IWLA-PCC NEWSLETTER
PCC Founded 1958 * December, 2017
Izaak Walton League of America - Porter County Chapter
Thomas Library in 2nd floor meeting room
(NO DECEMBER MEETING due to Holidays)
200 W. Indiana Avenue, Chesterton, IN 46304
Email: executivedirectoriwlapcc@gmail.com
Website: NWIconservation.org
Location: 200 West Indiana Avenue, Chesterton, IN, United States
Phone: 219-241-7431
Facebook: facebook.com/PCCIWLA
“From the Dunes in the north, to the Kankakee River in the south”
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
AMAZON SMILE DURING HOLIDAYS
Shop for everyone on your gift list this holiday at smile.amazon.com/ch/35-6044039 and Amazon donates to Izaak Walton League of America Porter County Chapter.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM PCC's PRESIDENT
I would like to take this opportunity to send warmest wishes to you and your families during this holiday season. And I wish to thank you; for without your dedication and hard work on PCC conservation projects and programs, we would not be able to boast such great success in 2017. Our Family Nature Nights (youth conservation education programming), the Wetland Restoration at Frame Family Little Calumet Conservation Area, the Overlook at Carol Cook Wetland, the new Website and countless other achievements have made us a leader in our community for conservation efforts.
You may have recently heard that laws could be passed that take away a not-for-profit's ability to accept donations without tax implication. If you are in a position to make a charitable contribution to our chapter this year, I urge you to do so before this might go into effect. I thank you in advance for your consideration.
May the New Year be prosperous for you and filled with blessings. I look forward to another year beside you fulfilling the dreams of Porter County Chapter.
Gary Brown, President
SEE OUR CHAPTER'S NEW CALENDAR OF EVENTS
FIRST FAMILY NATURE NIGHT AT WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP SCHOOL
On November 7, PCC hosted a Family Nature Night at a new school location; Washington Township Elementary. It was very successful; serving many families and visitors! Thank you to Bonnie & Susan Swarner for coordinating and all our volunteers and partners for such a great night! Special thanks to the Lake Michigan Coastal Program and IWLA National Endowment for their support of PCC’s youth conservation education programming.
Also, see the wonderful pictures from the Family Nature Night as shared by Bailly on their facebook page about their FNN October experience:
https://www.facebook.com/213065155386456/photos/pcb.2120562851303334/2120559474637005/?type=3
VOLUNTEER TO HELP at Family Nature Night events! Contact Bonnie Swarner at bdswarner@hotmail.com or Susan Swarner at susan.swarner@gmail.com
Important PCC Events below for all your Family Nature Night dates and locations or see the new calendar link above.
MCCLOSKEY RAVINES PROJECT
The Chapter hopes to close on the 40 acre project within the next month or two. This is a high quality property that contains several “seeps” or springs that are part of the headwaters of Reynolds Creek that terminates at the East Branch of the Little Calumet River at the Frame Family Conservation Area.
As with our last two acquisitions, it will be 50% funded by the Enbridge L-6b Mitigation Fund, administered by The Conservation Fund, and 50% from the Indiana Bicentennial Nature Trust. We thank the Kesling family for their support of this effort.
PLAQUE DEDICATION
Chapter Vice-president Jim Sweeney was recently interviewed about his role in finding an old plaque in honor of Ivar Hennings at the LaSalle Fish and Wildlife Area on the Kankakee River. It turns out the plaque is part of a very interesting story and history of the IWLA in northwest Indiana. You can hear the interview at the 5:25 mark athttp://www.1070thefan.com/blogs/indiana-outdoors/indiana-outdoors-112517
THREATS TO MIGRATORY BIRDS
Article by PCC member, Gene Clifford
The world’s migrating birds may be in big trouble. A new study that compared the routes of 1,481 migratory bird species with the protections afforded them in different countries around the world has found that 91% of them have inadequate protected areas for at least part of their annual cycles. The findings, published in scientific journals, showing stark detail the plight of the world’s longest of flyers and revealed the extent to which nations will have to work together to solve it.
Fully understanding the birds annual cycle and, including the location of their breeding grounds, winter grounds and stopover points, is key to their conservation.
Migrating birds cross continents to find warmer climates during the winter months, have fascinated hundreds for thousands of years of recorded history. In recent decades, scientists have been able to track them with satellites to learn the true extent of their epic seasonal voyages and have equipped them with sensors to learn their secrets of flight.
Migration is a grueling and risky endeavor-- - birds lose a major chunk of their body weight along the journey, and many of them die. A successful journey relies on there being key stopping points on the route so the birds can rest and refuel.
Migration is like a chain, with each stopping point forming a connecting link. But as humans continue encroaching on the natural environment, they break individual links and increase the risk that the fragile chain of migration will break.
The damage is already showing as many scientists have pointed out. More than half of migratory birds across all major fly ways have declined over the last 30 years.
To get a handle on the state of migrating birds today, researchers, led by many scientists from around the world have overlaid maps of protected areas into global bird distribution maps to see where the gaps in coverage were. These maps have shown that just 9% of the 1,451 migratory birds are adequately covered by protected areas across all stages of their annual cycle, in comparison with 45% of non-migratory birds.
Those migrating birds that are already under threat don’t seem to be getting much help.
Overall, less than 3% of threatened migratory bird species have enough protected area coverage across their annual cycle, these scientific studies have found.
If the decline in migrating bird species is to be stopped, the study has concluded, then nations around the world must cooperate more effectively across their borders to map out adequate protections for all migratory birds.
IMPORTANT PCC UPCOMING EVENTS
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
NO MONTHLY MEETING IN DECEMBER
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12/9 IN Division IWLA Board Meeting
Spring Lake Chapter in Hobart
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January PCC Monthly Meeting (location TBD)
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2/15-17 IWLA Mid-winter BOD meeting
Myrtle Beach, SC
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3/15 Family Nature Night
Yost Elementary School
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3/20 Family Nature Night
Brummitt Elementary School
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4/5 Family Nature Night
Northview Elementary School
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4/12 Family Nature Night
Flint Lake Elementary School
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5/3 Family Nature Night
Discovery Charter School
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5/10 Family Nature Night
6-7:30pm Liberty Elementary School
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VOLUNTEER TO HELP at Family Nature Night events! Contact Bonnie Swarner at bdswarner@hotmail.com or Susan Swarner at susan.swarner@gmail.com
LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD
TAKE ACTION!
Current tax bill being debated in Senate removes tax advantage of many contributions to non-profit organizations such as Izaak Walton League.
Please call ASAP or email Senators Young and Donnelly and Cong. Visclosky stating that the new tax bill should allow charitable organization donations to be deductible and reduce tax burdens at all levels.
Tell them that 501c3 organizations should remain exempt if they abide by the rules of the IRS.
Calling their phones will actually help register your views as well or better than email at this time.
219-795-1842, Visclosky
317-226-6700, Young
574-277-2780, Donnelly
You can find links here, and on our website http://nwiconservation.org/, to your government officials whenever you need to express your views about conservation:
Congressman Pete Visclosky - https://visclosky.house.gov/
219-795-1842, Visclosky
Twitter: https://twitter.com/repvisclosky (@RepVisclosky)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/repvisclosky
Merrillville Office: 7895 Broadway, Suite A, 46410
https://visclosky.house.gov/contact-pete/email-pete
Senator Todd Young - https://www.young.senate.gov
317-226-6700, Young @ Evansville
Evansville Office: 101 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Suite 110, 47708
202-224-5623, Young @ Indianapolis
Indy Office: 46 East Ohio St., Suite 462, 46204
https://www.young.senate.gov/contact/email-todd
Senator Joe Donnelly - https://www.donnelly.senate.gov/
317-226-5555, Donnelly @ Indy
Indianapolis Office: 115 N. Pennsylvania St., Suite 100, 46204
202-224-4814, Donnelly @ Washington D.C.
D.C. Office: 720 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, 20510
https://www.donnelly.senate.gov/contact/email-joe
Or see this site for more information on contacting your officials:
Porter County Officials:
http://www.porterco.org/ (look under GOVERNMENT pull-down tab)
State Representatives and Senators
THANK YOU VALPO UNIVERSITY
Amit, Tharani, and Jayakrishna really pulled it all together and we are most appreciative of their hard work this fall.
NWIconservation.org
SECOND LOCAL SPILL
IWLA CLEAN WATER CHALLENGE
Coming next spring will be another local training for volunteers willing to adopt a local stream for the purpose of monitoring it as part of the national IWLA Clean Water Challenge.
The Indiana Division CWC Committee is working on grants to provide the needed equipment to new stream monitoring efforts.
http://www.iwla.org/conservation/water/clean-water-challenge