State-Federal Commitment Will Solve Erosion Crisis at Indiana Dunes

This blog was originally written for Save the Dunes, a non-profit founded in 1952 to protect the remaining untouched dunes of Northwest Indiana.

Known as the “Crossroads of America,” Northwest Indiana has long been a region where things come together: arctic bearberries grow near prickly pear cacti, Great Lakes freighters meet trains and trucks from across the country, and people from all over the world have found industrial jobs, forming the foundations for the tight-knit communities we know today. Fittingly, park advocates and proponents of industry came together to establish Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore — now Indiana Dunes National Park — in 1966 after decades of disagreement.

In a compromise, Congress established Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore along much of Indiana’s Lake Michigan shoreline, while authorizing the Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor to be constructed in the park’s midst.

Today, there is another opportunity for things to coalesce here. Lake Michigan’s popular lakefront beaches at Indiana Dunes have long been threatened by erosion, and climate change is increasing that threat with the lake’s levels expected to continue rising over the next three decades.

Of particular concern is Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk, where portions of accessible trails and an overlook already have fallen into the lake or have had to be removed because of the changing shoreline. Furthermore, rising temperatures have reduced the winter ice that covers Lake Michigan and serves as a barrier between the beaches and strong winter waves. Without it, Lake Michigan’s beaches will be eroded even further.

We now have a chance to stop the beaches from disappearing, and the National Parks Conservation Association is helping lead that charge.

A case of the shifting sands

Indiana Dunes’ eroding coastline stems from Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor’s proximity. Completed in 1968, the harbor supports ocean ships, lake vessels and river barges along a mile-long berth, carrying steel, agriculture and other products.

Unfortunately, the port’s construction disrupted a natural phenomenon at the national lakeshore. Shortly after the port was complete, people began noticing that some of the park’s beaches were disappearing, threatening the lakeshore’s namesake dunes. This is because Indiana Dunes’ beaches are not static, but ever-changing environments in which winds and waves shift sands from one beach to another over time through a process called littoral drift. Left undisturbed, littoral drift creates a dynamic, yet balanced shoreline in which sands are depleted and replaced in roughly equal proportions.

However, if something prevents sand from following its natural path, the process is thrown out of balance. When the port at Burns Harbor was completed, the structures and breakwaters interrupted the littoral drift process, causing sands to build up on the east side of the port while triggering sands to be washed away on the west side of the port at Portage Lakefront, without any new sand being introduced.

As early as December 1970, the federal House Committee on Public Works requested that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study erosion along the Lake Michigan shoreline between Michigan City and Gary, Indiana. In 1974, the study area was extended west to Hammond. Called a reconnaissance study, such an effort allows the Army Corps to determine the extent of a problem, explore preliminary solutions, and determine if the benefits of implementing one or more solutions outweigh the costs.

Though members of Congress were swift to authorize this reconnaissance study, they were not so quick to pay for it — and for more than 30 years, nobody initiated it. To address the problem in the meantime, however, the Army Corps applied a band-aid approach, periodically moving sand from the east side of the port to the west side in order to maintain the water depth that ships require to navigate the harbor.

Finally, in 2008, the Army Corps received federal funding to complete the reconnaissance study and finished it in 2010. It determined that the benefits of implementing a long-term solution to shoreline erosion outweighed the costs and recommended taking the next step: completing a feasibility study. Feasibility studies require more detailed planning and engineering than reconnaissance studies, and as a result, they are more costly and often take more time.

Similar to reconnaissance studies, feasibility studies are not initiated until there is funding. Yet, they differ in that the costs are split between the federal government and a non-federal partner, such as a state department of natural resources, a Tribe or a non-profit organization. Finding such a partner can be challenging. As a result, the Burns Harbor feasibility study was not initiated in 2010 — and it still has not been initiated today.

Ready for Congress’ next step

Over the last decade, however, NPCA and our partners have worked to change this. Save the Dunes has been an important ally in this effort, fighting for the national park today just as they fought for it to be established decades ago.

Together with our partners in tourism and conservation-minded economic development, we have advocated for the state of Indiana to step up as the study’s non-federal partner so that the Army Corps may pursue federal funding to initiate the study. Because of our efforts and those of our partners, the state of Indiana pledged $1 million to the feasibility study in 2023. Now, it is up to Congress to appropriate federal funding for this feasibility study so that the Army Corps can initiate it. NPCA and our partners are working with members of northwest Indiana’s congressional delegation to ensure this funding is appropriated as soon as possible.

In the meantime, NPCA will continue to pursue legislative and policy measures to reduce the cost and overall duration of the study including a Senate bill that would expedite the project. When we are successful in doing so, we’ll direct our advocacy towards the next stage: implementing a sustainable, long-term solution to erosion that prioritizes park resources and ensures that Indiana Dunes’ beaches remain intact for future generations to come together and enjoy.