Potato Creek State Park in north-central Indiana, about 12 miles southwest of South Bend, centers on 327-acre Worster Lake and spans a landscape of water, woodland, prairie, old fields, and restored wetlands. Its name reflects Native American hunting, fishing, and gathering along the creek before settlers, after the Indian Removal Act in the 1830s, cleared the area for farms and built mill dams. A century later, Darcy Worster helped drive restoration and the creation of the reservoir completed in 1977. Dedicated that year as a recreation area and made a state park in 1983, it now serves both recreation and habitat, including an internationally recognized bird area.