Featuring more than two hundred gorgeous color photographs of Indiana’s champion trees and old-growth forest remnants, Magnificent Trees of Indiana is a celebration of the state’s natural beauty. Seventy-four trees are featured as well as twenty old-growth woods. Each has been photographed to illuminate the grandeur of the natural world. Accessible to the outdoor enthusiast, this book details the changes that have occurred over the last two centuries in Indiana’s forests, including the landscape geology and physiography. The forest is celebrated as a living community, with highlights including odd forms, curious trees, and unique occurrences―many of which can still be visited today. Magnificent Trees of Indiana makes for a beautiful coffee-table gift book for any Hoosier or nature lover, walking the reader through the geologic past, into early pioneer times, and onward to the present, all while covering the history, value, and economic importance of our hardwood forests. "In Magnificent Trees of Indiana , Ritter takes readers across the state to witness places and scenes harboring benign giants that delight your mind to the point of committing to visit them yourself. For any of these places or specimen trees, I now feel I must go there, I must see it for myself, but if that cannot be, then I feel content that the passages and photos have taken me there instead. Along the way, I learn of the history, lore, and practical uses surrounding our special trees. From the beginning, our Hoosier heritage has been closely tied to these stately organisms. This book enlivens that connection and clarifies that a world without trees is not a world we could bear. This book provides a beckoning: Ritter takes our hands and leads us into their midst, softly encouraging us to be thoughtful of these mighty and magnificent beings that still live among us." — John P. Stambaugh , forester " Magnificent Trees brings together Indiana forest history with beautiful photos of present-day large specimen trees. This book is a concise and practical guide for adventurous tree-lovers to find some of Indiana's largest and most majestic trees alive and growing today." — James R. McKenna , tree breeder "The numerous, extraordinarily beautiful images of Indiana's remaining natural areas and some of the very special trees found in them are a delight worth looking at over and over again. These alone make Magnificent Trees of Indiana a book that everyone interested in Indiana's plants will delight in reading. Seeing them is both thrilling and calming—like a good walk in the woods—but the incredibly well-written text that provides information on the history of the trees and their surroundings is an unbelievably entertaining and amazing treat. Not only is 'magnificent' a good descriptive word for Indiana's trees, it also applies to the exceptionally creative writing the author has done about them." — Kay Yatskievych , research associate, Missouri Botanical Garden "Carroll Ritter's Magnificent Trees of Indiana is an excellent addition to the library of anyone interested in Indiana's natural history—its forests and its biological diversity. Ritter is an exceptional naturalist and an excellent writer. In this wonderful volume, he brings the reader from the ancient times to the present, and from landscapes to individual old growth tracts. We learn about Indiana's biggest trees, the remaining old growth forests, and about odd and curious trees as well. Ritter's discussion of many individual tree species and old growth sites, in separate essays, brings the reader right into the quiet forest, periodically startled as a heron takes wing, or inspired as a bald eagle soars overhead. The text about these individual nature preserves describes the cliffs and canyons, floodplain forests, upland oak-hickory forests, and rich mesic beech-maple forests that visitors will encounter. Magnificent Trees of Indiana can be returned to often as a reference or enjoyed as a pleasant read at a quiet time." — John A. Bacone , Director Emeritus, Indiana Division of Nature Preserves, Indiana Department of Natural Resources Carroll D. Ritter is a retired science teacher with a lifelong interest in trees and wildflowers. He attended Purdue University, received his master’s degree from Indiana University, and complete advanced coursework in field geology from Western Washington University. After retirement, he assisted Sycamore Land Trust, developing their first and very successful environmental education program working with children of all ages. An avid mountain hiker, backpacker, and photographer, he has logged over two thousand miles on trails in the United States and Canada. He has nominated seven state champion trees over the years, including three new ones for the 2020 Indiana Big Tree Register. He lives in Williams, Indiana, where he practices forest conservation on his own land and still loves and admires his trees. The state has a remarkable diversity of