Miller Woods is an area in the far western part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is a U.S. National Lakeshore located in northwest Indiana and managed by the National Park Service. It was authorized by Congress in 1966. The national lakeshore runs for nearly along the southern shore of Lake Michigan, from Gary, Indiana, on the west to Michigan...

, in Gary, Indiana

Gary, Indiana

Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...

, in and near the neighborhood of Miller Beach

Miller Beach

Miller Beach is a community on the southernmost shore of Lake Michigan. Originally an independent town first settled in 1851, Miller was annexed by the city of Gary, Indiana in 1918...

, and south and west of the Gary Works

Gary Works

The Gary Works is a very large steel mill in Gary, Indiana, on the shore of Lake Michigan. For many years, the Gary Works was the world's largest steel mill, and it remains the largest integrated mill in North America....

 steel mill. The area is home to the federally endangered Karner Blue

Karner Blue

The Karner Blue, Lycaeides melissa samuelis, is a small, blue butterfly found in small areas of New Jersey, the Great Lakes region, southern New Hampshire, and the Capital District region of New York. The butterfly, whose lifecycle depends on the wild blue lupine flower , is classified as an...

 butterfly and the federally threatened Pitcher's thistle

Pitcher's thistle

The Pitcher's thistle , sometimes called dune thistle, is a species of thistle native to sand dune shorelines along the upper Great Lakes. It grows endemically only in Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ontario. It is listed by the U.S...

. Miller Woods is the only part of the National Lakeshore that also adjoins the Grand Calumet River.

The northern part of Miller Woods adjoins Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...

, and includes foredunes and high dunes, as well as blowouts

Blowout (geology)

Blowouts are sandy depressions in a sand dune ecosystem caused by the removal of sediments by wind.Blowouts occur in partially vegetated dunefields or sandhills. A blowout forms when a patch of protective vegetation is lost, allowing strong winds to "blow out" sand and form a depression...

 and pannes. The southern and larger part of Miller Woods consists of rolling dune and swale, with dune ridges dominated by oak savanna

Oak savanna

An oak savanna is a type of savanna, or lightly forested grassland, where oaks are the dominant tree species. These savannas were maintained historically through wildfires set by lightning, grazing, low precipitation, poor soil, and/or fires set by Native Americans...

. This southern part is also traversed by current and former rail lines. The northern and southern parts are divided by the Grand Calumet River, including the westernmost of the three lagoons that mark river's the modern-day headwaters and former mouth.

History

Miller Woods was the site of some of Henry Chandler Cowles

Henry Chandler Cowles

Henry Chandler Cowles was an American botanist and ecological pioneer . Born in Kensington, Connecticut, he attended Oberlin College in Ohio. He studied at the University of Chicago with the plant taxonomist John M. Coulter and the geologist Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin as main teachers. He...

' earliest observations on ecological succession

Ecological succession

Ecological succession, is the phenomenon or process by which a community progressively transforms itself until a stable community is formed. It is a fundamental concept in ecology, and refers to more or less predictable and orderly changes in the composition or structure of an ecological community...

 in the late 19th century. Subsequently, it was acquired by US Steel for industrial use, and a number of railroads and spur lines were laid through the area. This had an unintended beneficial impact for the local oak savanna ecology; the sparks thrown off by passing trains maintained the fire cycle that was suppressed in most other parts of the Indiana Dunes during the 20th century.

The area was acquired by the National Park Service

National Park Service

The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

 through an expansion bill passed in 1976. The bill was passed in honor of Senator Paul Douglas

Paul Douglas

Paul Howard Douglas was an liberal American politician and University of Chicago economist. A war hero, he was elected as a Democratic U.S. Senator from Illinois from in the 1948 landslide, serving until his defeat in 1966...

, who was then on his deathbed, and the Douglas name was applied to the large environmental education

Environmental education

Environmental education refers to organized efforts to teach about how natural environments function and, particularly, how human beings can manage their behavior and ecosystems in order to live sustainably. The term is often used to imply education within the school system, from primary to...

 center that now stands at the entrance to Miller Woods.

Flora and fauna

Miller Woods is home to at least 287 species of animals and plants. Among them are several species found nowhere else in the National Lakeshore, including the fame flower. The area is known for its brilliant displays of wildflowers such as columbine

Aquilegia

Aquilegia is a genus of about 60-70 species of perennial plants that are found in meadows, woodlands, and at higher altitudes throughout the Northern Hemisphere, known for the spurred petals of their flowers.-Etymology:The genus name Aquilegia is derived from the Latin word for eagle , because...

 and trailing arbutus.

Mammals

• Virginia opossum
  Virginia Opossum
  The Virginia opossum , commonly known as the North American opossum or tlacuache in Mexico, is the only marsupial found in North America north of Mexico. A solitary and nocturnal animal about the size of a domestic cat, and thus the largest opossum, it is a successful opportunist...
  
  
• short-tailed shrew
• masked shrew
  Masked Shrew
  The Cinereus Shrew or Masked Shrew is a small shrew found in Alaska, Canada and the northern United States. This is the most widely distributed shrew in North America where it is also known as the Common Shrew.- Description :...
  
  
• eastern mole
  Eastern Mole
  The eastern mole or common mole is a medium-sized, overall grey North American mole and the only member of the genus Scalopus. Its large, hairless, spade shaped forefeet are adapted for digging...
  
  
• cottontail rabbit
  Cottontail rabbit
  The cottontail rabbits are among the 16 lagomorph species in the genus Sylvilagus, found in the Americas.In appearance, most cottontail rabbits closely resemble the wild European Rabbit...
  
  
• white-footed mouse
  White-footed mouse
  White-footed Mouse is a rodent native to North America. It ranges from Ontario, Quebec, Labrador and the Maritime Provinces to the southwest USA and Mexico. It is also known as the Woodmouse, particularly in Texas.Adults are in length, not counting the tail, which can add another . A young adult...
  
  
• prairie deer mouse
• meadow vole
  Meadow Vole
  The Meadow Vole , sometimes called the Field Mouse or Meadow Mouse, is a North American vole found across Canada, Alaska and the northern United States. Its range extends further south along the Atlantic coast. One subspecies, the Florida Salt Marsh Vole , is found in Florida, and is classified as...
  
  
• muskrat
  Muskrat
  The muskrat , the only species in genus Ondatra, is a medium-sized semi-aquatic rodent native to North America, and introduced in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands and is a very successful animal over a wide range of climates and habitats...
  
  
• fox squirrel
  Fox Squirrel
  The fox squirrel is the largest species of tree squirrel native to North America...
  
  
• gray squirrel
  Eastern Gray Squirrel
  The eastern gray squirrel is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus native to the eastern and midwestern United States, and to the southerly portions of the eastern provinces of Canada...
  
  
• thirteen-lined ground squirrel
  Thirteen-lined ground squirrel
  The thirteen-lined ground squirrel , also known as the striped gopher, leopard ground squirrel, squinney, and as the leopard-spermophile in Audubon’s day, is a ground squirrel....
  
  
• red squirrel
  Red Squirrel
  The red squirrel or Eurasian red squirrel is a species of tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus common throughout Eurasia...
  
  
• raccoon
  Raccoon
  Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
  
  
• long-tailed weasel
  Long-tailed Weasel
  The long-tailed weasel , also known as the bridled weasel or big stoat is a species of mustelid distributed from southern Canada throughout all the United States and Mexico, southward through all of Central America and into northern South America.-Evolution:The long-tailed weasel is the product of...
  
  
• white-tailed deer
  White-tailed Deer
  The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
  
  
• coyote
  Coyote
  The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
  
  
• beaver
  Beaver
  The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...