Urban Waters and the Northwest Indiana Area (Indiana)
Northwest Indiana is an urban area highly affected by industrial development. In the 20th century, Indiana's extraordinary natural shoreline of dunes, marshes and rivers was extensively modified for human use. Rivers were dredged and channelized, marshes were drained and filled and sand dunes were mined for glass production to make room for industry.
Today a remarkable number of natural features remain, but the waterways continue to show the effects of industrial, agricultural and urban use.
The Urban Waters Partnership brings new resources to the region and helps better connect ongoing efforts to each other. The partnership today is composed of over 30 organizations including not-for-profit community groups, local, state and federal governmental agencies. These organizations collaborate to improve water quality and recreational access to the Little Calumet-Galien subwatershed of Lake Michigan. They also support several neighboring watersheds that span across Indiana and Illinois. Watersheds of interest include:
- Trail Creek
- East Branch of the Little Calumet River
- Salt Creek
- Deep River-Portage Burns Waterway
- Calumet River-Frontal Lake Michigan
- Calumet Sag Channel-Little Calumet River Watershed
List of Partners
- U.S. Department of Transportation
- Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Housing and Urban Development
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
- U.S. Forest Service
- U.S. Geological Survey
- National Park Service
- Corporation for National and Community Service
- Department of Environmental Management
- Department of Natural Resources
- Department of Health
- City of Michigan City
- City of Gary
- City of East Chicago
- Town of Hobart
- Town of Chesterton
- City of Valparaiso
- Town of Merrillville
- LaPorte County Soil and Water
- Conservation District
- LaPorte County Health Department
- Porter County Health Department
- Lake County Health Department
- LaPorte County Parks and Recreation
- Porter county Tourism
- Porter County Parks and Recreation
- Lake County Parks and Recreation
- Alliance for the Great Lakes
- Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant
- Purdue University
- Northwest Indiana Paddling Association
- Wildlife Habitat Council
- Wilderness Inquiry
- Save the Dunes Conservation Fund
- Northwest Indiana Steelheaders Audubon Society
- Northern Indiana Public Service Company
- Northwestern Indiana Planning commission
- Unity Foundation
- Cardno JFNew
- Legacy Foundation
- Coffee Creek Watershed Conservancy
- Shirley Heinze Land Trust
- Izaak Walton League
- The Nature Conservancy
- Haas & Associates Engineers
- Northwest Indiana Forum
- Blue Green Alliance
- Openlands
- Wolf Lake Initiative
- Chicago Field Museum
- TalTree Arboretum
- Shedd Aquarium