is the Buffalo Trace in Southern Indiana, and why is it so ingrained in our state's history? Upwards of 60 million bison used to plod across the North American landscape. The enormous, horned beasts were integral to prairie ecosystems: they fed on grasses and sedges, helped create water sources and fed the people living nearby. They were often on the move. Large herds of hungry buffalo traversed Indiana, constantly sniffing out their next meal. Bison huffed up upland ridges to graze during the warm months and when the temperatures dropped, they trotted back down into large river valleys toward insulated forests. As they crossed the state, their path was likely directed by where they could find salt licks and water sources. Over the years — and underneath thousands of hoofprints — paths formed across the southern Indiana landscape. The largest came to be known as the Buffalo Trace. Indigenous groups, like the Miami Tribe, were likely the first people to move across the region on these trails. But as Europeans began to colonize North America, more humans found the trace, and soon, it became a bustling trail from Louisville to Vincennes. After President Thomas Jefferson bought 530 million acres through the Louisiana Purchase, he focused on the Buffalo Trace as a way to access it. 'Jefferson immediately saw that and said, 'Hey, we've got to control this buffalo road, whatever it is, because that's our way west,'' said David Ruckman, a surveyor for Clark County, who helped re-plot the trail as part of the Hoosier National Forest Service's effort to preserve state history. But the trail didn't stay a buffalo road for long. As European immigrants settled in North America and pioneers traveled west, they killed tens of millions of bison. The slaughter coincided with the young nation's plans to eradicate, assimilate, and relocate local Indigenous tribes, many of which relied on the creatures as a food source. By 1830, the last wild Indiana bison was killed. The Buffalo Trace became a very different place: pioneers, wagons and horses — but no more buffalo — crossed the trail, heading west. Settlements and farms cropped up alongside of it. And due to the sheer amount of traffic, pieces of the trace quickly became unrecognizable. 'It was just a dusty path, right? A hard-packed path,' said Ruckman. But as wagons began traveling over wet dirt, ruts began to form. 'And those ruts just kept going deeper and deeper. Some places they're eight and ten feet deep.' The trace has continued to evolve. Today, some sections are smothered in concrete or asphalt, underneath county highways. Other chunks pass through rural farmland, alongside high schools and down the main streets of small towns. But the remnants of the trail still connect communities across southern Indiana. 'We kind of take for granted just how special some of this is,' said Elizabeth Winlock, the Director for the Buffalo Trace Land Trust in southern Indiana. It's not the flashiest natural landscape or a bustling metropolis, she added, but she thinks the long history of buffalo, Indigenous people and settlers using the trail as a trading and migration route is worth paying attention to. 'Just being able to slow down for a second think about the land that you're on and the other animals and other people that came before you,' said Winlock. "I think all of that is valuable.' IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Sophie Hartley is an IndyStar environment reporter. You can reach her at or on X at @sophienhartley. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Scrub Hub: IU's new bison mascot points to forgotten Hoosier history
Indianapolis Star
09-06-2025
- General
- Indianapolis Star
Scrub Hub: IU's new bison mascot links back to a forgotten piece of Indiana history
After decades with no furry beast repping its athletic department, Indiana University recently adopted an official mascot. Once again, it's a bison. The two-thousand-pound animals used to roam the Indiana landscape en masse, packing down the earth beneath their feet and creating paths as they shuffled along. Indiana University referenced perhaps the most famous of these trails — the Buffalo Trace — in their Star-Wars-style announcement video last month. But after almost 200 years without a bison in sight, it can be hard to imagine how they could have permanently altered the Indiana landscape. So, this edition of Scrub Hub, we spoke with Clark County Surveyor David Ruckman and Director of the Buffalo Trace Land Trust Elizabeth Winlock to help us answer the questions: What is the Buffalo Trace in Southern Indiana, and why is it so ingrained in our state's history? Upwards of 60 million bison used to plod across the North American landscape. The enormous, horned beasts were integral to prairie ecosystems: they fed on grasses and sedges, helped create water sources and fed the people living nearby. They were often on the move. Large herds of hungry buffalo traversed Indiana, constantly sniffing out their next meal. Bison huffed up upland ridges to graze during the warm months and when the temperatures dropped, they trotted back down into large river valleys toward insulated forests. As they crossed the state, their path was likely directed by where they could find salt licks and water sources. Over the years — and underneath thousands of hoofprints — paths formed across the southern Indiana landscape. The largest came to be known as the Buffalo Trace. Indigenous groups, like the Miami Tribe, were likely the first people to move across the region on these trails. But as Europeans began to colonize North America, more humans found the trace, and soon, it became a bustling trail from Louisville to Vincennes. After President Thomas Jefferson bought 530 million acres through the Louisiana Purchase, he focused on the Buffalo Trace as a way to access it. 'Jefferson immediately saw that and said, 'Hey, we've got to control this buffalo road, whatever it is, because that's our way west,'' said David Ruckman, a surveyor for Clark County, who helped re-plot the trail as part of the Hoosier National Forest Service's effort to preserve state history. But the trail didn't stay a buffalo road for long. As European immigrants settled in North America and pioneers traveled west, they killed tens of millions of bison. The slaughter coincided with the young nation's plans to eradicate, assimilate, and relocate local Indigenous tribes, many of which relied on the creatures as a food source. By 1830, the last wild Indiana bison was killed. The Buffalo Trace became a very different place: pioneers, wagons and horses — but no more buffalo — crossed the trail, heading west. Settlements and farms cropped up alongside of it. And due to the sheer amount of traffic, pieces of the trace quickly became unrecognizable. 'It was just a dusty path, right? A hard-packed path,' said Ruckman. But as wagons began traveling over wet dirt, ruts began to form. 'And those ruts just kept going deeper and deeper. Some places they're eight and ten feet deep.' The trace has continued to evolve. Today, some sections are smothered in concrete or asphalt, underneath county highways. Other chunks pass through rural farmland, alongside high schools and down the main streets of small towns. But the remnants of the trail still connect communities across southern Indiana. 'We kind of take for granted just how special some of this is,' said Elizabeth Winlock, the Director for the Buffalo Trace Land Trust in southern Indiana. It's not the flashiest natural landscape or a bustling metropolis, she added, but she thinks the long history of buffalo, Indigenous people and settlers using the trail as a trading and migration route is worth paying attention to. 'Just being able to slow down for a second think about the land that you're on and the other animals and other people that came before you,' said Winlock. "I think all of that is valuable.' IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Yahoo
Indiana foraging made easy with these springtime plants
Indiana's wild lands not only offer Hoosiers the opportunity to explore, they hold a bountiful selection of edible gifts. As the outdoors fully shake off the winter slumber, we use this edition of Scrub Hub to speak with an expert and find out what tasty treats nature offers us during the spring. We spoke with Wild Edible Indiana's Carrie Vrabel to help us find some select snacks when headed out on a hike this spring and answer the question: What are the best plants to forage during spring in Indiana? Vrabel offers private foraging classes and helps run the Wild Edible Indiana Facebook group, which has more than 7,000 members. Before digging into the individual edibles, Vrabel offered some advice for Hoosiers just starting out in the foraging world. Learning plant identification is the best place to start. Foragers should not rely on their phones, Vrabel said, but invest in a good guide that helps the reader identify plants. Second, never eat anything you are not 100% sure about. Vrabel suggests using at least three sources to make sure the plant is edible. She recommends checking out identification classes and posting photos in online forums for some extra guidance. It's also important to be thoughtful about what you harvest. A good rule of thumb Vrabel has is to never take more than one-fifth of what is there and only to harvest when there is an abundance of that plant. Once Hoosiers are prepared to start foraging, there are a handful of springtime plants that are good for beginners to focus on. Morels are an obvious delicacy for foragers in Indiana, but a lesser-known treat is the Dryad Saddle or Pheasant Back fungi that is known as the morel hunter's consolation prize since it is a bit easier to find while hunting for morels. These are fun to find, Vrabel said, and the key to harvesting them is when the pores on the underside of the mushroom are still really small and close together. As the mushroom ages those pores widen, and the fungi moves past being tender enough to eat. Ramps are a popular forage plant for Hoosiers out on hikes in the woods. There are two varieties here in Indiana, Vrabel said, one has a wider leaf, and the other is more narrow. Ramps are basically Indiana's native onion, Vrabel said, but there are two look-alikes that people should watch out for. The easiest way to determine a ramp is by tearing away the tip of the leaf. A ramp will have a distinctly onion smell, and the look-alikes will not have that same smell. 'Be mindful when you harvest them,' Vrabel said. 'Ramps are very slow growing native plants that take about seven years to establish a colony.' Garlic mustard is an invasive plant found throughout the woods in Indiana forests. The leaves have a very pungent garlic flavor, but also have a bitter aftertaste. Vrabel said they're best mixed with other greens. Garlic mustard was brought to the U.S. as a food plant by the colonists, Vrabel said. It has spread very quickly and can be identified by its serrated heart-shaped leaves. The roots of the plant also can be used as a wild horseradish. Vrabel said it has that wasabi-type flavor and that the entire plant is edible. While stinging nettle might not seem like the best food source at first, there's a quick way to remove the "sting" and enjoy these as a nutritious foraged green, Vrabel said. If you briefly boil or steam the plants, the stings are gone. But it will take some care when harvesting stinging nettles. A good pair of gloves should be enough to keep he stinging at bay. Vrabel said she brings a pair of scissors with her and just cuts off the tops of the stinging nettle plants, then puts them in a big bag. Dandelions are everywhere, and the entire plant can be eaten or consumed. They also they have a lot of nutritional value, Vrabel said. The leaves can be boiled or tossed into a salad raw, but Vrabel's favorite way to prepare them is by making dandelion root coffee. The key to making a good coffee is to dry the roots out first for about a week or so before roasting them in the oven. Vrabel usually roasts the dried roots for 20 minutes at 325 degrees before grinding them up in a coffee grinder. Then you can soak the grounds in a French press. Trees are also a good source of foraging in Indiana, and Vrabel said one of the best is the black locust. These might be ready to harvest around mid-May with clusters of white flowers on their branches, Vrabel said. The key to harvesting these is finding a yellow dot in the center of the flower. The dot is typically most vibrant just as the flowers open and begins to fade as the flowers age. The earlier the flowers are harvested, the better the flavor is, which Vrabel said is hard to describe. Hoosiers will want to keep their eyes out for these flowers as the window to harvest begins in about two weeks. IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Karl Schneider is an IndyStar environment reporter. You can reach him at Follow him on BlueSky @ This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana foraging expert provides tips and tricks for the spring
Indianapolis Star
13-05-2025
- Indianapolis Star
Indiana foraging made easy with these springtime plants
Indiana's wild lands not only offer Hoosiers the opportunity to explore, they hold a bountiful selection of edible gifts. As the outdoors fully shake off the winter slumber, we use this edition of Scrub Hub to speak with an expert and find out what tasty treats nature offers us during the spring. We spoke with Wild Edible Indiana's Carrie Vrabel to help us find some select snacks when headed out on a hike this spring and answer the question: What are the best plants to forage during spring in Indiana? Vrabel offers private foraging classes and helps run the Wild Edible Indiana Facebook group, which has more than 7,000 members. Before digging into the individual edibles, Vrabel offered some advice for Hoosiers just starting out in the foraging world. Learning plant identification is the best place to start. Foragers should not rely on their phones, Vrabel said, but invest in a good guide that helps the reader identify plants. Second, never eat anything you are not 100% sure about. Vrabel suggests using at least three sources to make sure the plant is edible. She recommends checking out identification classes and posting photos in online forums for some extra guidance. It's also important to be thoughtful about what you harvest. A good rule of thumb Vrabel has is to never take more than one-fifth of what is there and only to harvest when there is an abundance of that plant. Once Hoosiers are prepared to start foraging, there are a handful of springtime plants that are good for beginners to focus on. Morels are an obvious delicacy for foragers in Indiana, but a lesser-known treat is the Dryad Saddle or Pheasant Back fungi that is known as the morel hunter's consolation prize since it is a bit easier to find while hunting for morels. These are fun to find, Vrabel said, and the key to harvesting them is when the pores on the underside of the mushroom are still really small and close together. As the mushroom ages those pores widen, and the fungi moves past being tender enough to eat. Ramps are a popular forage plant for Hoosiers out on hikes in the woods. There are two varieties here in Indiana, Vrabel said, one has a wider leaf, and the other is more narrow. Ramps are basically Indiana's native onion, Vrabel said, but there are two look-alikes that people should watch out for. The easiest way to determine a ramp is by tearing away the tip of the leaf. A ramp will have a distinctly onion smell, and the look-alikes will not have that same smell. 'Be mindful when you harvest them,' Vrabel said. 'Ramps are very slow growing native plants that take about seven years to establish a colony.' Garlic mustard is an invasive plant found throughout the woods in Indiana forests. The leaves have a very pungent garlic flavor, but also have a bitter aftertaste. Vrabel said they're best mixed with other greens. Garlic mustard was brought to the U.S. as a food plant by the colonists, Vrabel said. It has spread very quickly and can be identified by its serrated heart-shaped leaves. The roots of the plant also can be used as a wild horseradish. Vrabel said it has that wasabi-type flavor and that the entire plant is edible. While stinging nettle might not seem like the best food source at first, there's a quick way to remove the "sting" and enjoy these as a nutritious foraged green, Vrabel said. If you briefly boil or steam the plants, the stings are gone. But it will take some care when harvesting stinging nettles. A good pair of gloves should be enough to keep he stinging at bay. Vrabel said she brings a pair of scissors with her and just cuts off the tops of the stinging nettle plants, then puts them in a big bag. Dandelions are everywhere, and the entire plant can be eaten or consumed. They also they have a lot of nutritional value, Vrabel said. The leaves can be boiled or tossed into a salad raw, but Vrabel's favorite way to prepare them is by making dandelion root coffee. The key to making a good coffee is to dry the roots out first for about a week or so before roasting them in the oven. Vrabel usually roasts the dried roots for 20 minutes at 325 degrees before grinding them up in a coffee grinder. Then you can soak the grounds in a French press. Trees are also a good source of foraging in Indiana, and Vrabel said one of the best is the black locust. These might be ready to harvest around mid-May with clusters of white flowers on their branches, Vrabel said. The key to harvesting these is finding a yellow dot in the center of the flower. The dot is typically most vibrant just as the flowers open and begins to fade as the flowers age. The earlier the flowers are harvested, the better the flavor is, which Vrabel said is hard to describe. Hoosiers will want to keep their eyes out for these flowers as the window to harvest begins in about two weeks. IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.
