Photo Albums

At Saturday's dedication of the Bachner Nature Preserve, Mike Bachner's daughter, Madeline, spoke of the adventures she and her sister, Fern, had with their dad on the creek. "For my father, traveling on the creek was always about the adventure, and about the story you could tell when you got back, What we have to learn from that and be reminded of is that when we put in on Sugar Creek, here or anywhere else, or on any trip we take, it’s not about executing a smooth plan, it’s about having an adventure and telling people about it. "That’s how we can educate people, that’s how we can impassion them to use these beautiful wild places, and that’s how we preserve them." Photos by Steve Charles

Wabash Professor of Biology and NICHES board member David Krohne, whose conversation with Professor Doug Calisch during a trip to the Amazon Basin was the genesis of Bachner Reserve project, welcomed those gathered for the dedication.

NICHES Land Trust Excecutive Director Gus Nyberg told the crowd. "I know how important Sugar Creek is to people throughout the state of Indiana, which many people will agree is the best stream in the state." "One of the special aspects of Sugar Creek is that it has the largest bloc of formerly glaciated forest in the entire state. It affords us the best opportunity to protect populations of songbirds and other species in this type of forest, the beginning of an effort to achieve a truly meaningful and lasting conservation on the Indiana landscape."

Professor Doug Calisch said, "This crowd, this day, and this place are a testament to Mike Bachner and his contagious love of nature and of the water,"

Friends of Sugar Creek President Zach Cain said, "I can’t say enough about the hard work that went into getting this place, especially to NICHES, who really took hold of this project."

Mike Bachner's brother, Chuck, read a poem called "Planting Trees" by Wendell Berry, one of Mike's favorite writers. Chuck and his family came from Massachusetts to attend the dedication.

Pat Galloway spent some of the day talking with and thanking those who had helped make this project honoring her late husband, Mike Bachner, possible, and some of it planting trees in the new Bachner Reserve.

Mike Bachner and Pat Galloway's daughter, Fern and Madeline.

Tom Keedy ’77 and a friend plant a tree.

The Charles Bachner family gets a picture for the family album in front of the new Reserve.

Wabash College First Lady Chris White and Professor of English Warren Rosenberg clear the soil around a sapling.

Wabash freshman Pete Guiden and Assistant Professor of Political Science Paul Vasquez do the hard work on one of four augers used during yesterdays' tree planting.