IWLA-PCC NEWSLETTER
PCC Founded 1958 * SEPTEMBER, 2018 *60 years of conservation
“From the Dunes in the north, to the Kankakee River in the south”
Izaak Walton League of America - Porter County Chapter
Meetings held every 3rd Saturday, 1-3pm in the
Thomas Library in 2nd floor meeting room
200 W. Indiana Avenue, Chesterton, IN 46304
Next meeting September 15, 2018
Email: executivedirectoriwlapcc@gmail.com
Website: NWIconservation.org
Location: 200 West Indiana Avenue, Chesterton, IN, United States
Phone: 219-241-7431
Facebook: facebook.com/PCCIWLA
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President - Gary Brown grbrown57@hotmail.com, 219-464-8882
Vice President - Jim Sweeney jp55biod@att.net, 219-322- 7239
Treasurer/Membership - Liz McCloskey tmconservation@csinet.net, 219-326-0700 Secretary - Susan Swarner susan.swarner@gmail.com, 219-201-5498
Chapter Directors: Don Frame df.nature@outlook.com, 219-331-6136,
Bill Iltzsche biltzsche@hotmail.com 219-464-9850 and
Herb & Charlotte Read candhread@comcast.net, 847-302-8069
SEE OUR CHAPTER'S CALENDAR OF EVENTS
FIND VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES AT STEWARDSHIP DAYS with this Calendar
Another PCC land acquisition
After nearly three years of meetings, negotiations and agreements, the Porter County Chapter is now the owner of another 40 acres of land. It will be called the Terrence and Elizabeth McCloskey Ravines Conservation Area. Porter County Chapter purchased the property from Meadow Brook Development and Adam Kesling. It is found between Otis Road and IN 421 across the street from Purdue University Northwest.
McCloskey Ravines is already a very high-quality habitat. There is some cleaning-up to do to comply with our agreements. PCC friends and volunteers will be called on to remove some initial debris and monitor it for invasive species every year. It was the third property which we have acquired with 50% funding from the Enbridge L-6b Mitigation Fund and 50% funding from the Indiana Bicentennial Nature Trust. Yes. There was very little cost to the chapter.
This property is named for Terry and Liz McCloskey. The McCloskey's have been long-time members of the IWLA and conservationists in NWI. Liz serves as our current chapter treasurer and is a zoologist our plant expert in the field. She tirelessly i.d.'s and removes invasives from all our PCC properties and adds native species, some grown by her own hands. Liz has already spent many hours scouring and healing the ravines property. Terry passed away in 2015. Terry and Liz were the motivation for our recent campaigns to buy the Frame Farm and the other properties and it was their experience in conservation that enabled the chapter to get the grants we used to buy all the properties we have acquired since 2012.
The chapter now owns 161 acres of land that we acquired with the help of $944,000 in grants that we were lucky enough to be able to match 1-1 with other grants. The many funders responsible for this win are the Enbridge L-6b Mitigation Fund, the Indiana Bicentennial Nature Trust, NIPSCO Consent Decree, and the Indian Heritage Trust. PCC also invested $44,000 of chapter funds from a sale of the acreage on IN-49 to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
IMPORTANT PCC UPCOMING EVENTS
9/15 September PCC Monthly Meeting
1-3pm Thomas Library 2nd floor meeting room
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9/25 Family Nature Night
6-7:30 Bailly Elementary School
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10/6 Wildlife Festival
Noon-5 Sunset Hill Farm
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10/13 Breakfast with the Ghostbusters (fundraiser)
8-11am Discovery Charter School (supported by Trackers 4-H Club)
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10/13 Diana IWLA Chapter Day
Afternoon of Outdoor Fun...more soon!
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10/20 October PCC Monthly Meeting
1-3pm Thomas Library 2nd floor meeting room
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Rescheduled:
Late October (date TBD) PCC's 60th Anniversary Party
Miller Chapter IWLA Clubhouse
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To volunteer to help with anything that suits you; contact Annette Hansen executivedirectoriwlapcc@gmail.com 219-241-7431
Who we gonna call? The South Shore Ghostbusters!
Guests will meet the quick-witted Ghostbusters in full costume. They'll sign autographs, pose for pictures and bring the protoplasm (slime). The pancake (w/sausage & OJ) breakfast will be made and served by the Discovery Trackers 4-H Club. All for the benefit of Conservation Programming in NWI by Porter County Chapter of Izaak Walton. This fundraiser will be hair-raising FUN for the whole family. SAVE THE DATE!
Bats at frame
Sound recordings of bat calls were made and the following bats were identified over the course of one night: 48 Big Brown, 36 Silver-haired, 9 Hoary, 8 Evening, 5 Little Brown, 4 Eastern Red and 2 Tri-colored bats. They also netted 4 big brown bats, one was lactating indicating that there was a maternity colony nearby!
PCC and Valpo Chain of Lakes have also partnered to purchase bat monitoring equipment for Tammy to use to continue her studies.
You can watch a YouTube video on "Mammals of Flight" by the Lochmueller Group.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfQYvmakPzg&feature=youtu.be
Wildlife Festival
Hansen 219-241-7431 or executivedirectoriwlapcc@gmail.com
phares wetland
UPDATE from Jim Phares about the work being done on his wetland that is the focal point of our Carol Cook Wetland Overlook property:
The county has cleaned out the ditch that flows from our marsh; its not really part of our project but it will help let the water out of here faster and may keep some of it off of the neighbor's property.
We have a permit from the Army Corps. of Engineers for the project. We had a visit from IDEM in August to address the details of the project and the concerns of the neighbors that have suddenly arisen after the wetlands have been there for over twenty four years.
Now it looks like everything will be a go with our wetlands we are only waiting to see how much excavation IDEM will allow. The Storm Water meeting is on the 10th of September; I don't expect an major controversy unless the neighbors on the east and west of me try to stop what we are doing.
Indiana's Save Our Streams
Chapter Vice-president Jim Sweeney chairs the Indiana Division Save Our Streams Committee and they have scheduled a Riverwatch Training for September 9th, 0-4 EDT at the Wabash Chapter IWLA. Contact Jim at 219-322-7239 or jp55biod@att.net to register.
The Division Committee also successfully applied for a $5000 grant from the Izaak Walton League of America Endowment at the national convention to build another dozen Stream Monitoring Kits to give out to other organizations willing to adopt a local stream for two years. Contact Jim if you know of anyone willing to adopt a stream.
Dunes Action
The Dunes Action sub-group of the Chapter hosted an update for local supporters opposing the Indiana DNR and Pavilion Partners Pavilion Reuse Project at the Indiana Dunes State Park. In July, the National Park Service sent a letter to the DNR after Dunes Action forwarded new plans for the Pavilion to the Service after they had approved an early set of plans.
The letter told the DNR to tell Pavilion Partners that the new plans were no longer secondary to or supportive of “public outdoor recreation” and told PP to either go back to the original plans, resubmit new plans, or prepare a “conversion” plan. That would require a lot more planning and cost and specific requirements for replacing the acreage lost to the project.
Stay tuned by following our progress on the Dunes Action Facebook page or website:
https://www.facebook.com/DunesAction/
Recent press:
hunting at bedenkop
Indiana Deer Hunting Season 2018:
Reduction Zones: Sept. 15, 2018-Jan 31, 2019 (where open)
Youth Season: Sept. 29-30, 2018
Archery: Oct. 1, 2018-Jan. 6, 2019
Firearm: Nov. 17-Dec. 2, 2018.
All hunters at PCC's Sandra Dee Bedenkop Family Spring Run Woodlands MUST
have all current tags, licenses, completed a DNR hunter safety course and be a current Izaak Walton Porter Co Chapter MEMBER in good standing. And, all participants must sign a hold PCC harmless waiver which includes Agritourism statements before hunting at Bedenkop. New members must also arrange to walk out on the property with an experienced PCC member before hunting season to understand property line constraints. ONLY up to 4 deer (no more than 2 does) will be harvested during the 2018 season at Bedenkop. Waiver forms must be signed and returned to Hansen. All kills must be reported to Hansen when they occur, one kill/member, please. First harvested, first served -- when the limit is reached, hunting will be discontinued for that season.
NOTE: Hunting is NOT allowed out of season, nor at any of the other PCC properties.
In order to reserve a hunting time/date at the PCC Bedenkop property, you must contact Annette Hansen to be added to the reservation calendar:
If you have trouble viewing this calendar, please request permissions to view from Annette Hansen executivedirectoriwlapcc@gmail.com.
IWLA CLEAN WATER CHALLENGE
Diana Chapter IWLA Day
A day outdoors at the Diana Chapter IWLA!
It will be a cookout, macros, archery, canoeing, probably some competitions, a showing of the Everglades of the North—lots of fun...Open to all members of the IWLA and their families
NO MEETING! Stay tune for formal invites
October 13, AFTERNOON