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The Battles for the Indiana Dunes
The 1966 Legislation | 1967-1976 | 1977 to 1980 | 1981 to 1986
Part IV: 1981 to 1986 -- Legislation, Litigation, and Loss
1981
Save the Dunes Council looked forward to celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Congressmen Adam Benjamin (First District) and Floyd Fithian (Second District) proposed to introduce legislation that would add the Beverly Shores Island and Highway Strip and the NIPSCO "Greenbelt" to Lakeshore boundaries.
Instead, many unexpected changes and unwelcome challenges confronted the Council and the Dunes. Newly elected President Ronald Reagan and his Secretary of the Interior
Crescent Dune, with NIPSCO's Michigan City plant in the background. The struggle to preserve this area as part of the National Lakeshore concerned the Save the Dunes Council through much of the 1980s. Photo: Chesterton Tribune
James Watt signaled an uncertain future for the Indiana Dunes. The Administration appeared to favor completion of the Bailly nuclear plant on Indiana's Lake Michigan shore. Newly elected Senator Dan Quayle, replacing Birch Bayh, was another unknown factor.
Bad news for the Indiana Dunes appeared quickly. Although the 1980 Dunes expansion bill added nearly 500 acres to authorized park boundaries, the Reagan Administration requested no funds to acquire the land. In fact, Secretary Watt proposed a five-year moratorium on purchases of federal park land. The Administration asked Congress to rescind $250 million in funds already appropriated for park land acquisition.
Worse news was yet to come. A rumored Department of Interior "hit list" of parks to be removed from the National Park System supposedly included the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and about 30 other newer parks in or near urban areas. The existence of the list and the Lakeshore's inclusion on it was confirmed by the Chicago Sun Times story of April 29 headlined: "2 national parks periled in U.S. order."
More bad news for the National Lakeshore came in the summer with Watt's announced probe of park boundaries at five urban parks including the Indiana Dunes, alleging possible favoritism in setting boundaries. The National Parks and Conservation Fund labeled this a ploy by Watt to get congressional approval of his plan to freeze parkland purchases.
Council President Ruth Osann (left) and Emily Douglas (right) with a bust of Senator Paul H. Douglas at the Save the Dunes Dinner, May 31, 1981.
Photo: Save the Dunes Council
At year's end the Council had some cause for celebration. On August 26 NIPSCO announced the cancellation of the proposed Bailly nuclear plant. Congress approved an appropriations bill for the Department of Interior that included $2.4 million for land acquisition, bolstered by bipartisan support from Indiana and Illinois representatives and senators. Other cheering news: a new movie on the Indiana Dunes, the start of a beach nourishment project at Mount Baldy; and a dramatic increase in Council membership. Causes for concern included no Dunes bill and a Corps of Engineers proposal to create a breakwater and harbor at the mouth of Burns Ditch.
Troubles in 1982 for the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore continued with the silencing of Singing Sands Almanac as a National Lakeshore publication, because of a Department of the Interior moratorium on periodicals directed to an audience outside the Department (i.e., the public).
A new threat came in the Corps of Engineers' plan for breakwaters at Burns Ditch that would use Lakeshore land for breakwater anchoring and trail and parking facilities. Fearing serious erosion to Lakeshore beaches at Ogden Dunes and West Beach, the Council hired a University of Michigan coastal expert, Dr. Guy Meadows, to investigate the erosion impact of the Corps' breakwater proposal. He concluded that beach nourishment every two and a half years would be necessary to compensate for the erosion. The Corps proposed to nourish the beach every twenty-seven and a half years.
The Council feared that Watt's Interior Department was planning to cancel the condemnation suit to acquire NIPSCO-owned Crescent Dune at the west end of the Park. Thanks to legal services donated by Council stalwart Ed Osann, we petitioned the federal court to be admitted to the federal suit on the side of the government, which temporarily stopped any dismissal of the case.
Secretary Watt visited Northwest Indiana in 1982, toured the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, met personally with five Council members during his visit, and laid to rest rumors of any plans to deauthorize the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Shortly thereafter, however, he ordered an investigation of how the Lakeshore counted its visitors!
The only Dunes legislation that passed in 1982 was P.L. 97-356, which allowed the National Lakeshore to exchange 31 acres it owned within the Hoosier Prairie Unit for 69 acres of land within the Heron Rookery Unit owned by the state of Indiana, despite the difference in appraised value between the two parcels. Year's end brought loss of two good friends in Congress: Adam Benjamin, who died suddenly in September, and Floyd Fithian, whose Second District Congressional seat was eliminated through redistricting. The Lakeshore's first Superintendent, J.R. Whitehouse, retired after 12 years in the job. Secretary Watt ended the year by removing the authority to purchase lands for the National Lakeshore from the local land acquisition officer and placing responsibility for making these decisions in the hands of an employee who had been an anti-park lobbyist in Washington.
More changes in 1983 were on the horizon. Freshman Congresswoman Katie Hall of Gary now represented the newly drawn First Congressional District, which encompassed nearly all lands within the National Lakeshore's authorized boundaries. National Lakeshore Assistant Superintendent Dale Engquist was named Superintendent.
Three new books on the Indiana Dunes were published: J. Ronald Engel's Sacred Sands: the Struggle for Community in the Indiana Dunes; Kay Franklin and Norma Schaeffer's Duel for the Dunes: Land Use Conflict on the Shores of Lake Michigan, and Larry Waldron and Bob Daum's 48-page photo essay, The Indiana Dunes.
The Watt Interior Department continued to hamper purchase of lands authorized for the National Lakeshore and other parks. It required each park with an active land acquisition program to prepare a "Land Protection Plan." Each property owner's offer to sell was to be "justified" by the superintendent, sent to Washington, D.C., and then approved or disapproved by an assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Interior. By October a draft Protection Plan for the Lakeshore was released, with most lands identified as intended for purchase. Some important areas were identified as to be protected by cooperative agreement; for others purchase was to be deferred.The Council urged support for a National Park System Protection and Resources Management Act. Its four major provisions were designed to combat threats to national parks by:
* authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to review proposed federal actions that could harm park resources,
* requiring the National Park Service to prepare a biennial "State of the Parks Report" to Congress documenting the condition of park resources,
* authorizing park superintendents to initiate voluntary cooperative efforts with local jurisdictions to develop mutually compatible land use plans for the area around each park,
* requiring the National Park Service to develop a program to inform park visitors about threats to park resources and what was being done about them.
Unfortunately, the proposal never became law. The year ended with Judge William Clark succeeding James Watt as Secretary of the Interior. The moratorium on the purchase of park land was lifted. Thanks to Senators Lugar and Quayle, Congresswoman Hall, and Congressman Yates, Congress provided adequate funding for land acquisition and for development of the Paul H. Douglas Environmental Education Center.
In 1984, financial issues again occupied the Council: federal money for Lakeshore land acquisition, again left out of the President's budget for Fiscal Year 1985; money for the Council's pursuit of legal action to force a reluctant National Park Service to acquire Crescent Dune; money for technical and legal expertise for the suit the Council and the Town of Ogden Dunes filed against the Corps of Engineers over erosion. In that case, an agreement was reached with the Corps to offset [or so we hoped] the damage to Lakeshore beaches that we expected to result from the new Burns Ditch breakwaters. The Corps agreed to deposit sand off the beach and to conduct a five-year shoreline monitoring program.
The Council opposed the National Park Service plan to construct a bridge over U.S. 12, the railroad tracks, and Long Lake in Gary to bring visitors to West Beach. Instead we suggested, as an interim solution, a shuttle bus service that would use the former Dunes Drive-in property outside the park as a parking area, until a more environmentally sound permanent plan could be developed.
More Dunes books appeared: The Shirley Heinze Environmental Fund published The Indiana Dunes Story, a compilation of short articles on various aspects of the resources of and struggle for protection of Indiana Dunes. Round and About the Dunes by Norma Schaeffer and Kay Franklin was a follow up to follow-up to their popular Doing the Dunes.
Despite the outstanding natural resources of the Indiana Dunes State Park and its rank at or near the top in popularity among Indiana's state parks, it had no permanent, full-time naturalist to oversee these resources. The Council initiated a successful campaign among Indiana legislators to support a full-time, permanent naturalist position for the park.
Funding for Lakeshore land acquisition and staffing needs again secured the support of Congresswoman Hall and Sidney Yates in the House, and the dedicated work of Senators Lugar and Quayle to get the Senate to agree to House-appropriated funds. Noticeably absent was any congressional proposal to enlarge the boundaries of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
1985 began with both good and bad news. The Council welcomed new Congressman Peter Visclosky, representing the first district. Visclosky had served as an aide to the late Congressman Adam Benjamin from 1977 to 1982. The bad news: the National Lakeshore budget was cut (through recission) by $200,000.
Severe erosion threatened Lakeshore beaches as lake levels rose to 581 feet, the highest in this century. The shoreline in front of Mount Baldy became so eroded that a Park Service consultant predicted that the beach might be unsafe.
Dedication ceremony for the Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education, September 14, 1986. NPS Director William Penn Mott cut the ribbon with help of Dr. Mark Reshkin, Chairman of Friends of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and area students.
Photo: National Park Service
The ground breaking ceremony for the new Paul H. Douglas Environmental Education Center took place May 29.
Friends of the Indiana Dunes began putting out a "new" Singing Sands Almanac. At the Council's invitation, EPA whistle blower Hugh Kaufmann discussed U.S. Steel's plans to develop a new commercial hazardous waste landfill right next to Miller Woods, to be operated by IT Corporation, a major out-of-state waste handling firm. Thanks to Council-generated publicity, the plan died a well deserved death.
The year ended with the Lakeshore revising its visitor brochure to give credit to Senator Paul Douglas for his part in the park's establishment, and with the Council's thanks to the Indiana Chapter of the Sierra club for filing an amicus brief on the Council's behalf in our petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to preserve Crescent Dune as part of the National Lakeshore.
1986, the 20th anniversary of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, began with Congressman Visclosky introducing H.R. 4037, a bill to add 753 acres to the park. The bill also authorized more funding for park development and land acquisition, and called for a feasibility study for a parkway along U.S. Highway 12.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Lakeshore, the first science conference at the Lakeshore was held at Indiana University Northwest in May, co-sponsored by the Indiana Academy of Sciences, Save the Dunes Council, and Friends of the Indiana Dunes. Entitled "Indiana Dunes -- a Century of Scientific Inquiry," it attracted over 100 attendees to three symposia and seven contributed paper sessions.
Midwest Steel reapplied for a federal permit to fill 225 acres of Lake Michigan north of its existing mill. The industry then withdrew it in face of opposition from the Council, other environmental groups, several federal agencies, and many individuals. Michigan City outlined its plans for a marina in front of Crescent Dune. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear our request to be admitted as a party in the federal Crescent Dune condemnation suit against NIPSCO. Our suit against the Secretary of the Interior still continued as the federal magistrate issued a temporary restraining order against the Secretary to prevent him from dismissing the condemnation suit.
The House passed a much changed H.R. 4037 in August. In September, Senators Dan Quayle and Richard Lugar introduced their companion Dunes bill, S. 2812. The Senate Dunes bill hearing was held September 19. Both bills passed their respective houses October 17!
Porter County additions included lands along the Little Calumet River and Salt Creek owned by Bethlehem Steel; additional land along U.S. 12; a parcel connecting the Campground to the existing park; land along the north side of U.S. 20 that included an outdoor shooting range, a small parcel of land at U.S. 12 and the LaPorte/Porter County Line Road; an addition to the Heron Rookery; and the South Shore Railroad/NIPSCO corridor in the East Unit (a no-cost addition). The only Lake County addition was a no-cost addition to Hoosier Prairie. President Ronald Reagan signed the Dunes bill [Public Law 99-583] on October 29, 1986. It authorized the addition of 944 acres to the Lakeshore's existing boundaries, raising the total authorized acreage to 13,965.
By the end of the year, Save the Dunes Council office had moved to the Barker House in Michigan City, resulting in a newly expanded Save the Dunes Shop that took over the space formerly occupied by the office. The Save the Dunes Council looked forward to the challenges of 1987: proposed plans for new or expanded marinas by five lakefront cities; rising lake levels and worsening erosion; funding for the new Dunes bill and for the newly authorized beach nourishment project at Beverly Shores; and continuing problems of air, water, and solid and hazardous waste pollution.
Fall Dinner speaker Bickie Pitcher admonished Council members: "It is the never-ending responsibility of the Council to do everything in its power to preserve this special place so that it will still be beautiful through time and eternity."
--Charlotte J. Read
Douglas Center Dedication. NPS Director William Penn Mott leads (right to left): Gary Mayor Richard Hatcher, Director of State Parks William Walters, and Congressman Peter Visclosky to the new Center. Photo: National Park Service
This is the fourth in a series of articles on the history of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and the Save the Dunes Council. Copies of the previous articles are available from:
Save the Dunes Council
444 Barker Road
Michigan City, IN 46360
219-879-3937 -- Email
January, 1999
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