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Designate Indiana Dunes as World Heritage Site

Phillip J. Budrick

I am advocating that the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and State Park be named a World Heritage Site because they are one of nature's masterpieces. The UNESCO World Heritage Committee chooses sites. A site must meet one of 10 cultural or natural criteria to be considered. The Indiana Dunes meet at least four criteria.

If selected the Indiana Dunes would be the first in Indiana and would join nearly 900 areas of natural wonder and historical significance around the world including the Galápagos Islands, the Great Barrier Reef, the Serengeti, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and the Everglades.

The Indiana Dunes meet the criterion concerning geology and Earth's history. To quote poet Carl Sandburg, "The dunes are to the Midwest what the Grand Canyon is to Arizona. They constitute a signature of time and eternity." The Indiana Dunes are a microcosm of millions of years of Great Lakes natural history. In exploring the dunes, one can get a sense of how Ice Age glaciers sculpted lake beds from river valleys and created pebbles from rocks. As the strata in the Grand Canyon depict different time periods carved by the Colorado River, the Indiana Dunes have strata in the form of moraines, ridges, dunes and swales that represent earlier lakeshores of Lake Michigan's ancestor, Lake Chicago.

The Indiana Dunes meet the criterion concerning biological and ecological processes. The field of ecology in North America was born in the Indiana Dunes. Dr. Henry Chandler Cowles, a University of Chicago botanist, developed the principles of plant succession in the dunes. An example of plant succession is "bare sand to forest." Marram grass grows on sand away from Lake Michigan's waves. This pioneer plant deposits humus over time, which allows newer plants to out compete the pioneers. This continues generation after generation.

The dunes are internationally renowned in the scientific community for their biodiversity. Dr. Cowles discovered the plants and animals in the Indiana Dunes exist in unusual combinations. Thus the dunes qualify as having "outstanding biodiversity and possess threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation." At 15,000 acres, the Indiana Dunes ranks seventh in the U.S. national park system for native plant richness. This places the dunes in the same company as the Great Smoky Mountains (also a UNESCO site) and the Everglades, both of which are substantially larger. The "funneling effect" of Lake Michigan makes the Indiana Dunes one of the most important flyways, feeding and resting areas for migratory birds in North America. More than 350 bird species have been sighted.

Many endangered or threatened plants are relics that have remained long after the glaciers retreated. They separated from populations now normally found in other regions of the continent. Examples include arctic bearberry from northern boreal forests and prickly-pear cactus similar to cacti from the desert southwest. The recently discovered algal species, Chara brittonii, with four locations in the Indiana Dunes, exists in only eight locations worldwide. Other endangered species include the carnivorous pitcher plant, Indiana bat, Blanding's turtle, Karner blue butterfly, Pitcher's thistle and wild lupine.

The Indiana Dunes cultural criterion is a site "directly or tangibly associated with events ... with ideas ... of outstanding universal significance." The Indiana Dunes played a pivotal role in the invention of the airplane. In the late 1890s, the French-American engineer and inventor Octave Chanute built and launched his gliders from Miller Beach in present day Gary. The Wright brothers' early airplane designs were based largely upon the Chanute glider.

World recognition of the Indiana Dunes can have several benefits. We would have a greater sense of pride and can become better stewards of our natural resources. Surrounding communities, including Michigan City, would directly benefit from increased tourism. More tourists mean more dollars spent in local businesses meaning more local tax revenues. The Indiana Dunes could receive grants from the World Heritage Fund for restoration, environmental education, and research.

The Indiana Dunes tell a unique, ongoing story of the biological and geological evolution on our planet. Their collage of hues is like that of humanity and is a reflection of all of us. The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and State Park are nestled among steel mills and a coal-fired power plant, yet they contain highly diverse assemblages of plant and animal species. The Indiana Dunes are one of the world's unsung wonders.

For more information as to World Heritage Site selection visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Site.

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Phillip J. Budrick of the Town of Pines formerly was an intern for Save the Dunes Conservation Fund and Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. He is employed at Michigan City Public Library