By: Stephen McCollum

Milkweed has been planted for the Monarch butterfly migration. A pileated woodpecker has been sighted. The prairie grasses will yield a variety of colorful blossoms in the spring and summer. Hiking trails through acres of woods offer shade in summer and a palette of colorful foliage in autumn. Winter snowfall blankets it all with the sound of silence.

Welcome to Hartford City’s Wilderness Park Prairie Restoration Project. Nestled into the south end of town just off of South Walnut St. on Amvet Drive, and overseen by the City’s Parks and Recreation Department, this 50-plus acre getaway offers residents and visitors a refuge of natural beauty. 

“I was out here one evening,” said Teresa Henderson, president of the Parks and Recreation board, “and three young children, two brothers with their little sister in tow, came down the trail followed in short order by their parents. They told me they’d found the park by accident and had been back every day since. It had become a favorite place for the family to hang out.” 

Henderson, now in her 21st year with the Parks Department, says this is the newest installment of an ongoing effort to upgrade all the grounds and equipment as much as possible. She is eager to welcome Bryon Maddox as the new Parks Superintendent in 2020.

Like the gradual evolution of the natural order, Wilderness Park has emerged over several years through multiple phases of planning and implementation. And it has taken commitment and persistence by many in the community.

The litany of organizations and individuals begins with Henderson and the board, the Parks Department staff, and extends through the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Blackford County Community Foundation, Stan Wilson with S&K Seed, Flatland Resources LLC of Muncie, the Greenscape Committee, the Robert Cooper Audubon Society, the George and Frances Ball Foundation, the Ball Brothers Foundation, Blackford County Soil and Water Conservation, Clean Water Indiana and private donors. 

The environmental design and planning work for Wilderness Park has been handled by Flatland Resources, largely under the direction of Colby Gray. Gray, also Assistant Teaching Professor of Landscape Architecture at Ball State University, and his students collaborated with the Parks Department toward achieving these primary goals:

• Transforming a mowed turf area into a prairie habitat suitable for wildlife;
• Enhancing human access to the park; and
• Controlling invasive honeysuckle as a threat to native flora and fauna.

“We aren’t creating a new open space but enhancing an existing resource,” Gray explained. “Wilderness Park has many recreational features. We are focused on the walking trails at this time, creating new natural interaction experiences for hikers, defined access points, opportunities for rest and reflection, and signage.”

At the interface between the prairie and the forest, a new gathering space has been created. The curving benches within an arched framework mimic a caterpillar cocoon, offering a formal entrance onto the trail system. A bird blind in the shape of a butterfly will facilitate bird watching and photography. 

Lisa Weeks, who has observed the pileated woodpecker, says “If you’re here in the early morning when the sunlight hits the tree line, it’s full of birds. The birds like to hang out on the break line between the forest and the open space.

“This will be a great asset to our community and demonstrates our commitment to healthy living and the development of green spaces,” she adds.

So consider the four-dimensional nature of the Wilderness Park Prairie Restoration—try visiting in winter, spring, summer, and fall. It could become for you, like that family of five, a favorite place to hang out.