The Milwaukee River has long been important to the health and wellbeing of locals, whether for commerce or recreation.

"We have generations of people who come back and say there is just something about this camp, about this land."

Five miles east of downtown Michigan City lies a pocket of one of the rarest natural communities in Indiana: the boreal forest of Ambler Flatwoods Nature Preserve.

The Green Bay watershed is one of the largest freshwater estuaries in the world. Spanning 10.6 million acres, it is the source of one-third of the surface water flowing into Lake Michigan. What happens in the watershed has a high impact on the lake's water quality.

The Great Black Swamp once stretched across 1,500 square miles from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Sandusky, Ohio. Impressed by the land's richness, settlers in the late 19th century drained the wetland and converted it to highly productive agriculture.

Over 30 land trust staff members recently broke free from their routines to learn from each other at the 2015 Midwest Land Protection & Stewardship Peer Gathering in Racine, Wisconsin.