New Projects Kicking Off in 2025

2024 was another great year of strengthening regional partnerships, and sowing seeds for future success. We are excited to share two big projects that we will be working on beginning in 2025 that will impact regional conservation efforts well into the future!

Image Courtesy of Shirley Heinze Land Trust

National Coastal Resiliency Fund Award

We worked closely with our partners at Shirley Heinze Land Trust and other members of the Calumet Land Conservation Partnership (CLCP) on a grant proposal to the National Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Coastal Resilience Fund. The project, totalling nearly $1 million, is titled Building Community Resilience in the Calumet Region. We are thrilled that this project has been approved for funding, and will kick off in the spring of 2025, focusing on enhancing climate resilience in the Calumet Region through community outreach and municipal engagement around our Conservation Action Plans.

You can learn more about this project on the Shirley Heinze Land Trust Blog.

Map from the Conservation Action Plan Alignment project highlighting regional conservation focus areas that will be engaged through this new project

CLCP partners accept an award from Chicago Wilderness on our Conservation Action Plan Alignment project

Image Courtesy of Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission

NWI Thrive Lilly Endowment Award

The Legacy Foundation, Porter County Community Foundation, Unity Foundation of La Porte County, and Crown Point Community Foundations successfully coordinated a proposal requesting $20 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. to connect residents and visitors to Northwest Indiana’s unique amenities like the Indiana Dunes National Park via the Marquette Greenway Trail and the South Shore train. Through projects like trail enhancements and connections, Discovery Hubs at South Shore train stations, local wildlife and habitat education, and innovative placemaking efforts, NWI Thrive will ensure that every resident has the opportunity to experience and benefit from this transformative investment in our region. Save the Dunes is serving as an education partner on the project, and will be coordinating a series of events over the next several years to encourage communities to utilize these new trails and amenities, and will highlight the incredible biodiversity of our region.

Image Courtesy of the Legacy Foundation of project partners at the project announcement press conference in December

Image Courtesy of Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission

Image Courtesy of the Legacy Foundation