Funding from Indiana’s Bicentennial Nature Trust and other sources is making it possible to expand three parks in Lake County and establish another.
Deep River County Park in Merrillville added 124 acres to its current holding of more than 1,200 acres. The land features 81 acres of wetlands and woodlands, 40 acres of agricultural land that will be reforested, and a three-acre pond for fishing and birdwatching.
Gary’s Marquette Park acquired a half-acre of natural sand dunes to complement the views of Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline.
An addition of 102 acres at Oak Ridge Prairie County Park will transform property adjacent to a former CSX right-of-way into a new bike trail and serve as a connector to the Erie Lackawanna and Oak Savannah trails.
In Crown Point, the city is developing a 31-acre parcel into Beaver Dam Ditch and Pond Nature Park, which will feature a 17-acre pond to create a natural habitat and provide flood control.
Lake County Parks CEO Bob Nickovich said the county’s two projects have been in the works for a while.
“They’re both fairly significant,” Nickovich said. “They’ve been in our master plan for a number of years, and it was part of vision plan to bring them both into the fold. We have 1,300 acres at Deep River now, and one of things that was very appealing to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was extensive bird inventory. It will be an excellent habitat addition.
“The CSX property has been a long time coming. We’ve been trying to acquire it for almost 20 years. It’s an excellent boon to park itself and the system.”
The Deep River property was acquired with the assistance of Enbridge Energy, which had to mitigate for environmental impacts around Northwest Indiana as it replaced 60 miles of pipeline. The cost of the land was around $626,500, which was possible due to $308,000 from Enbridge and matching funds from the state’s Bicentennial Nature Trust, which seeks to expand trails, wetlands and recreational sites as part of a statewide conservation initiative. Forty acres of agricultural land will be replanted with trees over the next decade.
With the Oak Ridge Prairie project, Nickovich said the department had to ensure that the property had no contaminants or hazardous waste areas, particularly since it was near the former American Chemical Service property — a Superfund site. The Oak Ridge Prairie site cost around $417,000, with assistance from a Great Lakes Coastal Grant, a state Land and Water Conservation Grant and BNT matching funds.
An initial $20 million in state funding was dedicated for BNT projects, and the Lilly Endowment donated another $10 million to the effort. To date, the Bicentennial Commission has approved 128 projects in 56 counties. The completion of 68 of those projects has resultantly protected more than 6,900 acres statewide.
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Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, a member of the 2016 Indiana Bicentennial Commission, is excited to see Marquette Park’s natural beauty protected.
“Preserving and strengthening Marquette Park’s natural features will help re-establish the park as one of Northwest Indiana’s premier lakefront destinations,” Brown said in a statement “The Nature Trust project seeks to honor the 100-year-old tradition of conservation established with the creation of the Indiana State Park system during the state’s centennial. Just as Indiana’s existing state parks have become treasured over time, the land acquired in honor of the Bicentennial will provide a similar legacy for future generations of Hoosiers to enjoy.”