The Porter County Chapter (PCC) of the Izaak Walton League of America has announced the purchase of 20 acres in Porter County, including one-half mile of the Little Calumet River.

“This property is upstream from the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore's Heron Rookery,” PCC President Jim Sweeney said. “The river is a tributary to Lake Michigan and an important part of the Great Lakes ecosystem.”

Added past PCC president Herb Read, “It also borders the former prison farm land the Governor just announced will become the Indiana DNR’s largest game bird habitat in Indiana.”

“We have been working on this for months and we just signed the papers five days before the Governor announced the transfer of the prison land to the DNR,” PCC Treasurer Terry McCloskey said. “The Izaak Walton League has made a commitment to buy this land from the previous owners to use it for outdoor youth education, water quality, stream restoration and protection of native species such as brook trout.”

The land in question will be named the “Don and Mary Frame Little Calumet Conservation Area,” in honor of their commitment to conservation.

The Izaak Walton League will be soliciting new memberships, donations, and grants to help pay for the property.

Anyone interested in joining PCC or helping with the purchase can call Sweeney at (219) 322-7239.

“We formed the Porter County Chapter in 1958 to protect the Indiana Dunes ecosystem,” Read said. “We are glad to still be doing it 50 years later.”

Posted 12/12/2011