>> Production support for "Journey Indiana" is provided by WTIU members.

Thank you!

>> BRANDON: Coming up... >> ASHLEY: Learn how to work like a dog.

>> BRANDON: See what it really looks like to be busy as a bee.

>> ASHLEY: And watch these birders spread their wings at the Indiana Dunes.

>> BRANDON: That's all on this episode of... >> TOGETHER: "Journey Indiana."

♪ >> ASHLEY: Welcome to "Journey Indiana."

I'm Ashley Chilla.

>> BRANDON: And I'm Brandon Wentz.

And today, we're coming to you from Turkey Run State Park in Parke County.

Indiana's second state park, Turkey Run, has been captivating visitors since 1916, and it's easy to see why.

With miles of unique hiking trails winding through lush forests and iconic ravines, along with access to lovely Sugar Creek, this destination is a must visit for Hoosiers seeking to immerse themselves in the great outdoors.

>> ASHLEY: And we'll learn all about this beautiful park in just a bit.

But first, producer Nick Deel takes us to Orange County to meet the new recruits of the Department of Natural Resources K-9 Unit.

>> Oh, good girl, JC!

>> The K-9 officers that assist the Indiana Department of Natural Resources are invaluable law enforcement tools.

These dogs' keen sense of smell help field officers quickly identify poachers and track missing people sometimes over vast distances.

>> So I believe that our K-9s are force multipliers.

You and I, we all could go out and look in a field looking for a gun, but it takes one dog to go out there and look in an acre, it might take 'em five or ten minutes.

>> But the time and effort that go into producing a great K-9 officer might surprise you, and it usually starts with an act of charity.

>> Where we find our dogs is mostly -- it's pretty much donation based.

The only requirement we have, it has to be a sporting breed.

Majority of them are labs because they are so easy to train, because they have such retrieval instincts, and that's all they want to do.

>> Over the course of nine weeks, these pups will go from raw recruits to trained tracking machines.

>> All of our K-9s are trained in three aspects.

One is man tracking, and that could be the good person that's lost or it could be the bad person that runs from the officers.

That's our bread and butter.

I mean, we train really predominantly in man tracking.

Our second facet that they do is article searching.

We really work on during the article searches, guns and ammunition.

So we get a lot of calls from other agencies for that, and plus that's what we utilize a lot during our hunting season.

And then the third one we don't utilize as much, but they are really proficient, is wildlife detection, and that's when they are able to locate goose meat, duck meat, deer meat, and just wild game, certain types of wild game.

>> Article searching is a skill which tasks the dog with finding items that might be overlooked by humans.

Today, the handlers are training the dogs to locate firearms and ammunition.

>> We'll use a field out here, an acre wide field.

It's got something with human scent on it.

We'll say a flashlight, a gun, knife, it's got human scent on it.

So in an open field, that's going to be the first smell they get.

You know, that's the only human scent that's been there in the last 20 minutes, they should be able to find it.

>> Good boy!

Good boy!

♪ >> The dogs will also be expected to detect poached wildlife.

Here, fresh venison is placed inside one of the three boxes, and the dogs are expected to pick the right one.

Unsurprisingly, they're extremely good at it.

>> You know, the easiest, definitely wildlife detection.

I mean, those dogs naturally want to eat that meat, you know, or get to that meat and get that scent.

>> The most difficult skill the dogs are expected to master is how to track people over long distances and varied terrain.

And this ability is actually a combination of two things.

>> So they are tracking the scent of the individual.

Each individual has their own scent.

Skin cells fall off the body at a rate, you know, per person, and so we train our dogs to track the bacteria from the broken vegetation from each step that that person is creating on the earth's crust, and then putting two and two together with the odor of the human scent, and that's what they're tracking.

>> However, training the trainers may be the hardest part.

>> The dogs have the natural ability to track.

You know, they got noses.

They know to put them on the ground, and they are going to find that odor source, and they are going to go.

But, really, here at the school, we train a lot of the handlers to be able to read their dog.

And when I say read their dog, that's -- if they are in their tracking profile, it might be the breathing pattern of the dog.

It might be the tail, if it's straight out, it might have a little curve.

You know, there's just different aspects that you can look at a dog and say, oh, that's his tracking profile.

And then as a handler, you have to read that.

>> And after all the training is over and if the dogs have proven themselves, they will be ready to start their service to the state of Indiana.

>> So I believe it definitely changes the way I patrol, you know, just as an officer to have the dog in the truck with you every day.

You know, it just -- A, it gives you confidence.

You've got a partner.

He might not talk, but he's there, you know.

And we as officers, you know, we're usually by ourselves.

And to have the knowledge that we have a K-9 partner, it's one of the greatest things, I think.

>> Sit.

There you go.

>> ASHLEY: Brandon, these dogs are incredible!

I mean, the things they can do, smell out plants, see if people are trying to steal them.

I mean, do you think either one of our dogs could be a part of this crew?

>> BRANDON: You know, and we've added two dogs to our household, Sadie and Orie.

I can't even get them to come when I call their name, let alone sniff out something dangerous.

>> ASHLEY: Want to learn more?

Just head to the address on your screen.

>> BRANDON: Earlier, we spoke with the folks here at Turkey Run State Park to learn more about this picturesque park.

♪ >> Located in Parke County, in central western Indiana, Turkey Run State Park is one of the most surprising and beautiful locations in Indiana.

>> The topography here in Turkey Run formed in two different phases.

The first, most important phase to our park happened roughly about 300 million years ago.

During this period, there were ancient rivers moving through Indiana, towards a westward inland sea.

And as those rivers moved, they were depositing all sorts of stuff along its way, and Turkey Run, all of our sandstone here came from the deposition from those ancient rivers that were moving through.

Now, the Ice Age was extremely important, the second phase of our formation of our canyons, because the Wisconsin glacier, which is responsible for all of these canyons, traveled from north, Canada, Michigan, Wisconsin, through Indiana, and it stopped moving about 8 miles north of Turkey Run State Park.

When it stopped moving, it started to melt.

And that melt water found the easiest path available.

And so if there were any sort of cracks or already small creeks on the surface, they found those and eroded it away into what it is right now.

So the canyons here, they humble you as a human being, just because the magnitude is so large.

They are so windy.

There are parts on Trail 6, on Trail 3 and where you are kind of just surrounded by this sandstone rock, and you can feel the history book of those layers that you are looking at when you are inside of them.

>> So awe-inspiring were the cliffs and canyons here that when the state park system was being conceived, Turkey Run topped the list.

>> The land was going to go up for auction in 1916.

This was kind of when the state of Indiana was proposing ideas to celebrate Hoosiers for being 100 years as Hoosiers.

The idea of state parks really came to fruition because there were physical places that people could retreat to.

We worked up the amount of money.

We worked the funds.

In the meantime, McCormick's Creek became the first state park of Indiana, and we were the second.

>> Today, this unique landscape can be explored through more than 14 miles of scenic trails.

>> Here at Turkey Run State Park, we have 11 trails here.

Each one very, very different as far as what it will show you.

Some are hiking straight through our canyons that are flocked by all of these eastern hemlock trees and all of that green, the ferns, the mosses, running water and all of those layers of that sandstone.

We've got those rugged hikes.

We have the ravines.

We have the fluctuating topography with a lot of staircases.

We even have ladders here on Trail 3 that take you out of those ravines.

>> And once you finished your hike, why not cool off in lovely Sugar Creek, which bisects the park.

>> Now, Sugar Creek is very popular to a lot of our guests.

Visitors will often come on hot days, and they'll float.

They'll enjoy themselves.

They'll look at the geology around them and appreciate it, eat their snack, hang with their families, listen to music.

It's definitely a very social atmosphere down there.

>> And so, whether you come for the history, the hiking, or some summer fun, Turkey Run is an Indiana destination not to be missed.

>> Turkey Run has always been a very large name, and this is the only area in Indiana that looks like it does out there.

And to be from the Midwest and to have something that looks like you are not in the Midwest, it's a really, really big treat to a lot of people, and I hope that it continues to be what it is for 100 more years.

So hoping for future generations to love it just like we do.

>> BRANDON: All right.

So we both went to college near Turkey Run.

Do you have a favorite activity from this place?

>> ASHLEY: I love hiking here, but I also love canoeing.

>> BRANDON: Yeah.

>> ASHLEY: That was a really special memory over many years of my -- of my childhood and young adulthood here.

>> BRANDON: Yeah.

Want to learn more?

Just head to the address on your screen.

>> ASHLEY: Up next, producer Jake Lindsey takes us to Morgan County to visit Hunter's Honey Farm.

♪ >> I got my first hive when I was 14, and I've had bees ever since.

And I didn't decide to be a commercial beekeeper until I was in college.

We have been keeping bees in Indiana for 113 years.

My great grandfather had an orchard in southern Indiana.

And then my grandfather, when he was in high school, he got his first hive to put in the orchard to pollenate it.

And then he became a school teacher and a commercial beekeeper.

And then my mother, she became a school teacher and a beekeeper in Mooresville, Indiana.

And then I taught school for 30-some years, and we are currently running about 1,000 hives.

♪ Most Americans would say, well, they make honey, and that is true.

But here at Hunter's Honey Farm, we can actually harvest seven different products out of the beehive, and all of them but one can be beneficial to the human body.

Not only do we harvest honey, we also harvest the wax.

So the bees eat the honey and digest it, and then they have glands on their abdomen that they secrete scales of wax from, and they take those wax scales and they construct the honeycomb that we see in the hive.

The beekeeper will take that honeycomb, melt it down to a liquid, and pour it into a mold and that is your beeswax candle.

So beeswax is melted honeycomb which is digested honey.

Therefore, honeycomb is safe to eat.

You can chew the honeycomb.

You could spit it out if you wanted to, but if you choose to swallow it, it will act as a roughage.

It's very good for your digestive system.

♪ Each flower that the bee visits can produce a different color and flavor of honey.

In the United States, there are over 400 different types of honeys.

As the season changes, we are able to produce many different varieties of honey, and they all taste different, and that's the thrill.

And as you are traveling around to different parts of the state or the country or the world, look up a local beekeeper and try different types of honey.

When I was in Africa, I was able to taste avocado honey.

Texas, you can taste cotton honey.

So there's 4,000 flavors of honey in the world.

So the honeybee basically has two foods.

It eats honey for its carbohydrates, and it eats pollen for its protein source.

But just like with human food, you know, one apple could be -- have a different nutrition than another apple depending on its variety and depending on how it was produced and how it's processed.

So the same is true for the honeybee's diet.

So each flower produces its own flavor and color of honey, and can have different nutritional value.

So as a rule of thumb, the darker the honey, the more vitamins, the more minerals, the more enzymes, the more antioxidants, and even the pH of the soil can change that honey and change that pollen.

[ Buzzing ] We all know how important the honeybees are to our food production.

In fact, honeybees are responsible for every third bite of food that you take today.

The honeybee is in a decline, and that is true.

So honeybees have natural predators, such as birds and skunks and raccoons and bears, and these play a small problem for the bees.

However, our biggest threats are two mites, the varroa mite and the tracheal mite.

The first problem with the mites started in 1986 here in Indiana.

And since then, the honeybees have gotten worse.

Their populations have gone down.

Wild colonies have decreased possibly up to 50%.

Beekeepers have probably lost over 50% of their hives.

And I believe honeybees would be worse off if it wasn't for the beekeepers replacing their dead hives.

The problems are just as real and just as major, but the beekeepers are trying to keep the bees going.

There are new treatments for these diseases, for these pests, but nothing is surefire.

And so the beekeeper is still struggling.

The bees are still dying off.

[ Buzzing ] There are 4,000 species of bees in North America.

Honeybees, that you see in Indiana, in Morgan County, Monroe County, are going to be the Apis mellifera, and they are going to be fairly docile, fairly gentle, unless you are in the beehive.

If you just see a bee on the flower or in your yard, it's probably not going to attack you.

Now, obviously, if you step on it, if you squish it, then it's more likely to sting you.

Even a beehive, you can usually approach cautiously, quietly, slowly, and you should be okay.

It's only when you swat at a bee, when you disturb them, then they are going to sting you.

Respect the bee, but don't fear it.

[ Buzzing ] We are using a bee that is hardy to our winter, that is gentle and easy to work with, but yet produces a lot of honey.

In a typical beehive, there are three castes, the queen, the drone and the worker.

The queen has a misconception that she is in charge of the hive, but that is not the truth.

Truth is, she is simply their egg machine.

She is the only female that they have picked to reproduce.

And she will produce up to 2,000 eggs per day.

She doesn't go to the flower.

She doesn't produce honey.

She doesn't sting and protect the hive.

All she does is produce eggs for her lifespan of three to five years.

The males are called drones.

And they are similar to the queen, except they are going to mate with the queen for reproduction.

And a drone will live until it mates or until the fall and then the other worker bees will kick the drones out.

And in the hive there will be approximately 300 to 600 drones.

All of the other bees that you have seen, the bee on a flower, a bee that stings you, the bees that make the honey, those are the worker bees, the infertile females, and there could be anywhere from 50,000 to 80,000 workers in a hive, and they do everything except the reproduction.

You know, bees are so fascinating.

I have been around them all my life, and I never get tired of studying them.

Somebody took a macroscopic photograph of a bee's face up close.

Just amazing the intricacy.

We don't realize that there is hair all over the honeybee's body, on their wings, on their legs, on their chest, on their back, on their stomach, even on their eyeballs.

All parts of their eyeballs contain hair on them.

So I never get tired of learning about the honeybees.

Every year, I learn something new.

>> ASHLEY: I have many Hunter's products in my household.

>> BRANDON: Oh, do you?

>> ASHLEY: The Chilla household really enjoys honey, and I mean, the things that they do at the farm are incredible.

>> BRANDON: Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I have tasted a number of different flowered honey, and it's just wild how drastic of an effect it can have on the flavor.

>> ASHLEY: Want to learn more?

Head to huntershoneyfarm.com.

>> BRANDON: Up next, producer Nick Deel takes us to Porter County, to check out the annual Indiana Dunes Birding Festival.

♪ >> Ah, the Indiana Dunes.

For most, they are a summer playground, full of sand and sun, but for a short while each spring, this popular vacation destination is for the birds.

>> The Indiana Dunes Birding Festival is a celebration of the Indiana Dunes area and all of its migrating birds that are coming through this area.

We have over 700 birders that attend this festival, and we really just want to get people together to celebrate that huge flux in migration, over 200 bird species that can come through.

>> The Indiana Dunes Birding Festival, hosted by the Indiana Audubon Society is timed to coincide with the peak of the spring migration here in the Midwest.

And while the southern shores of Lake Michigan are a picturesque spot for a get together, this location wasn't chosen simply for its scenic splendor.

>> So the dunes area is really great for birding because we have a variety of habitats.

So we have this woodland area that we're here right now in, and it's gorgeous.

We also have the dunes, of course, because we are right on Lake Michigan.

We have lots of wetlands, as well, and prairies.

So these birds migrate, and they migrate north in the spring and then come back down south in the fall.

So right now, of course, we're on spring migration for the festival.

Really what happens is they use a lot of the landscape and natural features to navigate to their northern breeding grounds.

But because of Lake Michigan, it creates a funnel effect along the flyway.

>> The Indiana Dunes State Park is perfectly situated at the southern tip of Lake Michigan, to take advantage of this funnel effect, giving the birders at this festival an opportunity to see thousands of migratory birds across more than 200 species.

♪ >> So the Indiana Dunes State Park Longshore Tower is an awesome migratory hotspot for birds.

Because of Lake Michigan and creating that funnel effect with migration, that observation tower sits right on the edge of Lake Michigan.

So you can actually see it from the tower.

So it almost draws them all in, and right here, right in the dunes, at that southern point of Lake Michigan, is where they sometimes congregate, you know, maybe for a day or two before they are going to travel either over the lake or around the lake.

And so we get these kind of, what we call migration fallouts where tons of birds will just be hanging out in this natural space and just waiting, kind of, to migrate farther north.

So it's awesome birding, if you can come one morning on those fallouts, there are just kind of birds everywhere, and it's really great and awesome to share that with people too.

>> All right.

So this is similar to the bird we got last time.

Does anyone -- white-crowned sparrow.

We're seeing a lot of these right now.

>> Festival goers also have a chance to see some of these avian travelers up close.

Here, a conservation scientist demonstrates how birds are captured, studied, and their legs banded with identification tags for future research.

>> So Indiana Audubon and the festival bands birds because we want to be able to make the best management decisions, essentially.

We want to know where these birds are going and what habitats they are using.

What we do with banding is we, of course, catch them in what is called mist nets, and then we put them into these holding bags where they are just alone and not by anything else.

So they can kind of, like, relax and be calm.

It's almost like if you wrap yourself up in a blanket at home, just to calm down and relax.

So they can have a few seconds.

We'll measure their wings, get their weight, look for -- record the species and the sex of the bird as well, and then all the participants can watch that and really get kind of an in-depth look at what the research looks like.

And then after that, the banders will hold the bird up a lot of times for people to see up close and personal.

>> Who wants to let this bird go?

>> And then they will also a lot of times let the public or let the participants release the bird.

So they can hold them in their hand for a few seconds before it flies away, of course.

When they go back into the wild, they might be caught at a different banding station somewhere else, maybe, let's say, Canada, for example.

And so when that banding station catches our bird -- let's call it -- then that banding station will record it on the bird banding website.

And then we can see where that bird, migrated to, of course.

And then if it's using different habitats or what type.

So it just gives us a broader picture of where these birds are going and what they're -- what areas they are using so that we can, you know, better help them, better conserve these natural spaces.

>> While the Indiana Dunes Birding Festival is certainly a perfect place to build a closer bond with our feathered friends, for many, nurturing the human connections that are made here is equally important.

>> There are 700 people here that all really love birds and get enjoyment from it and love to do that.

And it's kind of like, you know, when you have a hobby, it's fun to share that hobby with other people, and connect with others.

So it's not just about finding the birds and enjoying their beauty, but it's sharing that with other people.

It's going to the socials or out on the tours and talking about, oh, hey, I saw this Virginia rail one time.

Or oh, did you see that solitary sandpiper that was over here?

And just really getting that sense of community.

And so really, it's just bringing people in to celebrate this large expanse, this large diversity of birds and habitat.

And then, of course, getting people together to share in that joy as well.

A bird just flew right in your shot.

Did you see it?

Yeah, it went poof.

>> No, really?

>> Yeah, you will have to -- [ Laughter ] >> Whoa.

>> It like flew, it just about hit me.

>> Oh, my gosh.

>> ASHLEY: I've talked a lot about how I grew up around the dunes, and I mean, maybe as a young person I didn't realize this, but there are so many different kinds of birds in that area!

>> BRANDON: Yeah.

>> ASHLEY: And I think it's incredible.

You could go there and you could probably see hundreds, maybe thousands of different birds.

>> BRANDON: Want to learn more?

Head to indunesbirdingfestival.com.

>> ASHLEY: And as always, we'd like to encourage you to stay connected with us.

>> BRANDON: Just head over to JourneyIndiana.org.

There you can see full episodes, connect with us on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, and suggest stories from your neck of the woods.

>> ASHLEY: We also have a map feature that allows you to see where we've been and to plan your own Indiana adventures.

>> BRANDON: All right.

I know that we're not exactly dressed for it, but we're here.

There's beautiful trails.

There's wonderful water.

I say we go.

We'll see you next time on... >> TOGETHER: "Journey Indiana."

♪ >> Production support for "Journey Indiana" is provided by WTIU members.

Thank you!