11 May
Thx, happily aboard! RT @chiwilderness #FF newest members of the Chicago Wilderness alliance: @GDDonnelley, @willconserve, @WaukeganPrkDist
Calumet Land Conservation
The Calumet region straddles the Illinois-Indiana state line at the southern rim of Lake Michigan. Despite a legacy of intense industrial use, there remains a patchwork of rare, natural area gems. The challenge and opportunity is to protect and steward these resources as key components of revitalized communities.
It may surprise people to learn that the Calumet contains some of the rarest and most endangered habitat in the world. Over millenia, glaciers advanced and retreated many times, leaving in their wakes unique freshwater sand dunes found few places in the world-- notably along the rim of Lake Michigan. Over the past century and a half, a surge of intense industrial development - including steel mills and oil refineries - significantly altered the landscape. Ironically, these same industrial forces inadvertently preserved many pockets of natural land. Beginning with H.C. Cowles, who developed pioneering concepts in ecology by studying the plants of the dunes, there have been increasing efforts to protect and preserve the Calumet's natural heritage. Today, many beautiful beaches, wetlands, dunes, swales and forests are permanently protected within the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, the Indiana Dunes State Park, and many other publicly and privately held lands. Together, they harbor numerous rare and endangered plants, animals and birds.
Through the Calumet initiative, we seek to help revitalize the Calumet community by protecting and restoring more natural land.
Partners
In both Illinois and Indiana, we work with leaders from land trusts, industry, business, government agencies, community foundations, nonprofit organizations, as well as county, state and national parks.
We believe that healthy natural areas are increasingly critical to the revitalization of communities within the Calumet. Therefore, with our partners we build cross-border collaborations and promote a regional approach, seeking a balance between economic development and natural areas conservation. We help strengthen local organizations, encourage partnerships among them, increase their volunteer base, and communicate their work to the broader community.
To learn more about this initiative, please contact Arthur Pearson - Director, Chicago Program at (312) 977-2709.
Activities
We engage our partners in a variety of ways that go beyond grantmaking. We provide coaching to local organizations. We convene groups to forge connections and collaborations. In 2009, we co-sponsored the bi-annual Calumet Summit that brought scientists, preservationists, environmentalists and public officials together to share data and information about their projects in the region. We helped Chicago Wilderness develop a special edition of its magazine, which was used to promote the special character of the region. We supported the development of The Future of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, a vision for enhancing and promoting the park as a regional treasure. And, in partnership with the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authorty, we are facilitating consensus to preserve some of the last remaining dune and swale habitat around the expanding Gary Interntional Airport.