The Moraine Ridge
Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and the Porter County Chapter of the Izaak
Walton League of America have donated fishing-gear recycling bins to the
Rogers-Lakewood Park and the new Brookdale County Park in Liberty Township.
Stephanie Kadletz,
director of Moraine Ridge Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, and Bonnie Swarner
and Susan Swarner of the Ikes made the donations: four bins to Dan Lukes at
Rogers-Lakewood and one to Matt Brown at Brookdale.
The bins will give
anglers a place to safely dispose of old fishing line, bobbers, and hooks,
preventing wild birds and turtles from getting tangled in them. Many animals
every year are taken to veterinarians and Moraine Ridge with injuries from
fishing equipment.
This project began
with a conversation between Kadietz and Bonnie Swarner while the latter was
volunteering at Moraine Ridge, and developed further when Bonnie and Susan
Swarner met Clint Kowalik with the DNR Fish and Wildlife Division, whose
“lifelong dream (is) to have these bins at all public access sites.”
Local
conservationist Joe Arnold was enlisted to build the units and attach the
signs provided by the sponsors, and the plan now is to install other units
at many other sites in Porter County.
Anyone with a site
in mind for a bin and the willingness to collect the fishing line should
contact Bonnie Swarner at bdswarner@hotmail.com