Indiana Dunes A Signature of Time and Eternity: The Administrative History of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana

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The Save the Dunes Council continues today to monitor park development and to work with the National Park Service staff. Its position vis-a-vis the Park Service is supportive, watchful, and wary. The Council recognizes that as a government agency, the Service operates under certain restraints and is vulnerable to political pressure. The Council sees its role as being helpful, independent...and tough when the situation warrants. Its prime purpose is to defend the resource—to protect the park and its natural values which so many have worked so hard, so long, so determinedly to preserve.

Sylvia Troy, President, Save the Dunes Council 1967-1976, and Trustee/Secretary, Shirley Heinze Environmental Education Fund [1]

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Operations, 1984-1987

1984

The completion of the reorganization for the lakeshore's four staff divisions came during 1984. In Maintenance, four custodial positions were eliminated in accordance with the draft "Maintenance Operation Plan" which outlined established maintenance chores, standards, and operating procedures. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) mandated the analysis of operations through its previously issued OMB Circular A-76. Among tasks to be contracted outside the Service were snow removal (effective in November 1984) and custodial services (effective in March 1985). In the evaluation of motor vehicle maintenance, cost comparisons revealed preventive maintenance should remain in-house while significant repairs should be contracted outside the Service. Bids were also invited to provide lifeguard services at the West Beach, Wells Street, Kemil Road, and Central Avenue beaches.

Through purchase and donation, the national lakeshore acquired nineteen historic South Shore Railroad cars. The park awarded a contract for the restoration of one railway car to the Indiana Transportation Museum to ready it for its eventual exhibit at the proposed East Unit Transit Center. Advanced planning funds for new South Shore Railroad stops were also received during the year. Maintenance crews remodeled government quarters No. 507 to use as a dormitory for male employees. The former dormitory was closed for health and safety reasons. Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) members assisted in this work as well as the relocation of the Science Division to Building 102 at the Bailly Administrative Area. The division vacated the Rostone House also because of safety concerns related to the advancing Lake Michigan beach erosion at Beverly Shores.

In an evaluation of properties eligible for the Historic Leasing Program, Superintendent Engquist determined that the park had no candidates. The Chellberg Farm was ineligible for leasing, having failed to meet National Register criteria. Nevertheless, the farm will maintain its historic turn-of-the-century appearance along with thirty acres of fields, cultivated under a special use permit. Possibilities for the leasing program are the 1933-34 World's Fair houses included on the National Register by the Midwest Regional Office as the "Century of Progress/Beverly Shores Architectural District" (listed in 1986). Because of the severe shoreline erosion in the area, candidates for leasing such as the Rostone House were unacceptable for health and safety reasons until the historic structures would be relocated elsewhere in the lakeshore. [2]

A new world's fair captured the lakeshore's attention in 1984 as park management looked into the future to the proposed 1992 World's Fair in nearby Chicago. With encouragement from the Advisory Commission, planning began for the proposed East Unit campground to become reality in time to accommodate the anticipated influx of visitors. [3]

Despite the ill-will over former Secretary James Watt's policies,* Congress appropriated $1,375,000 to complete Indiana Dunes' land acquisition program as stated in the Land Protection Plan. All large tracts were acquired in 1984 and park management was satisfied it had sufficient funds to complete acquisitions in the near future.

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*Secretary James Watt resigned his position on November 8, 1983. William C. Clark served as Secretary of the Interior from November 21, 1983, to February 6, 1985. Donald Paul Hodel has held the position since February 7, 1985.

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Park budgets Systemwide received a two percent Congressional assessment in order to reduce the Federal deficit. Indiana Dunes' Fiscal Year 1985 budget was reduced by $223,300, to stand at $3,674,100, still $198,600 less than the previous year. The lakeshore's Full-Time Equivalency (FTE) standards fell below the century mark to 99. [4]

Midwest Regional Director Charles H. Odegaard attended the April 16 meeting of the Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission as it began its final two-year term before the September 30, 1985, Congressionally-mandated expiration. During the meeting the lakeshore's newly-published gifts catalog was unveiled. Titled "Your Gift of Forever," the catalog presented the public with the park's wide-ranging financial, material, and human needs and called for donations to assist park operations. The publication was written by Chief Park Interpreter Larry Waldron. Four private organizations shared funding for publishing the gifts catalog. [5]

1985

The lakeshore received its fourth Assistant Superintendent during the year when Larry May transferred to the position of Deputy Superintendent at Gateway National Recreation Area outside of New York City. Glen Alexander, Superintendent of Curecanti National Recreation Area, Colorado, entered on duty as Assistant Superintendent at Indiana Dunes on August 18.

Special Assistant to the Chief Ranger John Townsend drafted a special regulation to curtail the use of alcohol on beaches by stating it served as the basis for "anti-social, unsafe, and hazardous acts" at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Prepared for Midwest Region's and the solicitor's review, the amendment to the Code of Federal Regulations (36 CFR 7.88) would empower the superintendent to prohibit the possession or consumption of alcoholic beverages.* The superintendent could restrict portions of beaches or the entire lakeshore and its campgrounds to the practice. The solicitor opined that the special regulation was unnecessary because the superintendent already had the authority to close or restrict areas. With a sufficient period for publicity, the interdiction of alcohol consumption at West Beach was scheduled for 1987.

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*The banning was desirable principally for safety reasons with the potential adverse affects of intoxication under a hot summer sun. In addition, lakeshore rangers faced continued enforcement problems with underaged drinkers, especially from those entering the Lakeshore from the City of Gary's Wells Street beach where alcohol consumption was already illegal. Outlawing alcohol usage at West Beach would also eliminate the jurisdictional inconsistency. See Engquist interview, 16 September 1987.

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West Beach operated for its first full year with contracted lifeguard service. While the contract was a success, beaches had to close thirty times because of adverse weather conditions and rip-currents.

Normally scheduled during July, the Duneland Folk Festival was not held in 1985. It merged with another festival, the Autumn Harvest Festival, and was held at the Chellberg Farm in late September. The combined festival became known as the Duneland Harvest Festival. G. R. Davis of the Friends of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore helped to revive the Singing Sands Almanac, the park's interpretive newsletter which was terminated in 1982. The Friends organized the financial aspects of the newsletter by selling subscriptions to the Almanac. A ten-dollar annual charge included both a subscription and a Friends membership. The Friends also funded scientific research projects and staffed interpretive programs. The new Almanac's editor was Glenda Daniel, noted naturalist and author of Dune Country.

In response to numerous fires in the western United States, nine Indiana Dunes rangers fought fires in California while five others provided support in staging areas. The national effort was coordinated by the National Interagency Fire Coordination Center at the Boise [Idaho] Interagency Fire Center.

During an aerial patrol, law enforcement officers spotted a field of marijuana. Cultivated in an isolated area away from roads and trails, the field of more than 200 plants—with an estimated street value of one to two million dollars—featured its own irrigation system. Providing continuous surveillance, park rangers arrested two individuals suspected of cultivating the illegal plants. The plants were burned. No prosecution, however, transpired.

In another Management Efficiency move, reorganization of the Maintenance Division came at mid-year with the identification of four distinct work groups, each supervised by its own foreman. Workers remodeled quarters No. 504 into a new women's dormitory and Bailly Administrative Area building 102 into offices for Resource Management and Visitor Protection staff. The West Beach Dune Succession Trail, 1,100 feet of boardwalks, stairs, and overlooks, was completed providing visitors an enjoyable dunes walking tour route from the Long Lake Trail to the West Beach Bathhouse. In addition, maintenance workers also renovated several bridges and stairs on the Bailly-Chellberg Trail. A new source of labor was realized late in the year when the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Indiana, established a public service program with the national lakeshore. Under the program, the court may order offenders to perform their public service requirements with the lakeshore's Maintenance Division. [6]

Park Planner Bob Elmore prepared plans to complete the Bailly Administrative Area in terms of centralizing maintenance operations. Advocating the abandonment of deteriorating maintenance outposts throughout the park, Elmore and Denver Service Center planners envisioned consolidating maintenance and storage facilities at one site. To accommodate the park's sizeable maintenance operations, five new structures will be required. [7]

The Indiana Dunes Land Acquisition Office successfully acquired all properties identified in the Land Protection Plan except for the Dunes State Park, Hoosier Prairie, and seven residential properties representing a mere twenty acres. The office recommended condemnation on most of the residential tracts.

Erosion problems continued to escalate with all-time high Lake Michigan water levels recorded during April and May. At Mount Baldy, two interim beach nourishment programs by the Corps of Engineers over the past decade had stemmed difficulties there. The National Park Service supported pending legislation to authorize a $7.9 million long-term program. At Beverly Shores, no nourishment program occurred because of the revetment protection installed in the early 1970s. Rising lake levels, however, imperiled lakefront roads as well as five homes, all park-owned and occupied by the former owners holding reservations of use. On July 26, Beverly Shores closed its Lake Front Drive to automobile traffic. The Park Service supported the move, allowing nature to take its course, and intensified planning efforts to relocate the National Register-eligible World's Fair structures. In late summer, the Service entered into an agreement with Beverly Shores to provide shoreline road stabilization by placing 6,000 tons of sand, half the needed amount, with the town providing the remainder. [8]

One particularly thorny issue facing park management involved the proposed access to West Beach. The heavy influx of visitors to the area—numbering more than a quarter-million people every year—used local access roads not designed for the traffic load. The 1980 General Management Plan (GMP) provided for a new access road, plans for which were devised in 1982 and 1983. The proposed route, running north from Interstate 94 and following an abandoned railroad right-of-way, will pass over U.S. Highway 12 and two railroads via a 1,700-foot bridge. The route will pass through a floodwater retention basin between two shopping centers. While nearby residents worried about the impacts of the road on groundwater levels, the shopping center owners objected to the lack of access to the new road and to each other in the original plans.

Considerable local attention focused on the proposed road with the local Congressmen, Indiana Dunes Advisory Commission, Miller Citizens' Corporation, and the city of Gary supporting the design concepts and environmental groups as well as affected landowners opposing it based on impacts on wetlands. Park management committed itself to resolving the issue and proposed new alignments and design solutions. The Advisory Commission hosted a public meeting on March 20 to record public concerns and then called upon the Park Service to study further the State Road 51, U.S. 20, and shopping center interchange. [9]

Another road problem involved the proposed scenic parkway along U.S. Highway 12. With the right of way on the eastern segment through Beverly Shores remaining in public ownership, the State could relinquish it to the National Park Service. Not to be stymied, Superintendent Engquist began investigating legislative avenues to permit the transfer.

Planning for a campground adjacent to Beverly Shores, 169 acres between U.S. Highway 12 and 20 added under the 1980 bill, began in earnest. Included in the park expressly for a campground, a Development Concept Plan began by conducting a visitor camping demand study. Because the issue was significant to the operations of the Dunes State Park's own campground, the lakeshore pledged to keep the Indiana Department of Natural Resources informed.

Other planning and development issues occupied park planners and managers. A structural analysis of the Goodfellow Lodge revealed rehabilitation was economically impractical, leaving the Service to decide whether a new building should be erected in its place to accommodate the future youth camp. Like the West Unit access road, a similar project for the East Unit began with a corridor location study and an environmental assessment for the proposed I-94 interchange and other modifications to the LaPorte/Porter County Line Road. Planning for the proposed East Unit Transit Center likewise began with an assessment of alternatives, approval of preliminary plans, and the initiation of designs. [10] Twelve tracts totaling less than four acres remained outstanding in the area. With construction apparently just around the corner, fee simple title had to be obtained before the lakeshore could expend funds to build the complex. Noting that the three-year normal time period for negotiations had passed, Superintendent Engquist called upon the Indiana Dunes Land Acquisition Office to place the tracts in complaint in condemnation. [11]

By far the highest profile planning and development project involved the Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education, to be discussed later in this chapter.

1986

The Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act, a measure designed to gradually reduce and eliminate the Federal budget deficit, necessitated a $160,000 reduction in the park's fiscal 1986 base funding of $3,729,400. An additional $7,400 assessment imposed by the Washington Office mandated that park management utilize creative thinking to maintain operations. Fewer seasonal employees were hired, permanent positions were either abolished or their filling deferred, and some construction projects were rescheduled.

Despite these setbacks, the lakeshore continued to progress. In planning and development, final design for the East Unit Transit Center underwent review by the Denver Service Center and Midwest Regional Office. The design called for a large interpretive area, sales desk, restrooms, and an initial parking capacity of 500 cars. A preliminary draft environmental impact statement for altering the Porter/LaPorte County Line Road was also completed which was tied to the transit center's design. Preliminary study and design of the East Unit Campground resulted in plans for 300 camping spaces featuring both tenting and recreational vehicle (RV) choices, store, amphitheater for interpretive programs, and a shuttle service to the beach and lakeshore visitor center. Two public meetings were held in July to obtain comments on alternatives for specific developments at the former Beverly Shores golf course site.

Planning to reorganize the Bailly Administrative Area was undertaken in 1986 and renovations continued on Building 102. For Building 101, the Bailly Ranger Station, a new dispatch room, training facility, and restrooms were completed. Planning for changes on the West Unit Access Road did not significantly progress, although park and Regional Office staff worked on modifying the design to permit improved access to the area shopping center.

Efforts to reactivate the Coronado Lodge bore fruit in 1986 when the Kankakee Valley Job Training Center indicated its willingness to rehabilitate the structure and convert it to a hostel/canoe livery geared to overnight camping for environmental education. Planning for relocating the five World's Fair Houses in Beverly Shores, listed as a district in the National Register of Historic Places during the year, was initiated on the recommendation of an operations evaluation team suggestion. The same team recommended the lakeshore study necessary modifications at comfort stations throughout the park.

In Interpretation, lack of fiscal and human resources resulted in more than 8,000 students being denied requests for environmental education programs, although 31,114 students were served in 1,325 classes. For the public at large, 1,313 programs were delivered to 24,294 people.

At the Chellberg Farm, sixteen acres continued to be farmed under a special use permit. For the first time, the Chellberg garden was plowed by horse rather than by tractor. A new event, Walpurgis Night, was held at the farm to celebrate the Swedish festival which greets the onset of spring with a bonfire of straw and corn stalks.

Interpretation's staunch supporters, Friends of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, grew from 560 to 693 individuals and 22 corporate members. The Friends' Singing Sands Almanac surpassed 50,000 subscribers. Additional publications included a brochure on Indiana Dunes wildflowers, a festival poster, and a lakeshore 20th anniversary poster and flyer resulting in a savings to the Service of more than $10,000. Duneland Harvest Festival attendance reached 5,200 with the Friends assuming complete cost for the performers and craftspeople. Friends volunteers kept the Bailly Homestead open to the public on weekends from June through October and sponsored the Maple Sugar Time event.

In August 1986, the Friends of Indiana Dunes officially incorporated under the laws of the State of Indiana. The move was intended to promote the organization's future growth and benefit to the lakeshore. The Friends continued to fund dunes-related scientific research projects as well as administering the Paul H. Douglas Fund for Environmental Education. The group helped the national lakeshore, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Indiana University Northwest, and Save the Dunes Council cosponsor the First Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Science Conference, May 1 through 3, held at Indiana University Northwest, in Gary. With a theme of "A Century of Scientific Inquiry at the Indiana Dunes," forty papers were read to an audience of 170.

The Maintenance Division completed its reorganization. First proposed in 1985 to include five operational groups, the approved reorganization resulted in only four units: General Maintenance, Roads and Trails, Motor Vehicle Shop, and Douglas Unit (West Beach). The division maintained sixty-five park structures, forty-four miles of trails, seven miles of beach, as well as picnic areas, roads, and parking lots. Projects included the above-mentioned changes to the Bailly Ranger Station; completion of the Long Lake Trail stairways and boardwalks; resurfacing of the Bailly Cemetery Trail; new stairways, bridges, and boardwalks in the Bailly/Chellberg ravine area; parking lot surfacing, tree removal, and stairway and fence construction at Pinhook Bog; and design and installation of new entrance signs which incorporate the lakeshore's new blue and orange logo of sun, dune, and waves. The division also helped the Town of Beverly Shores mitigate damage from erosion to beaches and roads. Although Congress mandated the implementation of a Maintenance Management System (MMS) in 1984, Indiana Dunes had its own ongoing computerized maintenance operations program which included financial and personnel information, tracking task activities, and a sign inventory. With the park's admirable lead in this area, full implementation for MMS at Indiana Dunes was scheduled for 1987.

New maintenance contracts included the renewal of custodial services begun in 1985 with Michiana Industries for a savings of $32,000. This same firm was awarded a concession for parking and custodial services at West Beach. Under another contract, workmen replaced the water supply system at the Bailly Administrative Area with fire hydrants installed for fire protection.

Assistance from the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) continued in 1986 for ten weeks. Out of twenty-one enrollees, sixteen were assigned to the Maintenance Division. While base funding for YCC totalled $27,700, the workers completed projects worth an estimated $89,162.

In historic preservation, a three-year interior restoration of the Chellberg Farm house began with gas and heating system installation which was completed by year's end. Restoration of South Shore Railroad Car No. 33 continued while Cars No. 6 and No. 107 were sent to the Indiana Transportation Museum for preservation and stabilization treatment. The remaining cars were housed free-of-charge at the USX (formerly U.S. Steel) plant in Gary.

Resource Management and Visitor Protection completed its Fire Management Plan, Little Calumet River Management Plan, and Resources Management Plan during 1986. It was the second year utilizing the formalized Fire Team concept (technically in use since 1976) composed of twenty-five members of the lakeshore's general staff. Twenty-four wildland fires claiming 1,322.4 acres burned at Indiana Dunes, the largest at Inland Marsh on March 25 when 654 acres burned. Three prescribed burns, the first in the national lakeshore's history, were also undertaken on forty-five acres. Conducted primarily for research purposes, the first prescribed burn took place at Howes Prairie on April 18. Resource Management specialists were assisted in their on-going research program through the initiation of an internship program with Indiana University Northwest.

Erosion remained a primary resource management concern. The Great Lakes continued to experience high water levels which established a record for the century. The Park Service continued to assist the towns of Beverly Shores and Ogden Dunes where damage to homes and to Lake Front Drive threatened. Both the Rostone House and Florida Tropical House remained in danger of falling into Lake Michigan. The high lake levels necessitated the closure of Central Avenue Beach when the waves swept away the sand and left only a slippery clay surface. This, combined with rubble washed out from Lake Front Drive, created an unacceptable safety hazard to swimmers. With the loss of Central Avenue Beach and the largest beach access parking lot in the eastern half of the lakeshore, annual visitation dropped seven percent to stand at 1,680,160 for the year. Adverse spring and summer weather conditions also contributed to the visitation decline. In response to the erosion dilemma, Congress authorized a long-term beach nourishment program at Mount Baldy and eastern Beverly Shores and appropriated $108,000 for initial planning and design going to the Corps of Engineers.

Rangers instituted a voluntary ban on radio-playing at West Beach during the summer season. They discouraged radio use inside the bathhouse and on the beach east of stand number three. Most of the visitors reacted favorably to the establishment of the "radio-free zones."

On October 14, 1986, the National Park Service signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the city of Gary to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed Gary marina. While the Service acted as the lead agency on the EIS, funding came through the city's grant from the State of Indiana's Lake Michigan Marina Development Commission. The national lakeshore and the Midwest Regional Office held public meetings on October 22 and 23 to solicit recommendations for the scope of the marina EIS.

For many years the city tried to obtain funding for the EIS from Congress, but to no avail. Blocking the effort was Congressman Sid Yates, Chairman of the House Interior Subcommittee on Appropriations, who refused to appropriate the funds on the basis that the development was too large and incompatible with the National Park Service's mission. Yates said that if Indiana Dunes got a marina, every unit in the System bordering on water would request a similar facility. Indiana's Marina Development Commission, however, demonstrated the State's resolve to promote improved marina access to its lakeshore. In addition to Gary, marina developments in Hammond, East Chicago, Portage, and Michigan City are also to be evaluated.

On May 6, 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear, and thereby denied, the Save the Dunes Council's request to intervene in a suit concerning the condemnation of Crescent Dune within the boundaries of the National Lakeshore. The Council challenged the Justice Department's ruling that while Crescent Dune was condemned within the specified two-year period, the action did not qualify as acquisition. The Justice Department joined NIPSCO in recommending that the condemnation suit be dismissed. With the Council's legal options nearly exhausted, the events prompted the Park Service to consider negotiating an agreement with the utility company not to develop its property. [12]

1987

The year saw a $350,000 increase in the park's operating base ($3,818,300) for improved maintenance and facility rehabilitation. The base figure also provided $1 million for land acquisition and $260,000 for planning and design to rehabilitate Coronado Lodge. Special add-on appropriations were targeted for a reforestation study, fire research burns, aquatic vegetation study, dune forest research, and a clean up of storm damage along beaches in the lakeshore's eastern area. The special funds helped the park complete these projects which had been postponed because of fiscal constraints.

While the funding situation improved, visitation dropped six percent because of a change in the method of collecting visitor use data. The new base figure under the new system will be used to judge future visitation trends. Visitation for interpretive and environmental education programs, however, registered healthy increases. With increased staff and programming as well as the first full year of operation for the Paul H. Douglas Center, environmental education programs realized an eleven percent increase, up from 31,000 to 34,500 visitors. General interpretive contacts went from 25,000 to 30,500, an impressive twenty-two percent increase.

Good news came in March 1987 when the level of Lake Michigan, which had attained century high marks throughout 1986, began a steady decline. The levels measured in December 1987 were nearly two feet below the mark established twelve months previously. The lowering level of Lake Michigan resulted in an overall wider expanse of beachfront, the reopening of the Central Avenue Beach, and a marked decrease in the rate of shoreline erosion.

On May 3, 1987, Superintendent Engquist attended a dedication ceremony to recognize U.S. Highway 12 as a link in the "Lake Michigan Circle Tour." New signs for the 1,100-mile route were also unveiled.

The lakeshore observed the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution by hosting the traveling play, "Four Little Pages." Simultaneous with this event was Indiana's hosting of the Pan American Games with some events held in Michigan City. The "Four Little Pages" troupe participated in the opening ceremonies and gave six performances to lakeshore audiences. The lakeshore and the Michigan City public library hosted the traveling Constitution exhibit during the two-week period of the Pan American Games. Lakeshore protection staff provided back-up support for local law enforcement agencies during the games.

Two new staff positions were filled during 1987. The park planner position was redescribed and Raymond Gunn became the first Management Assistant in July. The following month, Dori Partsch entered on duty as the first Park Historian, a move which reflected the lakeshore's growing cultural resources management program which revolved around the Bailly/Chellberg complex, the South Shore Railroad Cars, and the World's Fair Houses. One of the longest tours of duty ended during the year when Chief of Interpretation Larry Waldron, a ten-year Indiana Dunes veteran, transferred.

In the realm of park planning and development, the park made considerable progress. Preliminary design analysis and plans were prepared and approved for the East Unit Transit Center and the requisite Environmental Assessment (EA) was reviewed in-house in December. The draft East Unit Campground EA went on public review with the Service's preferred alternative calling for 100 conventional campsites, twenty-five walk-in sites, and forty to fifty recreational vehicle sites as well as a single entrance from U.S. Highway 12. A draft EIS for the I-94/East Unit Access Road went on public review in August and that input was incorporated into a final draft EIS for release in 1988. Yet another draft EIS for the Gary Marina, approved by the city, national lakeshore, and Midwest Regional Office, awaited final approval from the Washington Office.

Other park planning initiatives included the Coronado Lodge, Goodfellow Camp, South Shore Railroad Stops, Land Protection Plan, and World's Fair Houses Relocation Plan. For the Coronado Lodge, two meetings with Denver Service Center (DSC), consultants, and park staff involved an assessment of structural integrity and potential future uses. A consultant for the Goodfellow Camp was selected with similar preliminary planning underway. Initial design analysis and plans for the South Shore Railroad Stops were reviewed by the park and region and awaited DSC review. Park staff revised the Land Protection Plan to address lands added in 1986 and public review preceded the plan's approval in November 1987. A draft plan to relocate the World's Fair Houses to a central site near the proposed campground went on in-house review at mid-year.

Actual achievements in park development were significant as the lakeshore began a program of upgrading temporary facilities. Workers expanded the East State Park (or Kemil) Road parking lot to one hundred spaces as recommended in the General Management Plan and installed permanent restroom and lifeguard facilities. Plans for 1988 and 1989 call for the same measures to be implemented at Mount Baldy and Central Avenue. Portable toilets began to be replaced with new facilities parkwide at all visitor access areas. Picnic areas began to be rehabilitated and shelters installed. Where the former Red Lantern Inn in Beverly Shores once stood (a victim of erosion) planning for a new visitor facility began.

In Administration, the park's Datapoint computer system grew into a sizeable network encompassing each division. The system expanded from a 1986 level of two processors, seven terminals, and three printers centered in Administration to five processors, seventeen terminals, and six printers. Staff participants grew from fifteen to thirty-five users.

Superintendent Engquist hosted a parkwide staff meeting on June 18, 1987, to introduce newly-appointed Midwest Regional Director Don Castleberry to park employees. Castleberry, who served as Indiana Dunes' first Assistant Superintendent from 1974 to 1978, re-established an easy rapport with the staff as he discussed the role of Indiana Dunes in the future of the National Park System.

In Interpretation, the division completed its reorganization at mid-year with the establishment of two districts led by two GS-11 interpreters. The division initiated a new "Junior Ranger" program at the Douglas Center which attracted more than 100 youngsters between the ages of five and eighteen. The Junior Rangers helped clean up the Miller Woods environmental study area and, together with their parents, established a closer park-community bond.

The Friends of Indiana Dunes thrived with more than 700 individual and twenty-two corporate members. The Friends continued to provide invaluable interpretive support by staffing the Bailly Homestead where they greeted more than 3,500 weekend visitors from June through October, supported the Maple Sugar Time event, and funded scientific research projects.

The Maintenance Division progressed on the phased restoration of the Chellberg Farm house and completed the final segment of the West Beach Dune Succession Trail as well as an overlook at Long Lake. In addition, construction and paving of a 34,000 square foot "boneyard" for vehicle, heavy equipment, and lumber storage was also realized. Park and Regional staff implemented the Maintenance Management System (MMS) on October 1, 1987, by computerized inputting of data and utilizing specified work schedules. The Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) program assisted the division with twenty-five participants during a ten-week period.

In Resource Management and Visitor Protection, resource managers concentrated on fire management activities in light of an increased incidence of wildfires. Provisions of the Little Calumet River Management Plan were executed as log jams were removed to allow unrestricted canoeing on the river. More than 30,000 sprigs of marram grass were planted at a one-acre dune restoration area at Ogden Dunes under a Federal Lands Day Project. In the spring, more than 200 Portage Girl Scouts participated in a day-long "Take Pride in America" project at Inland Marsh by picking up litter. Resource managers worked closely with NIPSCO to ensure minimal impacts when workers mowed the utility corridor paralleling the South Shore Railroad tracks, a practice undertaken once every ten years. Monitoring activities included the initiation of a farm fields inventory to study succession and a threatened and endangered species program.

Visitor protection specialists implemented a team patrol concept whereby two groups led by Supervisory Park Rangers worked four ten-hour days. The arrangement provided better lakeshore patrol coverage and manpower utilization. The rangers monitored a new concession, a mobile canteen service operating at Mount Baldy and other public use areas. Perhaps the most favorable media coverage for the year came when the staff rescued a white pelican which became entangled in a fishing lure and line at Long Lake. Rangers rescued the injured bird, which was a rarity in the area, and had it treated by a local veterinarian. [13]

The Indiana Dunes Field Land Acquisition Office closed at the end of the year. The office, which functioned as a separate entity at the national lakeshore for almost twenty years—even before park administrative staff arrived—was commemorated by the park at a September 25 farewell party. The land acquisition office played a significant role in making Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore as well as other Midwest Region parks like Sleeping Bear Dunes a reality. Closure of the office reflected an emphasis at the national level which discouraged land acquisition. In the Midwest Region, all such offices were closed and the land acquisition function was centralized in Omaha. [14]

Expiration of the Advisory Commission

The final meeting of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Advisory Commission took place on September 27, 1985, three days before its Congressionally-mandated expiration date. The Advisory Commission enjoyed a nineteen-year existence. Born with the authorization of the national lakeshore in 1966, Commission membership expanded under the 1976 bill and its lifespan was extended thanks to the 1980 act. The Advisory Commission had unquestionably been a vital tool for park management during the lakeshore's early years. With the planning and development underway as a result of the 1980 General Management Plan, however, the Advisory Commission became less active.

Public comment kept the basic concept behind the Advisory Commission alive. In response, Superintendent Dale Engquist agreed to maintain a less formal means of communication between the National Park Service and Northwest Indiana by establishing a "Superintendent's Advisory Group" to convene in January 1986. The Advisory Group is designed to meet quarterly or as needed with an open meeting format and an agenda devised by Superintendent Engquist. The meetings take place in various locations, alternating within the three-county area each quarter. Unlike the Commission, meetings of the Advisory Group do not require advance notice published in the Federal Register.

Membership in the Superintendent's Advisory Group is limited to two-year terms and can come from nominations from the following groups: all former Advisory Commission members; one member each from Porter, LaPorte, and Lake County Boards of Commissioners; one member each nominated by the Mayor or Town Boards of Beverly Shores, Burns Harbor, Chesterton, Dune Acres, Gary, Lake Station, Michigan City, Ogden Dunes, Pines, Portage, and Porter; and one member each from the tourism organization of the three counties; Save the Dunes Council; Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission; Indiana Department of Natural Resources; Friends of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore; Indiana University Northwest; Miller Citizens' Corporation; National Audubon Society, Central Midwest Regional Office; Sierra Club, Hoosier Chapter; and Izaak Walton League. [15] The Advisory Group held three meetings during 1986, with the initial session occurring on April 25 at the Bailly Ranger Station. [16]

Progress of the Superintendent's Advisory Group in its first year was slight as the informal group was still learning its role. Advice to the superintendent had been more free-flowing from the Advisory Commission. Although Superintendent Engquist intends to maintain the Advisory Group as long as interest in it continues, it could eventually be abolished just as its counterpart was at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan. [17]

Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education

In late November 1984, solicitation for bids was held to construct the long-awaited Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education. To be built in the Miller Woods area close to Gary, the facility's planners envisioned a 7,000-square-foot structure including audio-visual and office space, assembly rooms, and a partial basement. External support structures included board-walks, a forty vehicle parking lot, 500 feet of roadway, and a vehicle storage building.

On February 28, 1985, the contract was awarded to the H. Winters Construction Company of Gary for $1,621,175.40. Construction began in April with an initial target completion date in late spring 1986. Bids for the second phase of construction—trails and site development—opened in late December 1985.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the Douglas Center came on May 29 off Lake Street in Gary. Following speeches by Midwest Regional Director Charles Odegaard, Mayor Richard Hatcher of Gary, and conservationists who worked alongside the late Senator Douglas, a luncheon took place at the Marquette Park Pavilion. [18]

The dedication of the Douglas Center came on September 14, 1986, with Park Service Director William Penn Mott, Jr., Congressman Peter Visclosky, Senator Danforth Quayle, and Gary Mayor Richard Hatoher attending. Many of Senator Douglas' friends, former associates, aides, and daughter, Dr. Jean Taft Douglas, also were present. Emily Douglas, widow of Senator Douglas, was unable to attend because of illness. Limited operation of the Douglas Center began immediately following the dedication, but the Interpretation Division devoted the remainder of the year to prepare for full operation in January 1987. Fortunately, the Service's 1987 Fiscal Year budget included a $150,000 add-on appropriation for operating the Douglas Center. [19]

These significant events mark a conclusion to the "renaming" controversy which was centered on Paul Douglas's role in the affairs of northwest Indiana. Thanks to the 1980 expansion bill, the lakeshore was dedicated to Douglas's memory and the West Unit was renamed the "Paul H. Douglas Ecological and Recreational Unit" with an official plaque placed there commemorating Douglas's contributions. In a more substantial manner the 1980 act also provided for the Douglas Center to educate thousands of school children in Indiana and Illinois about the environment. The students themselves joined park planners in designing the Center and a two-year public involvement program resulted in donations to fund exhibits. With Douglas's beloved dunelands thus preserved by the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, the Douglas Center will help schoolchildren—the future leaders of the nation—to understand and appreciate their unique surroundings for generations to come.

The 1986 Expansion Bill

On January 23, 1986, Congressman Peter J. Visclosky of Indiana introduced H.R. 4037 in the House of Representatives to expand the boundaries and raise the land acquisition ceiling of the national lakeshore. Utilizing its ten-year plan, the Save the Dunes Council worked diligently with Visclosky to put together a viable expansion bill. Visclosky's original 753 acres grew to 863 acres by August 11 when the House approved the measure. On August 26, Superintendent Dale Engquist and Assistant Superintendent Glen Alexander hosted a tour of the lakeshore by staff members of U.S. Senator Danforth Quayle of Indiana who were compiling a similar expansion bill which Senators Quayle and Lugar introduced in the Senate on September 11. With uncharacteristic speed, Senate hearings began eight days later and both houses concurred on the amended measure by mid-October. On October 29, President Reagan signed the bill which became known as Public Law 99-583.

More than 900 acres were added to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The land acquisition ceiling increased by $3.5 million and the development ceiling went from $11 million to $20 million. P.L. 99-583 mandated that the National Park Service prepare a feasibility study within two years on a Service-owned and operated parkway on U.S. Highway 12 and options of using the Little Calumet River to link western and eastern portions of the lakeshore. [20] The new land additions were scattered "bits and pieces" designed to round-out the lakeshore boundary and correct land use and management problems. One addition involved a ten-acre parcel directly across from the proposed entrance to the East Unit Transit Center where a potential visual intrusion could come in the form of a private campground. The bill included the entire NIPSCO/South Shore Railroad corridor, but prevented Park Service acquisition during the time of continued industrial use. Because the corridor also contained the Calumet Trail, the Service could now assist the State in maintaining the recreational pathway. In addition, segments of the Little Calumet and Salt Creek were incorporated in order to lessen management difficulties. [21] An addition to Hoosier Prairie was officially included and a buffer zone was attached to the Heron Rookery. [22]

High Lake Levels and Shoreline Erosion

When Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was authorized in 1966, Lake Michigan had already begun rising to new record levels. In the early 1960s, however, Lake Michigan had achieved record low levels with the beneficial result of wide, spacious beaches ideal for recreational purposes. From 1964 to 1974, however, the lake level rose an additional five and a half feet to score a new high level mark. The severe storm in 1974 forced National Park Service managers to approve the first solid coastal shore protection structure in the form of the 13,000-foot-long rock revetment along Beverly Shores' Lake Front Drive. The first soft shoreline protection structure came the same year with beach nourishment fill deposited in front of Mount Baldy. In both cases, Congress allocated funds to the National Park Service which, in turn, channeled the money to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to monitor the impact and effectiveness of the erosion-control measures.

In 1975, the Corps appointed the Great Lakes Coastal Research Laboratory (GLCRL) School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University as the monitoring agency. The university group began a series of studies on the lakeshore erosion problem. Throughout the next decade, however, the level of Lake Michigan continued to achieve record highs. In 1983, the Park Service recognized the need to develop a comprehensive plan for decision making on present and proposed coastal developments. The Service again provided funding to GLCRL to conduct a three-year study. The result was the June 1986 "Executive Summary: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Shoreline Situation Report." The Shoreline Situation Report is a significant document in that for the first time park managers have a database for long-term monitoring and development of a shoreline plan upon which to base future policy decisions.

Erosion became so severe by the mid-1980s that homes and Lake Front Drive itself was imperiled. Central Avenue Beach was closed to the public because the relentless waves had carried away most of the sand cover leaving behind a dangerously slick clay ledge. Thankfully, Lake Michigan began a steady decline in March 1987. By the end of the year, the lake level dropped two feet. While the whims of Mother Nature decreased the immediate pressure of the erosion problem, park management realized it was unlikely the problem would simply fade away. With good baseline data now available, however, the proposed coastal developments and/or the reoccurrence of high water levels will not be so baffling to confront and, hopefully, to solve. [23]