Great Marsh - Save the Dunes

The Great

Marsh

Lake Michigan’s Largest Interdunal Wetland

The Great Marsh wetland complex is one of Indiana’s greatest ecological treasures, containing a great diversity of flora and providing habitat for birds and other wildlife. Though much of the marsh is within protected lands, constant maintenance and care are necessary to keep its ecosystems thriving.

Explore the Great Marsh

Several trails allow visitors to see the Great Marsh for themselves:

Indiana Dunes National Park – Great Marsh Trail

Indiana Dunes State Park – Trail 2

Shirley Heinze Land Trust – McAllister Prairie Trail & Charing-Bellevue Trail

Become a Volunteer

You can help restore and maintain the Great Marsh! Volunteer opportunities can be found with partners at:

The Great Marsh is foundational to the field of ecology.

University of Chicago botanist, Henry Chandler Cowles, studied how vegetative communities in the Great Marsh replaced one another over time. This process, called ecological succession, remains a fundamental concept in ecology today.