There is no need to travel far to find an undisturbed field of green in Northwest Indiana. Gabis Arboretum at Purdue Northwest is a huge collection of beautiful landscapes–a nature preserve located just outside of Valparaiso.
“We’re a 300-acre preserve of different ecosystems,” said Stephanie Blackstock, executive director of Gabis Arboretum at Purdue Northwest. “We have a wetland, woodlands, a 35-acre tall grass prairie, and aesthetic gardens. It’s a place to just be in nature, and we have six miles of hiking trails so you can walk, jog, walk your dog, or have your family out for a day in nature.”
Damien and Rita Gabis founded the arboretum in the early 1990s, purchasing 72 acres of land. The acreage grew over time, and Damien Gabis went on to become a certified naturalist, seeking to preserve nature in the Region as development chipped away at native green space.
“They started to see Northwest Indiana and really, the Valparaiso area, develop,” Blackstock said. “That’s great, but it led to the loss of green space. They bought as many parcels of land as they could, surrounding their home. It was all farmland at that time, and they started to turn it back into what it was before it was farmed which gave us our current ecosystems. They actually dug the wetland out themselves and planted the prairie.”
Thanks to the work of the Gabis family, conservation is the core of the arboretum’s mission. Its efforts expand beyond its own acres, as it coordinates different events and opportunities for community members to learn about conservation and native plants.
“We want to preserve as much green space as we can and educate people on how they can do some of the same things in their own community,” Blackstock said. “We have a plant sale coming up, and we’re only selling native plants. The purpose of that is to help people understand why native plants are important and how they help the pollinators and overall ecosystem. They can start a micro-prairie in their own yard.”
Gabis Arboretum at Purdue Northwest also offers a number of more curated experiences for visitors to tour. The array of gardens continues to evolve and offer new sights and experiences. The most recognizable is the Railway Garden, where an outdoor g-gauge model train runs through a landscape of miniature buildings and plants.
The different ecosystems, on the other hand, look dramatically different depending on what time of the year it is or even the weather that week.
“What you see really depends on the season,” Blackstock said. “Every time you come here it’s going to look different depending on the bloom and what the weather’s been. Right now, it’s spring so things are starting to bloom.”
The local wildlife plays a key role in the arboretum experience. Deer, beavers, and plenty of other animals call Gabis home, but Blackstock called particular attention to the local bird population.
“We’re a birder's paradise,” she said. “We have 93 bluebird houses on the property, and we have a group of volunteers that monitors for nests inside each of those houses. It’s not just bluebirds though, we have several types of birds that you can find throughout the year along with other wildlife.”
Gabis also packs its calendar full of events of all kinds. Some are simple guided hikes and tours, while others are classes on topics like gardening and pruning. One of the most popular event series is its concerts, which feature an array of local and touring artists.
“We really want to bring in people who might not usually come by the arboretum,” Blackstock said. “Once they’re here for a rock concert, they see how beautiful everything is and typically they’ll come back again just to hike or visit.”
Further details and tickets for those concerts will be available on pnw.edu/gabis later this spring, but Gabis is already just weeks away from one of the biggest days of the year for any arboretum–Arbor Day.
“Every year for Arbor Day we do a ceremonial tree planting, and this year we’re trying to get a tree that smells like cotton candy as you walk past it,” Blackstock said. “This year we’ll also be doing some nature crafts for kids, an evening hike about tree identification with our naturalist, and then we’re ending the evening with stargazing.”
Thanks to its connection with PNW, the arboretum is able to make stargazing even more special.
“We partner with the PNW astronomy club to help make it special,” Blackstock said. “They bring out their telescopes and show you what to look at in the sky. We’re a great venue for that because there’s very little light pollution here.”
“Personally, as a mom that lives in this area, we don’t have a community park here, we don’t have safe biking trails or hiking trails, we have county roads surrounding us,” Blackstock said. “The arboretum is my neighborhood’s backyard. I find it special that the arboretum can be a beautiful big backyard for the local residents.”
Keep up with all of the latest at Gabis Arboretum at Purdue Northwest by visiting pnw.edu/gabis, or drop by daily between 8 a.m. and sunset to experience one of the most remarkable green spaces in Northwest Indiana. Learn more about Purdue University Northwest at pnw.edu.
