A groundbreaking group celebrates its 50th year

The creation of Indiana’s first land trust was nothing short of visionary.

“It all started with 12 people getting together in a living room in Allen County, Indiana, and 60 bucks,” ACRES Land Trust Executive Director Jason Kissel said.

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, ACRES invited National Geographic conservationist J. Michael Fay to give a keynote speech at the Trust’s 2010 Lecture Series today. Fay’s presentation, titled “Think Big,” seems appropriate given the mission the founders of ACRES committed to a half-century ago to ensure the preservation of woodland areas.

ACRES now owns 77 nature preserves with more than 4,750 acres scattered over northeast Indiana, southern Michigan and northwest Ohio. It owns 930 acres in Allen County alone.

“It’s just been consistent growth over 50 years,” Kissel said. “They didn’t start with a particular property in mind. It just started with the concept that we should be protecting Indiana’s natural areas.”

ACRES was the first, but now there are 26 land trusts in Indiana protecting about 50,000 acres of Hoosier land.