Our mission is to protect and maintain our
lakes and surrounding environs through education, conservation,
pollution monitoring, research, and invasive species control. We are
committed to waste reduction, recycling and the use of best land-use
practices to ensure that our lakes remain quality habitats for fish,
wildlife, and human recreational use.
Meeting Minutes
March, 16, 2009
The meeting began at 6:45 PM. Nancy moved to approve the minutes
from the previous meeting, and Jim seconded the motion. The
Treasurer's report was read, and the group received a $650 deposit from
the Phil Doolittle education grant. There is a total of $6728.65
in the account and approximately half of that has been earmarked for
the Treasured Chain of Lakes book.
The next topic discussed was the upcoming regatta for the dedication of
the island in Long Lake recently acquired by the Woodland Savannah Land
Conservancy. The regatta is planned tentatively for Sunday, July
19th and will start around noon. It will most likely substitute
for the regular summer event.
Earth Day was discussed next and Bonnie Swarner announced that she paid
the fee to reserve a booth at the Sunset Earth Farm Earth Day
celebration on April 19th. Volunteers signed up to help run the
booth.
At 7 PM, Spencer Hadley, Luke Morgan, and Tyler Fabree of the
Chesterton High School Debate team participated in a debate on
alternative energy. The debate was approximately an hour long and
focused on fossil fuels and ethanol, as well as less traditional fuels
such as algae and solar nano-technology. After the debate
there was a question and answer session with the rest of the group.
After the debate, the group discussed the environmental minute.
Bonnie Swarner's environmental minute about wildlife encounters was
played and a sheet was passed around for people to write down ideas for
more topics. VU's environmental group Earthtones is also
going to help with the project.
The Flint Lake sedimentation was discussed. An enormous amount of
flooding has washed even more sediment in to the lagoons around Flint
Lake. Tom showed the aerial photos he took of the changes in
Flint Lake's color due to sediment.
The meeting was adjourned and the group reconvened at Greek's Pizzeria
with the members of the CHS debate team
Agenda for
May 18, 2009 Meeting:
Environmental Minute
Flint Lake
Sedimentation
Living with Lakes
Seminar & Geiselman Island Dedication Regatta – July 19, Noon
Report of septic
system leaching into Flint Lake
ChestertonTribune
Article – contributed by Ron Trigg
A
six-acre island on Long Lake in Liberty Township and six additional
surrounding acres of wetlands will be protected as a nature preserve
through the Woodland Savanna Land Conservancy.
The
land was donated to the non-profit conservancy by Dr. Tom and Marilyn
Geiselman of Asheville, North Carolina. The property was originally
settled by Dr. Geiselman’s grandparents in the 1890s.
The island, which is
accessible only by boat, features a hardwood forest with numerous old
red oaks and other mature trees, the conservancy said. The woods and surrounding
marshes provide excellent habitat for a great variety of wildlife,
including aquatic mammals, waterfowl, and other birdlife.
“We are delighted to accept
this property,” said conservancy president Don Evans. “The island and its
environs have great natural and geological significance. They lie in the center of
the Valparaiso moraine, a geological feature that separates the Lake
Michigan watershed from the Kankakee River basin, and the area is a
wetland ecosystem that harbors many native species of plants and
animals. We are proud
to have the opportunity to protect this property and the important
natural values it represents.”
The conservancy said the
island holds great sentimental value for Tom Geiselman, who spent his
boyhood years living in a two-story log structure built there by his
grandparents, Danish immigrant Chris Miller and his Swedish immigrant
wife, Ida Marie Sonneson. Some ruins of the original structure still
exist on the island.
The Valparaiso Lakes and
their watershed were formed during the most recent glacial retreat of
the Pleistocene era. They
provide a watery environment that has been attracting hunting and
fishing enthusiasts for well over a century. Geiselman’s grandparents,
who also owned nearby Long Lake Island, established Long Lake Island
Hotel there in the 1930s to capitalize on the tourist trade. The resort, which had a
pavilion extending out over the water, received crowds of patrons who
arrived by rail and road from Chicago and elsewhere.
During
Prohibition days, the popular hotel housed a speakeasy that served
bootleg liquor. Geiselman’s
family sold the old hotel years ago, and the building has subsequently
been converted into a private home.
Tom Geiselman is pleased
that the island will remain as he remembers it. “I am deeply gratified
that this special place will be preserved in perpetuity, and my wife
and I are very thankful that the vision of the Woodland Savanna Land
Conservancy has made this possible.”
The
Woodland Savanna Land Conservancy, a non-profit organization founded in
2003, is dedicated to the long-term preservation of open land in and
around Porter County.
For more information,
contact the Woodland Savanna Land Conservancy at P.O. Box 1042,
Valparaiso, IN 46384, or see its website at www.woodlandsavanna.org
Posted 2/11/2009