The Northwest Indiana Paddling Association (NWIPA) in partnership with the LaPorte Co. Parks Department, the Kankakee River Basin Commission (KBRC), LaPorte Co. Surveyor’s Office, and the LaPorte County Drainage Board, has announced that Kankakee River Paddler’s Overnight Camp #1 is now open for public use.

The campsite is located on the Kankakee River, 1.5 miles downstream of  the Yellow River DNR Public Access Site on the north bank of the river (Lat. 041° 15’ 59.71”, Long. 086°51’ 8.54”).  The new campsite is intended to be the first of several free overnight campsites planned along the bi-state 133-mile-long Kankakee River Water Trail spanning from the headwaters rising near South Bend, IN to where the Kankakee joins the Des Plaines River in Will Co. Illinois.

The campsite is designed as a primitive paddler’s overnight campsite accessible only by the river.   The campsite is located on levee surrounded by forests, wooded wetlands, and an ancient oxbow of the river which is under lease by the LaPorte Co. Parks Department.  On May 22, members of the LaPorte Co. Parks Department, the KBRC, the LaPorte County Surveyor’s Office, and NWIPA completed the first phase of the project which will allow paddlers river access to the site for camping.  NWIPA is responsible for maintaining the property and asks that fellow paddlers exercise a “leave no trace” philosophy when using the campsite.

NWIPA President, Dan Plath said, “We are pleased to help make a multi-day paddling trip on the Kankakee possible.  NWIPA is delighted by the outstanding partnership that has bloomed between our organization and the Kankakee River Basin Commission, the LaPorte County Drainage Board, the LaPorte Co. Parks Department, and the LaPorte County Surveyor’s Office.  We also are very appreciative of the efforts by Indiana District 20 Representative Tom Dermody, for his efforts downstate to help secure much needed maintenance funding that helps keep the river open for recreational use.  We have begun talks with other interested organizations further downstream to establish three or four additional overnight paddling camps.  Our goal is to establish bi-state water trail with National Water Trail recognition.  We are especially thankful for the hard work of NWIPA and LaPorte Co. Parks Board Member, Ron Knickrehm and Ken Purze, the Vice-Chair of the KRBC and the Laporte County Drainage Board, who helped champion this outstanding project.”

According to LaPorte Co. Parks Dept. Superintendent Tim Morgan, “The campsite is as close as you get to remote wilderness in LaPorte County.”  Henry David Thoreau penned, “We need the tonic of wildness – to wade sometimes in where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk, and hear the booming of snipe; to smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest, and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground.  At the time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be infinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable.  We can never have enough nature.”

KBRC Executive Director Jody Melton says of the project, “The Kankakee River is being discovered for the recreational potential it has.  French paddlers explored the interior of North America through the Kankakee River.  It is exciting to see our generation discover what the early explorers utilized.  While the river is certainly not the same as it was back then, it still provides great opportunities and the first campsite is encouraging as we progress toward even more uses.”

The Kankakee River Water Trail has seen its use by paddlers exponentially grow since being dedicated in 2010.  Also, with the popularity of the documentary, “Everglades of the North: the Story of the Grand Kankakee Marsh,” paddlers from both near and far are attracted to the water trail to see the majesty of the river for themselves, according to Plath. The goal of the project was to have the campsite open by Memorial Day.

For further information, contact Dan Plath at 219-871-9559 or dplath@nwipa.org.

 

Pageant, Protest, and Progress: Saving the Indiana Dunes is the title of the new summer exhibit at the Westchester Township History Museum, 700 W. Porter Avenue, Chesterton. The exhibit will open June 1 and will continue through September 1.   The museum is housed in the historic Brown Mansion at 700 W. Porter Avenue, Chesterton.

Pageant, Protest, and Progress tells the story of the fight to preserve the Indiana Dunes for the people of Northwest Indiana and visitors to the region.  Understanding the unique ecology of the Dunes and the history that has made them so unique helps explain why so many people fought for so hard for so long to create the state park and national lakeshore and why people continue the conservation and preservation efforts today.

The exhibit will highlight groups like the Prairie Club and Save the Dunes Council and their efforts and activities to promote and create a park in the Dunes.  Another section of the exhibit will focus on the incredible women involved in the Dunes movement from the early 1900s to today.  Artifacts from the Prairie Club, examples of nationally published articles and journals, and wonderful photographs of the Dunes movement help to explain how widespread the activities reached and how passionate the participants were.

In addition, visitors will learn about free, simple ways they can help preserve the Dunes for future generations to enjoy.

Visitors will also enjoy browsing The History of Father’s Day exhibit which will be on display June 1-23.

The Westchester Township History Museum is a free educational and cultural service of Westchester Public Library and is open free of charge Wednesday through Sunday from 1-5 p.m. or by appointment.  For more information call 983-9715.

By Alyssa Nyberg

I have worked at Kankakee Sands for 13 years now, caring for the precious native plants of Newton County in our outdoor seed production nursery.   That’s 13 years of seeing some of the prettiest flowers on the planet carpet the prairie with their amazing color. Yet, each and every June I am stopped in my tracks on the day that the sand coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata) begins to bloom.  There it is, sunshine on a stick, waving its bright yellow blossoms in the wind.  Each year, no matter how hard I try to stop myself, I can’t help but say out loud, “good morning sunshine!”

It’s amazing what the flower’s beauty does for the spirit.  It quickens the step and lightens the mind.  The large, 1.5” daisy-like yellow blossoms of the sand coreopsis instill an instantaneous happiness.  I challenge the grumpiest curmudgeon to look at the flowers and refrain from smiling.     

Each sand coreopsis plant has 5 to 12 bright yellow blossoms.  The flowers have 8 petals, all notched at the tip with 4 deep lobes. The blooms sit upon a long leafless stalk, which bounces in the wind.  The 4-inch long, rubbery leaves are all arranged at the base of the plant.  The leaves stay green most of the year and provide an attractive groundcover even after the blossoms have faded.    

Sand coreopsis thrives in our dry, sandy soils.  The perennial plants are prolific seeders and in just a few short years they can grow into large colonies, painting the landscape yellow.   The nursery and our sand prairies explode like yellow fireworks in June and early July.  The flowers are a favorite of the pollinators, butterflies and bees.  The explosion lasts for several weeks and then fades to developing seed heads.  Then it is a race against the birds to harvest the seed in time. 

The seeds of sand coreopsis are dark and slightly triangular in shape, reminiscent of a tick to those who first named the plant ‘coreopsis’.   ’Coreopsis’ is derived from the Greek Koris meaning “bug or tick” and   -opsis meaning “bearing the likeness of.”   And as it just so happens, when the coreopsis is blooming, the real 6-legged ticks are just as numerous!

Come out to the Kankakee Sands this June to hike or bird watch, for a country drive or to join us for a volunteer workday and see the sand coreopsis for yourself.  And prepare yourself for happiness!

The Nature Conservancy’s Kankakee Sands of Indiana and Illinois is 10,000 acres of prairie and savanna habitat in Northwest Indiana and Northeast Illinois, open every day of the year for public enjoyment.  For more information visit www.nature.org/KankakeeSands or call the office at 219-285-2184.

By Sarah Fuller

A search for May flowers at Kankakee Sands will yield a diverse collection.   One particularly easy find is wild lupine (Lupinus perennis).   Its eye-catching, bright blue flowers love the dry, sandy openings in the prairies and oak savannas of Northwest Indiana and Northeast Illinois.   Wild lupine, also called sundial lupine, flourishes in disturbed sites with little shade, such as recently mowed or burned areas.  Since its flower production increases after a fire, the standing swatches of blue are likely to be dense in locations that were burned this spring or last fall.

Wild lupines have plump, blue, pea-like flowers along the 8- to 24-inch reddish green stems.  The round, compound leaves have up to 11 leaflets.   These perennial legumes sprout in late March and April, flower from May to June, and by July will have a pod full of seeds ready for dispersal.   The above-ground plant material will start dying back in August, but the deep taproot can live for multiple years.

Although the flowering lupine stalks may remind me of blue corn on the cob, it is much more useful to remember that the wild lupine’s ecological processes are more closely related to peas.   Like many other plants within the pea family, lupines add nitrogen to the soil.  Just as farmers use soybeans (another legume) to improve soil nutrients, lupines perform the same function in a prairie.  Lupine roots have nodules containing bacteria that convert nitrogen gas from the air into ammonium—a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen.  The ammonium is then released into the soil and can be absorbed by roots of neighboring plants.   The lupines’ nitrogen fixing capabilities may be especially important after a fire, since surface nitrogen is lost during a burn.

While contributing nutrients to help adjacent plants grow is a distinctive aspect of this prairie flower, nitrogen fixing is not its only noteworthy feature.   Wild lupines are the perfect (and only) food for three species of butterfly.  The larvae of the Karner Blue (Plebejus samuelis), a federally endangered butterfly still present in the dunes just south of Lake Michigan, is one of the species dependent on lupine leaves.  Similarly, the Persius Duskywing (Erynnis persius persius) larvae consume the leaves and are endangered within Indiana.  The Frosted Elfin (Callophrys irus irus), and its bud-eating larvae, are threatened within the state of Indiana. These butterflies, while not documented in Newton County, are all present just to the north in Lake County.

Sarah Fuller is an Ohio native and graduate of Cornell University.  She is working as a seasonal Restoration Management Assistant at Kankakee Sands, through a partnership with the Student Conservation Association. Sarah is working alongside her other crew members to maintain suitable habitat for all prairie and oak savanna species – especially wildflowers.

The Nature Conservancy’s Kankakee Sands of Indiana and Illinois is 10,000 acres of prairie and savanna habitat in Northwest Indiana and Northeast Illinois, open every day of the year for public enjoyment.  For more information visit www.nature.org/KankakeeSands or call the office at 219-285-2184.

Who’s Who and What’s What? is a display of unidentified photographs from the archives of the Westchester Township History Museum, 700 W. Porter Avenue, Chesterton. The exhibit will run from May 1-19.

 

The museum has hundreds of photographs in its archives, many of which are of unidentified dates, people, events, and/or places.  The community is invited to browse the historic images and help museum staff identify the photographs.  Maybe you’ll even discover a photo of yourself in the archive!

 

The Westchester Township History Museum is an educational and cultural service of Westchester Public Library and is open free of charge Wednesday through Sunday from 1-5 p.m. or by appointment.  For more information call 983-9715.