Public officials have spent a decade debating whether the mosaic of natural and urban resources in the Calumet region should be designated a National Heritage Area.
On Monday night, area residents finally got the chance to offer their opinions on the unique proposal, which would officially tie the area’s natural treasures to its industrial past. About 50 people attended the public hearing at the United States Steel Workers Local 1033 hall in South Chicago.
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Carolyn Marsh of Whiting, a founding member of the Calumet Ecological Park Association, which is fighting to protect the wetlands and the natural habitat of the Calumet region, said, “I think it’s important that there is a possibility that the wetlands and the natural areas will be saved.”
The U.S. Park Service plans to hold three more public hearings on the matter this week, in Chicago, Hammond and Portage.
Those attending Monday’s meeting were commenting on the park service’s recommendation to designate a 50-square-mile area–bounded roughly by Interstate Highway 94 and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and by 95th Street and the Little Calumet River–as a National Ecological Park.
The region would be a patchwork of natural resources, industrial and business development and ethnic neighborhoods. The target area boasts numerous ponds, marshes, forests and wetlands.
Although heritage-designation does not offer the same protection and benefits that national park designation does, proponents say it could spur tourism and economic development in a region that once served as a bedrock of the American economy.