Save the Dunes, one of Indiana’s oldest environmental organizations, is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year and to commemorate the landmark has adopted three priorities for the next several years.

Those priorities:

•Protecting the natural resources of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and critical buffer areas.

•Supporting the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes State Park in effectively managing their parks.

•Improving water quality in Northwest Indiana.

“Save the Dunes is honoring its past by renewing its long-standing commitment to protect the natural resources of the Indiana dunes,” Executive Director Nicole Barker said. “We also want to support the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and the Indiana Dunes State Park in effectively managing the dunes.”

Work already underway includes a new effort to create a digital map using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to highlight lands important to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. “Many are unaware that there is land within the authorized boundary of the national park that has not yet been acquired,” said Nathan Pavlovic, land and advocacy specialist. “We need to do our best to help the National Lakeshore acquire these parcels.”

Save the Dunes plans to work with natural resource managers at both the national and state parks to map buffer areas which would help protect the park from invasive species that threaten its biodiversity. Save the Dunes is also interested in working with the U.S. Geological Survey, the Field Museum, the Dunes Learning Center, the National Parks Conservation Association and others to highlight the important scientific research underway at the National Lakeshore, and to help land managers at both parks prepare for climate change. “We want to help those managing land in the Indiana Dunes area to prepare for the potentially significant climate impacts to the ecosystem resulting from altered hydrology, changed weather patterns, and different growing seasons,” Barker said.

The third priority—improving water quality in Northwest Indiana—builds on Save the Dunes’ “well-respected efforts in studying our regional watersheds and developing plans and implementation strategies.” At the direction of Water Program Director Jen Birchfield, Save the Dunes has completed work on Dunes Creek, is in its third year of work on Salt Creek, and has just kicked off a major watershed effort for the East Branch of the Little Calumet River. “Our waterways are the veins, the lifeblood of our region,” Birchfield said. “Without clean water, we can’t protect the Indiana dunes or Lake Michigan, and our economy will suffer.”

“Birchfield is leading several highly innovative green infrastructure projects that change the land use patterns so that our water remains clean,” Save the Dunes. “Save the Dunes will soon hire an Urban Waters Coordinator in partnership with the federal government to help solve challenging water-related issues in our communities as well.”

“The organization spent a great deal of time defining these priorities,” Board Member Ryan Strode. “The Board and Staff helped conduct over fifty interviews with members, partners, and other stakeholders. We were honored to have such in-depth interest and input in the process.”

“Anniversaries are time to reflect on one’s past, and also look towards the future, and that’s exactly what we are doing at Save the Dunes,” Barker noted. “We know that the Dunes are truly never saved, that there will always be threats like encroachment, pollution, invasive species, and so forth—and we are renewing our commitment to finding the most effective way to protect them for years to come.”

Posted 4/6/2012