Eco Logic LLC

04/03/2026

04/03/2026

03/28/2026

Thank you Eagle Creek Ornithology Center. We are happy to continue helping ILS meet their restoration and conservation goals, and we couldn’t have said it any better!

Prescribed Burn Supports Birds & Pollinators at Eagle Creek Park - Indy Parks and Recreation🔥🌼🦋🐦

On March 24th, DPW Indy Land Stewardship staff, along with contractors from EcoLogic, successfully conducted prescribed burns on three pollinator plantings in the park. These areas were originally installed several years ago to enhance wildlife habitat and support native bees, butterflies, and moths. (Did you know Indiana is home to around 150 butterflies, and over 2,000 species of moths?!) 🦋

Prescribed burning is an important land management tool that helps control invasive weeds, reduce woody debris buildup, and promote the germination of native wildflowers. It also returns valuable nutrients to the soil, strengthening the overall health of prairie and grassland ecosystem.

🐦How does prescribed burning help birds?
Many of Central Indiana’s native bird species depend on the open habitats created by periodic fire. Grassland birds in particular thrive after burns because:
• Fire removes dense brush and woody growth, keeping prairies open
• New plant growth produces seeds and attracts insects—key food sources for birds
• Reduced woody debris makes it easier for birds to move, forage, and nest on the ground ( #1 Wisconsin Prescribed Fire Council)

🐦Species that benefit from these conditions include:
• Eastern Meadowlark – prefers open grasslands with fresh growth
• Red-winged Blackbird – benefits from improved meadow and grassland edges
• Henslow’s Sparrow – a conservation-priority species that relies on well-managed grasslands ( #2 The Nature Conservancy)

By maintaining diverse prairie conditions through prescribed fire, land managers help support a wider variety of bird species—many of which have declined due to habitat loss. Fire essentially “resets” the landscape, creating the mix of vegetation structure that birds need to feed, nest, and survive. ( #2 The Nature Conservancy)

These carefully planned and controlled burns play a vital role in maintaining vibrant, diverse habitats that benefit pollinators, birds, and the entire ecosystem. Controlled burns are usually done during the dormant season every 3-5 years to maintain these habitats. Visitors should see a greater diversity of wildflowers blooming this year and less woody vegetation in burned areas.

🌱 Stay tuned for new growth—and keep an eye (and ear!) out for birds returning to these refreshed habitats this season!

Sources:
1) https://prescribedfire.org/learn/why-we-burn/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Why We Burn - Wisconsin Prescribed Fire Council"

2) https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/priority-landscapes/midwest/stories-in-the-midwest/midwest-fire/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Controlled Burns, Wild Benefits"

02/02/2026

Eco Logic will be at this event on Friday! https://eri.iu.edu/news-and-events/events/indiana-sustainability-and-resilience-conference.html

10/27/2025

Meet the expert voices shaping this year’s conference! 🌱 Join us November 4th - tickets are still available. Registration link in our bio! 🪴

10/13/2025

Restoration doesn’t end at restoring 🌿

Join us for Eco Logic’s 2025 Annual Conference, “The Importance of Monitoring Restoration Efforts” to explore the topic of why ✨ Monitoring Matters ✨

Tuesday, November 4th, 2025 | Monroe Convention Center

🔗 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-importance-of-monitoring-restoration-efforts-tickets-1678104558909?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

Seats are limited so reserve your spot soon! 🌱

03/19/2025

On 3/10/25, Eco logic was able to return fire to the landscape on a portion of Central Indiana Land Trust’s (CILTI) Glacier’s End Nature Preserve. The burn unit straddles an oak/hickory dominated ridge. Dry upland forest communities like this need regular disturbance to maintain the diversity of the native plant communities. Thick barked trees like oak and hickory can withstand the heat of the fire, while thin barked trees like beech and maple (and invasive woody plants) will be top killed, or at least damaged. The natural process of fire maintains diverse oak/hickory systems, while returning nutrients to the soil, and helping to control invasive plant species.
*Beech and maple trees have their place on the landscape, in moist bottom lands or N/E facing slopes.

03/11/2025

It is that season again - Lead by Sam Shoaf, a.k.a., our "Burn Boss", our fire crew had the opportunity to perform a prescribed prairie burn at Howell Wetlands. Thank you Wesselman Woods for choosing Eco Logic!
These days require undivided focus from our team, so we always appreciate photos of the action. 🌱

02/18/2025

Five Rivers Metroparks is a large park district that serves the Dayton Ohio Metropolitan Area. In 2024, the district hired Eco Logic to map invasive plants at Possum Creek Metropark and Spring Run Conservation Area as part of a restoration and tree planting program to improve the native tree canopy.

Possum Creek Metropark is a 550-acre park on the southwest side of Dayton. It includes the historic Argonne Forest, site of a former Amusement Park in 1930s and early 1940s. There are around 300 acres of forest and successional brushy acres in the park and over 100 acres of planted prairie. The invasive plant survey focused on the forested and successional brushy areas which generally had high levels of invasive species including Amur Honeysuckle, Chinese and common buckthorn, and autumn olive. The mature forest in the former Argonne Forest had somewhat lower levels of invasion, however a large population of burning bush was located on its southwest periphery. Despite the level of invasion, Possum Creek Metropark harbors several unique plant communities. In the south portion of the park, a series of ground water seepage areas flank both sides of a stream. The seepage areas harbor conservative plants indicative of this wetland type including skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), bristle-stalked sedge (Carex leptalea), white turtlehead (Chelone glabra), and marsh bellflower (Campanula aparinoides). In addition, a former upland borrow area has been colonized by prairie and barrens species including American columbo (Frasera carolinense), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), dense blazing star (Liatris spicata), and stiff gentian (Gentianella quinquefolia).

Spring Run Conservation Area is a former golf course that is being converted to native habitat. In the decade since the golf course was closed, succession has allowed high levels of invasion by shrubs such as autumn olive and Amur honeysuckle as well as Callery pears. The mapping will help prioritize stewardship efforts in both parks in preparation for tree installation.

02/13/2025

Ashlanna joined the Eco Logic team after attending the 2023 Purdue Career Fair, where she discovered who we are and what we do. We’re thankful to be able to attend networking opportunities such as these, so that we are able to connect with incredible individuals, like Ashlanna, and to be lucky enough to have them join our team!

We’ll be at the 2025 Purdue Career Fair next Friday, 2/27 🌱

01/23/2025

Frog Pond Ridge Invasive Plant Mapping, Deam Wilderness

In early 2024, Eco Logic was contracted by SICIM (State of Indiana Cooperative Invasives Management) to map the invasive plant populations in the Frog Pond Ridge area of the Charles C. Deam Wilderness in Hoosier National Forest. The plant survey was funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which encouraged the Forest Service to increase capacity by working with local partners and CISMAs (Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area).

Frog Pond Ridge is a unique geologic feature consisting of a large limestone outcrop along the Mt Carmel Fault surrounded by the non-calcareous shales and siltstones more typical of the Brown County Hills. Due to its unique geology, the northern portion of Frog Pond Ridge harbors a high-quality calcareous forest of calciphile trees including shellbark hickory, blue ash, chinquapin oak, Shumard oak, and bur oak. This tree composition contrasts sharply with the surround acid oak-hickory forest where species like chestnut oak and scarlet oak are dominant on the ridges. Forbs that prefer calcareous soils such as twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla) are abundant in the northern portion of Frog Pond Ridge.

The field work for the survey was completed in late June and July of 2024 and documented 16 species of invasive plants within the survey area. Most of the woody invasive infestations were within a few hundred meters of Tower Ridge Road where the forest had been cleared and farmed prior to its acquisition by Hoosier National Forest. There is also considerable evidence of old settlements in this area. Common woody invasive species included multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora), autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) , Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), and wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius). Tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) is found locally in areas of former settlement. Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) is by far the most abundant invasive herbaceous species in the survey area. In addition to the disturbed areas where the woody invasives are abundant, Japanese stiltgrass is also abundant in stream corridors and along some stretches of the trail system.

The results of this survey will be utilized to inform improved management strategies to address the invasive plant species in the Wilderness. This cooperative effort between Hoosier National Forest, SICIM, and Eco Logic is a continuation of work that commenced with the mapping of invasive species along the entire trail system in the Deam Wilderness in 2023.