On a rainy warm spring night on Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge the conditions are just right for a listener stationed along the road to hear a symphony of sound. The frogs are calling, filling the air with peeps and croaks and for one particular species, a drawn out snore that echoes through the grassland. That would be the call of the Crawfish frog, endangered in the state of Indiana and a species of importance at Big Oaks. Nicknamed the “Hoosier Frog”, their presence her

When many of us think of fire, our first instinct is to have it put out immediately. But at Big Oaks and other managed lands around the state and country, fire is a key tool to keeping the landscape healthy and thriving. Prescribed fire is the term for carefully planned and executed fire that serves a management purpose. Invasive species removal, new plant growth, soil rejuvenation, grassland maintenance, and lowered wildfire risk are all benefits of prescribed burning. Histo