Care and Feeding of Indiana Dunes State Park, a program to be offered at the state park Sept. 7, will detail resource management issues behind maintaining the property's unique natural resources.
The program, which is part of the DNR's Lake Michigan Coastal Program's Coast Week (Sept. 5-13), starts at 10 a.m. at the Nature Center of Indiana's second-most visited state.
Indiana Dunes State Park remains one of the crown jewels of the Indiana State Parks system. Since 1925, the park land, which comprises 2,182 acres, has been protected, while surrounding industry, housing, and development occurred throughout the Northwest Indiana area.
The program offers visitors a chance to explore the inner workings of maintaining the natural integrity of the property. Indoor and outdoor discussions will showcase some of the previous work done in the park, some of which is obvious to park visitors, some of which is out of the sight of most visitors.
Within its island oasis, Indiana Dunes State Park contains the highest number and density of rare and endangered species of any Indiana state park. The park exemplifies how visitor use and resource protection can be cooperatively managed to mutual benefit.
An important operation of the state park is finding the right balance between providing space for those who have made the park a destination and providing financial support for the park's mission, as well as space for the resources that cannot pay entrance fees and do not have another choice. Trail erosion, trampling of sensitive areas, introduction of exotic species, and huge quantities of trash are all undesirable consequences of high visitor visitation.
A second and equally important mission of the state park is to begin the process of undoing damage done in the past. Reclamation of sun-loving flowering meadows and marshes from the dark, tangled, timbered canopy that agriculture, drainage and fire suppression has allowed to invade is a never-ending task. The park continues efforts at maintaining a sustainable deer herd so that once those meadows, savannas, and marshes return, they will not grazed to bare sand or water.
For more information about Coast Week please visit: www.coastweek.IN.gov
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