IWLA-PCC NEWSLETTER
PCC Founded 1958 * JANUARY 2019 *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 January 19, 2019
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
Kilmer meeting - please support
The Porter County Parks Land Acquisition meeting has been scheduled (and then rescheduled) for Thursday, January 10, 2019, at 5:00pm at the Indiana Dues Visitors Center 1215 N State Rd 49 in Porter, IN. Please make every effort to be there!
IMPORTANT PCC UPCOMING EVENTS
1/19 January 2019 PCC Monthly Meeting
1-3pm Thomas Library 2nd floor meeting room
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2/16 February PCC Monthly Meeting
1-3pm Thomas Library 2nd floor meeting room
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3/14 Family Nature Night
6-7:30 Brummitt Elementary School
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TBA April Family Nature Night
6:00-7:30 Flint Lake Elementary School
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4/9 Family Nature Night
6:00-7:30 Northview Elementary School
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4/18 Family Nature Night
6-7:30 Liberty School
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5/2 Family Nature Night
Discovery Charter School
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5/18 Build Birdhouses at Bird Festival
9a-4p Dunes St. Pk. Nature Center
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TBA Bike to Birds at Burdick
Chesterton Bicycle Station to Carol Cook Overlook
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6/15 Gnomes Day Out
Frame Family Conservation Area
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To volunteer to help with anything that suits you; contact Annette Hansen executivedirectoriwlapcc@gmail.com 219-241-7431
Chapter Rep
save the date for soup
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
field center progress
Our chapter has been fundraising and are able to purchase all the structural materials to build The Field Center at Frame Conservation Area. Jeff Larson, Porter County Councilman at Large and a builder in the community, has stepped up to help us erect the structure with skilled volunteers. Larson came for and spoke briefly at our December PCC meeting. His guidance is priceless and we are so thankful he's helping us.
Jeff has done this same size shelter project for the Westchester Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Chesterton so he has a great grasp of what needs to be accomplished. He has recommended that we pour a 6” pad for the shelter. Annette Hansen has made a grant application with Ozinga and we should know by mid-January if we can afford for our Field Center to get a nice concrete pad too.
The Frame “Field Center” would be ideal for groups to come together for instruction, get out of the weather and perform work during research projects. We see it as a 24’x32’ shelter with east/west 2’ overhangs and north/south 1’ gables. A 10x10’ ADA-compliant pad feature for our handicapped visitors would also be ideal. The project has had support from Rebuilding Together Duneland, Duneland Resale Shop, Porter County 4-H Trackers Club, and Kiwanis of Duneland and more!
greenline's support
We gave Greenline this 5-Star Google Review:
GREAT WITH BIG PROJECTS!
The Izaak Walton League of America's Porter County Chapter's first priority is conservation of land, water, soil and wildlife. We have had great success in working with Greenline on wetland restoration, conservation water flow structures and earth moving that returns parcels to their natural state. Bob and his workforce are diligent, careful and listen to every concern. The chapter is so pleased we found them and will continue to do business with them. Thank you Greenline!
IWLA CLEAN WATER CHALLENGE
http://www.iwla.org/conservation/water/clean-water-challenge
Jim Sweeney, our chapter Vice President, has recently taken all the training to teach others how to do stream monitoring/testing. This is part of the Clean Water Challenge's goal to monitor water quality at 100,000 more stream sites nationwide by 2022 and improve water quality across the country.
Bike to birds at Burdick
More firm details and dates soon on this exciting event for PCC.
SEE OUR CHAPTER'S CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Dredging up a solution? - Doug Ross 12-23-18 Article
PCC members Tammy Patterson and John Hodson were quoted.
Commission leader leaving after 37 years watching over the Kankakee River
Tim Zorn-Post Tribune
For the better part of four decades, Jody Melton has been identified with Indiana’s portion of the Kankakee River. As executive director of the Kankakee River Basin Commission, he has moderated and guided deliberations by the KRBC, which coordinates work by the eight Indiana counties that drain water into the Kankakee and its Indiana tributary, the Yellow River.
He also has responded to periodic flooding along the Kankakee.
In late December, as he neared the end of his 37-year career with the KRBC, Melton looked back on his career and the changes he’s seen.
Historically, the differences between agricultural interests, who want to protect the river basin’s farms, and conservationists, who want to enhance the river’s natural areas, have led to intense debates.
“We’ve been sort of a moderator between all the factions,” Melton said. “We see a bigger picture now.”
(for full story)
and TEMPORARY JOB TURNS INTO LIFETIME CAREER
by Melanie Csepiga of NWI Times
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/temporary-job-turns-into-lifetime-career/article_cafa5a3b-8220-5826-bee9-e11efc1b4dfd.html
Valparaiso residents seek park partnership with county
by Amy Lavalley of Post-Tribune
(RE: Kilmer Property)
Valparaiso residents who successfully fought back a request for the city to annex undeveloped land to be turned into a subdivision are now turning to the Porter County Parks and Recreation Board, hopeful a partnership could preserve the property.
After hearing a presentation from Andrea Proulx Buinicki, who lives near the property, the park board on Thursday agreed to have its land acquisition committee go through the specifics and encouraged Buinicki to also approach the non-profit county parks foundation for assistance.
“We would like to ask you for your partnership, help and creativity in helping us preserve this green space,” Buinicki told the board.
About 30 people attended the meeting, and board members told them they could address the land acquisition committee, which will hold a public meeting on the matter and come back to the full park board with a recommendation.
The Valparaiso City Council voted 4-3 against annexing the land in November after its plan commission forwarded on a recommendation for the annexation to go ahead.
Proulx Buinicki said the parcel, at 13 acres, is in close proximity to Loomis and Spectacle lakes, and residents were concerned about water quality, drainage, the loss of the parcel’s many trees, and impact on the wildlife there.
The residents have not formed a non-profit and don’t plan to, she added, but many of them have made soft financial pledges toward preserving the property, and neighbors are paying for the land to be appraised.
The Kilmer family, which owns the land, is amenable to selling it and having it preserved, Proulx Buinicki said, though they also are going to approach the Porter County Plan Commission with their plans for a subdivision.
Park board members said it’s been awhile since the department acquired more land and much of that has been done through grants, because the department is dependent on the county council and commissioners for funds for such acquisitions since it doesn’t have its own tax rate.
“We don’t have the independent ability to bond. That’s up to elected officials,” said board member David Canright.
The property, Proulx Buinicki said, would be passive park land, for trails and the like, rather than active park land, which includes ball fields.
“Anything that you believe we can take to an entity to get a grant from is very important,” said Craig Kenworthy, president of the park board, adding that could include migratory birds that use the property, or information on old growth trees. “I think it’s possibly a great project and we do one thing really well. We build trails.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-porter-park-annex-st-1209-story.html
RIVERWALK CLOSED BECAUSE OF DISCHARGE
PORTAGE — Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk has temporarily closed in response to sightings of a foamy, scummy discharge into the Burns Waterway from the U.S. Steel Midwest plant.
"On Nov. 28, in response to a tip from the public, park staff observed a white foamy discharge coming from the plant and heading out to Lake Michigan," Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore spokesman Bruce Rowe said. U.S. Steel manager of external communications Meghan Cox said samples were taken and analyzed.
"U.S. Steel was notified of a foam-like substance near an outfall at our Midwest plant on Nov. 28," Cox said. "U.S. Steel and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management jointly inspected the property and U.S. Steel notified the National Response Center. Samples from the site were taken and analyzed at an outside lab, where they were found to be within normal permitting limits. U.S. Steel will continue to work in collaboration with (Indiana Department of Environmental Management) and other appropriate government entities." Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk is owned by the National Park Service.
"The closure is a precaution to protect the health and safety of park visitors from a discharge of an unknown substance into the Burns Waterway by the United States Steel Midwest Plant. Park staff is in close contact with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, who is conducting an investigation to determine the identity of the substance being discharged," Rowe said.
IDEM public relations officer Barry Sneed confirmed IDEM is aware of the discharge and is investigating.