The Big Oaks Conservation Society is hosting an open house at the historic Old Timbers Lodge from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday.

Access will be from Gate 8 at Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge near Madison. That gate is about 1 mile south of New Marion on Old Michigan Road.

The society will offer tours of the lodge and provide light refreshments, while refuge staff will offer short tours of parts of the refuge. Information about the society’s mission and volunteer opportunities at the lodge and refuge will be available, and other conservation groups will have booths set up.

The society is a nonprofit group supporting the mission and activities of the refuge. It also manages and cares for the lodge in cooperation with the Indiana Air National Guard’s Jefferson Range.

The lodge was completed in 1932 by Alexander Thomson, vice president of Champion Paper Co.

The refuge consists of approximately 50,000 acres of the former Jefferson Proving Ground located in Jennings, Ripley and Jefferson counties. Managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it provides public use opportunities such as hunting, fishing, wildlife observation and photography, interpretation and environmental education. It is open for public use from mid-April through November on Mondays, Fridays and the second and fourth Saturdays of each month.

For information about the refuge, visit fws.gov/refuge/big-oaks.