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COutdoors
Outdoors in Union Township

Union Township has 71 acres of parks, 21 for every 1,000 residents

1.6 miles of mapped trail cross Union Township. 41% of residents live within a half mile of a park.

Ahead of 27% of U.S. towns · #357 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it

Conserved land
1%
198 acres · of 42.9 sq mi of land
Trails
1.6 mi
0.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
71 ac
21 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
41%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
18 mi
Lakes & rivers
7
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Union Township have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Union Township is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns, #357 of 593 in Indiana. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; trail miles pull it down.

C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Union Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 27%
LessMore
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 40%

Few Indiana towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Union Township’s 1% is ahead of 34% of Indiana towns, while its trails per square mile lead 28% of them.

How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.

PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →

The map

Conserved land, trails & bike routes

Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.

1234
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk

Pick a walk

Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Newton Park

Park
37 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Water Tower Park

Park
4 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet

Potato Creek State Park

Managed by Indiana Department of Natural Resources
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗

Culp Park

Park
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Who protects it

198 conserved acres

1% of Union Township’s land. Who manages Union Township’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

USDA easements (NRCS)104 ac
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service59 ac
Town or city31 ac
State fish & wildlife4 ac
Conservation Easement · 163 acLocal Recreation Area · 31 acState Recreation Area · 4 ac
Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 163 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Old Railroad Bike Trail
Local Recreation Area
Town or city31Open
Pleasant Lake Public Access Site
State Recreation Area
State fish & wildlife4Open
Things to do

6 places to go in Union Township

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Playgrounds in Union Township

5 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.

Trails & water

7 lakes & rivers

Biking & sports

18 miles of bike routes

Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

18 mi
shoulders & shared lanes
Courts & fields
6Tennis
5Baseball
2Basketball
1Football
1Soccer

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

When to get out

The best walking months in Union Township: April and July to September

NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.510.511.813.314.515.214.913.812.411.09.89.2
High (°F)313547607180838175634836
Rain (in)2.72.22.43.64.34.24.04.03.53.63.02.5

February is the driest month (2.2 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 4.3 inches fall in May, the wettest month. The climate in Union Township →

Next door

Union Township and its neighbors

Tap a town to see its outdoors.

TownConserved
of land
Trail mi
per sq mi
Park acres
per 1,000
Near a park
½ mile
Outdoors
Union Township1%under 0.12141%C
Madison Townshipunder 1%0.1under 1under 1%D
German Townshipunder 1%0.2949%C
Liberty Township18%0.71,11945%A
Centre Township2%0.11251%C
Greene Township1%0.5under 14%C−

The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.

Questions about parks and trails in Union Township

How much of Union Township is conserved land?

1% of its land, against a typical 2% for an Indiana town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Are dogs allowed on Union Township’s trails?

Newton Park and Water Tower Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Where can I bike in Union Township?

18 miles of bike routes are on the map: 18 of shoulders and shared lanes.

Is there public land near Union Township?

5,970 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Union Township or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 71 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Union Township have?

Ahead of 27% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #357 of 593 in Indiana. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

Trail talk

Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Union Township neighbors.

Town Square →
Share a tip
Sources

Where this page comes from

Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →