Visitors and Ogden
Dunes residents are being asked to stay out of fenced areas at the Portage
Lakefront and Riverwalk, after National Park Service (NPS) staff installed
the fencing to help stabilize the dunes there following a damaging storm in
October 2014.
“Huge waves” raised
by that storm washed away between 75 and 115 feet of beach and dune at this
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore site, and NPS is hopeful that the fencing
will reduce the impact of future storms on this stretch of beach.
“Portions of the
National Lakeshore, including Portage Lakefront, are particularly vulnerable
to erosion from storm waves because their beaches have become narrower due
to ‘sand-starvation,’” NPS said. “This situation is caused by nearby harbor
structures that prevent the normal cycle of sand deposition onto the beach.
The National Lakeshore’s Shoreline Restoration and Management Plan calls for
74,000 cubic yards of sand to be placed on the Portage Lakefront beach each
year to replace what is being intercepted by the harbor structure.”
With no immediate
funding, however, currently available for placing sand on the beach,
“stabilizing the dunes becomes even more critical to protecting the
shoreline at Portage Lakefront,” NPS notes. “Dune grass, and other
vegetation, is necessary to stabilize dunes. The new fencing is designed to
keep visitors from leaving the beach and designated walkways and trampling
the dune’s vegetation.”
“More than 135,000
people visited Portage Lakefront in 2014 and damage to dune vegetation is
evident,” NPS added. “This spring, park staff counted 38 illegal trails
where dune vegetation had been killed by people trampling it along a stretch
of beach that is only 2/10th of a mile long. If this damage is not
stabilized with dune grass, a blow-out is likely to occur placing the
stability of the surrounding area at risk, including the Portage Lakefront’s
pavilion and nearby private property in the Town of Ogden Dunes.”
“In addition to
protecting property, stabilizing this area will also help protect the area’s
natural resources,” NPS said. “Despite being just over 100 acres, Portage
Lakefront is home to thirty species of rare plants, including one, the
Pitcher’s thistle, that is on the Federal Endangered Species List.”
NPS is right now
investigating the possibility of designating a trail from Ogden Dunes into
the Portage Lakefront area. But until such a trail is designated, “access to
Portage Lakefront must be made using existing designated trails and roads,”
NPS said. “Anyone caught in closed areas is subject to ticket or arrest. All
visitors are urged to do their part in helping to protect these important,
but very fragile dunes.”