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Sunday, January 29, 2006

Environment - More on "Too many unanswered questions about Dunes lodge; Environmental Impact Statement"

The Chesterton Tribune Friday carried a letter from noted Indiana environmentalist Charlotte Read on DNR's plan for the Indiana Dunes State Park:

The Indiana Dunes State Park is one of the most scenic, historic, and ecologically significant natural areas in Indiana. The beach and dunes attract one million visitors a year. At the same time the park supports over 70 native plants and animals, more than any other Indiana state park property, providing habitat for endangered and threatened species such as the Piping Plover and Pitchers Thistle. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is proposing to seek private development of a 3- to 4- story “full-service” inn at the Indiana Dunes State Park. Any new development along or near the beach will negatively affect the park’s significant natural resources and visitor experience. It will also interfere with bird migration and affect bird mortality. This proposed private development provides no benefit to park visitors, or to the people of Indiana to whom this park belongs. It would also compete with private lodging development just a short drive from the park.

The Indiana Dunes State Park must remain a haven from commercial development, not leased out to promote such development. Therefore, the Porter County Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America opposes the inn proposal as an unacceptable intrusion into this splendid resource and urges DNR to abandon this proposal.

See also this ILB entry from Jan. 25th, including questions about an environmental impact statement.

My thoughts. A comprehensive EIS needs to be prepared and made available to the public, and opened for discussion and comment, before this project moves beyond the talking stage.

(I speak as a native: I grew up a mile from the Dunes State Park, and worked there in the summers while in high school. The Dunes State Park is not in the middle of nowhere, where a "full service" inn might be of benefit. It is an area wisely preserved from development decades ago, at the northern edge of the increasing developed Porter County, and the adjoining Lake and LaPorte Counties, with a multitude of easily accessible inns, motels and restaurants.)

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 29, 2006 12:32 PM
Posted to Environment | Indiana Government