Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is now Indiana Dunes National Park/NPS
The spending bill President Trump signed on Friday included a provision that changed the name of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore to Indiana Dunes National Park. This change takes place immediately.
The bill also changes the name of the Miller Woods Trail to the Paul H. Douglas Trail in honor of the late Illinois senator who helped lead the fight along with Save the Dunes and other citizen groups to create the national lakeshore in 1966.
"One-hundred-and-three years in the making, what a terrific tribute to the neighbors, partners, visitors and National PARK staff," said Indiana Dunes Superintendent Paul Labovitz. "We are so appreciative to the entire Indiana delegation for their recognition and support of this national treasure."
The park staff looks forward to celebrating this name change in the near future and to working with local communities and partners on spreading the word about the nation’s 61st national park.
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Chicago businessman and the first Director of the National Park Service, Stephen Mather, proposed protection of the Indiana dunes as Sand Dunes National Park in 1916. It was the first park he proposed after he became Director. If Congress had acted on that proposal Indiana Dunes would have been the 10th national park in the country.
To me Mather will always be a native San Franciscan and graduate of UC Berkeley. UC Berkeley grads were prominent in the early days of the National Park Service, including Mather, Secretary of the Interior Franklin Lane, and Horace Albright.
It is a beautiful and ecologically significant place. But it is too small. The park should be expanded to include 2.200-acre Indiana Dunes State Park and some key adjacent tracts of land should be acquired from willing sellers.
It is just me, or do the last two National Parks (Indiana Dunes and Gateway Arch) feel like political payoffs rather than meaningful and necessary upgrades?
The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore had just celebrated it's 50th anniversary in 2016, it's been around for a while. The designation as a National Park recognizes its import with respect to it housing the greatest biodiversity in the continental US east of the Rockies. It is not just beaches. Over 3 million people visit the Park every year and the designation was buried in must pass legislation, as is tradition.
The 1966 law that created Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore specified that "The Indiana Dunes State Park may be acquired only by donation of the State of Indiana, and the Secretary is hereby directed to negotiate with the State for the acquisition of said park." So, the law does direct the National Park Serivce to seek the acquisition of the state park. However, the state of Indiana has never been agreeable to this. As for land acquisition, there are two obstacles: 1) the park has no money for land acquisition, 2) there are very few willing sellers who own land within the park's authorized boundaries.
Exactly how does changing a park name consist of a "political payoff?" The park gets no more money or staff because of the name change and the employees do not get raises. Literally, the only thing that changes is the name. Changing the name of a place from "national seashore" to "national park" is not an "upgrade." It is nothing other than a name change. Laws governing the management of the park are unchanged.
The name change also reflects the diversity of the park. It is in the top ten most biologically diverse parks in the National Park System and contains dozens of historic buildings, ancient and modern dunes, archeological sites dating back more than 10,000 years, trails, campground, an education center, a USGS field station, and more.