Q&A with Amy Rhodes, executive director of Wesselman Woods in Evansville
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In 2024, Amy Rhodes was named executive director of Wesselman Woods, an Indiana State Nature Preserve and National Natural Landmark on Evansville’s east side. She succeeded Zach Garcia, who became the Indiana outreach director at Faith in Place, an environmental non-profit organization.
Rhodes spoke with Inside INdiana Business about the path that led her to Wesselman Woods and her goals as executive director.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What were your experiences before joining Wesselman Woods?
My first career was as a Montessori elementary teacher. During that time, I helped launch two elementary programs in the Indianapolis area. One of them is Northside Montessori School, and the other one is Geist Montessori School. I worked in that field for about 15 years.
Then, I took Montessori’s holistic experiential method of education in the direction of developing and implementing eco-agricultural tourism programs on small farms. In 2011, I launched my small business, Listen to the Land, which was contracted by small farms and agricultural businesses to provide marketing through environmental education.
In 2016, I completed a master’s degree in natural resources and environmental management from Ball State University. My focus was place-based education for sustainable development. While I was living in Muncie and working on my graduate degree, I served seven years on the board of Oakwood Retreat Center and played a key role in nonprofit strategic planning and development during that time.
After I completed my master’s degree, I put Listen to the Land on pause because I accepted a position as a restoration ecologist and sales manager at Spence Restoration Nursery, one of the largest native plant and seed companies in the Midwest.
Through that work, I had the opportunity to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Natural Resources, the Nature Conservancy, multiple Indiana land trusts and nature preserves engineers, landscape architects, municipal parks and recreations in their efforts of doing ecological restoration.
During that time at Spence Restoration Nursery, I helped spearhead the integration of a new ERP [enterprise resource planning] software system and enhanced operations following Gino Wickman’s entrepreneurial operating system strategies which he presents in his book, Traction. If you’re familiar with the Rockefeller Habits system, Traction is a more current operating system.
COVID hit in 2020, and I moved to Evansville where my husband is from. When I got here, I worked three and a half years for a community-supported agriculture farm known as Seaton Harvest. I was the sustainable living manager. Most recently, I was the agriculture and natural resources educator for Purdue Extension in Posey County.
How will your background help you lead the nature preserve?
The common theme throughout my career has been to serve as a facilitative leader. That stems from being trained in the Montessori method. As a facilitative leader, I strive to uplift the gifts and talents of individuals within a community and inspire them to contribute to a better quality of place.
Wesselman Woods is dynamic with several unique parts that make up the whole of the organization. I inherited a fantastically talented team of department directors who are already successfully handling the multifaceted aspects of managing Wesselman Woods, this treasured old-growth bottomland hardwood forest, and the nature center.
My skills as an ecologist have helped me develop thinking in systems and understand the integral relationships between humans and non-humans. Having that background will help me unify the team and lead us forward on a steady path toward the same goal.
Why did you want to be the executive director of Wesselman Woods?
Since I was a child, I’ve always felt most at home when I’m in nature and connecting others to the lessons of the land and acknowledging with gratitude our dependence on the ecological services that support our lives.
I’ve dreamed and worked toward building a nature center on farms for many years. Once I left the classroom and started working with farms, I was trying to recreate that Montessori model. It’s multidisciplinary, so we’re looking at physical geography, botany, zoology, cultural studies, history, all of those relationships. And also STEM, science, technology, engineering, math, all of that’s integrated.
This idea of building a nature center on farms has been a challenge to bring to reality. When this position [at Wesselman Woods] opened, I thought this might be the perfect place to offer my skills and express my passion for protecting our natural heritage.
What are your short-term goals in this role?
To observe, listen and learn from the board, staff and members of Wesselman Woods. I need to be brought up to speed on the strategic vision and how operations are currently handled. My focus is also to build relationships with the stakeholders: those who have long loved and cared for this place, those who have dedicated hundreds of hours volunteering and those who provide financial support to help us sustain our mission and move us toward accomplishing our vision.
I’m looking forward to hearing from those who came here as a kid and were impacted. I hear people out in the community, when I tell them that I’m now working for Wesselman Woods, they say, “Oh, I remember going on a tour as a kid. They used to wear uniforms back then.”
I’m also looking forward to hearing stories from the children currently coming here and experiencing that awe and wonder. And when the adults come back, they’re still experiencing that. You’re looking at the size of these trees and imagining what has been experienced in the world over the last 300 years while this tree has been growing.
I want to continue to build the positive relationship that Wesselman Woods has with the city of Evansville, the universities and local businesses.
What are your long-term goals as executive director?
Successfully completing the restoration projects that are just beginning. Wesselman Woods recently acquired additional acres adjacent to the current preserve.
Seeing the continued growth of our educational programs and community events and elevating the awareness of and restoration efforts at Howell Wetlands, which is one of the largest urban wetlands in Indiana. Some people don’t realize we also manage and care for Howell Wetlands on the west side.
Increasing and securing more long-term donations and becoming more regionally known for our unique destination as the nation’s largest urban old-growth forest. Wesselman Woods should be celebrated and talked about more by people in the Ohio Valley and southern Indiana but also throughout the state of Indiana.
Increasing the understanding and appreciation not only of the health and wellness benefits of parks and green spaces but also the economic value that green spaces such as Wesselman Woods add to the economic value of the quality of a place through tourism, recreational activities and attracting and retaining businesses.
What challenges do you foresee in this role?
The intersection of what people want and expect in terms of how they want to use green space often conflicts with how the land is to be managed for conservation. It’s a perennial ongoing challenge.
When you have commonplaces, you’ve got lots of opinions, varying practices that all are coming together. We have to educate people that the best management practices we use are based on scientific research. It’s our responsibility to follow the legal regulations of being designated as an Indiana State Nature Preserve. There are certain things that we cannot do because we are a nature preserve, and that may conflict with the opinion of others.
Navigating complaints and reaching people through communication and education is going to be a continuing challenge. But that’s why we provide programming services, to connect people to nature and better understand that relationship with the non-human world, how ecosystems work and how we can work with them in the best way for long-term sustainability.
What do you want people to know about the nature preserve that they may not be aware of?
Because there is Wesselman Park that surrounds the nature preserve, it’s assumed that Wesselman Woods is operated by the city. The nature preserve is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit environmental organization. It is not a city park. We were founded in 1972 to protect what was then 190 acres. Now that’s 310 acres in Evansville, and we’re responsible for the management and daily operations of the preserve, the nature center and Howell Wetlands.
We do receive some funding from the city of Evansville. It’s approximately about 18% of our budget. But we mostly rely on the income generated from membership and visitor fees, the programs we offer and donations to accomplish our mission of managing these properties and providing an education and an outdoor recreation experience.
What’s ahead for Wesselman Woods in 2025?
Our annual Maple Sugarbush Festival is the first Saturday and Sunday in March. Earth Day is always in late April. That’s a multi-organizational day celebrating nature and promoting sustainability with guided hikes, animal encounters and food trucks. Every October, we have our Wandering Owl twilight tasting. At that celebration, people get to come and taste great food, beer and wine inside the nature preserve.
New this year, the Woodland Wonders Festival is on September 13. It’s an autumnal escape into a world of fantasy and fun. All ages are invited to celebrate the gifts of the forest and the wonder it offers through folklore, adventure and discovery.
We also have a Juried Art Exhibition each year. We put a call out to artists to submit work that showcases what they love and what they’re concerned about within our bioregion and express that through a visual medium. A lot of those are displayed in the nature center throughout the rest of the year.
We are also part of the Evansville Forest Alliance. Wesselman Woods is working in partnership with the city’s Department of Urban Forestry, Department of Parks and Recreation and other local nonprofits like Community One to transform our urban landscape by planting trees in historically underrepresented neighborhoods. The plan is to plant 320 trees in 2025 and another 320 trees in 2026.
How can people support the nature preserve?
Come and visit! About 23,000 people came in 2024, and we’re ready for more. Check out the 5-acre nature playscape and the Arwood Family Treehouse—it’s brand new.
Another way people can support us is by signing up for our educational programs. We have programs for youth and adults.
Become a member. I became a member four years ago when we moved back here, and it’s less than a dollar a week to be a member. That gives you access to come into the preserve whenever we’re open but also discounts on programs and events.
Volunteer. We have an incredible base of volunteers, so it’s a great way to get engaged in the community. It takes a lot of work to manage a nature preserve and to run our program, so there are numerous ways people can help volunteer.
And then, the biggest thing is to donate.