Indiana Dunes National Park
Indiana Dunes National Park is a national park in Indiana, United States. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is known for its beautiful beaches.
More than 3.5 million people visit a sandy, hilly area called Indiana Dunes each year. It sits along the shores of Lake Michigan, about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Chicago. Visitors to the area swim and sail on the lake. They watch birds in the wetlands. They study plant life in the forests of oak and maple trees. Now, the 6,000-hectare site is the newest national park, and also 61st national park in the United States. It became Indiana Dunes National Park on February 15, 2019.[1]
A name change
The park used to be known as Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, managed by National Park service. The related act in February, 2019 did not influence finance and the area of the park at all. It changed the name from Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore into Indiana Dunes National Park. It does, however, give the area the same recognition as more well-known national parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite.[2][3]
Ecology
The park is one of the most ecologically mixed places in North America. Indiana Dunes has about 1,500 different kinds of plants.
The Dunes are also along a major migration path, and birdwatching is a big reason visitors come to Indiana Dunes each year. The area is home to more than 300 species of birds. The birds include waterbirds such as loons and herons, as well as birds of prey like bald eagles and hawks. Several species of songbirds also live there.
Maple sugar
In winter season, people living near by or visitors enjoy collecting sap from maple trees in the park in order to make maple syrup.[4] Sap is a liquid containing sugar inside the trees. People can get sap by making a small hole in a tree. Maple tree sap was historically collected by local American Indians, pioneers and early residents of a farm.[5]
A Maple Sugar Time festival is held in March every year. visitors can learn how American Indians first boiled maple sap into sugar, and how early settlers used large iron kettles to make syrup. Pure maple syrup and sugar, and related products like maple-flavored popcorn and maple water, are for sale.[4]
Indiana Dunes National Park Media
West side of the national park
East side of the national park
Steven Mather visits the Indiana Dunes.
Glacial Lake Chicago, 14,000 years before present. In this map, the present dunes park area is covered by the lake at left. Formation of the dunes is in part due to action of the advancing and receding melt water.
Calumet Prairie 
Erythronium americanum (trout lily) in bloom. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
Typical wildflowers near Mount Baldy. Plants such as these help hold the dune together.
Bailly Cem Bailly plaque 2004 39
The Florida Tropical House, back elevation taken from the beach
Lustron House on Drake Avenue
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References
- Indiana Dunes Is America’s Newest National Park - a program on VOA Special English
Notes
- ↑ Porter, Mailing Address: 1100 North Mineral Springs Road; Us, IN 46304 Phone:395-1882 Indiana Dunes Visitor Center phone number Contact. "National Lakeshore Renamed Indiana Dunes National Park - Indiana Dunes National Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
- ↑ Thiele, Rebecca. "Park Service: Indiana Dunes Shouldn't Be A National Park". www.wbaa.org. Archived from the original on 2020-08-07. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
- ↑ "STATEMENT OF P. DANIEL SMITH, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, EXERCISING THE AUTHORITY OF THE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BEFORE THE SENATE ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL PARKS, CONCERNING S. 599 AND H.R. 1488, BILLS TO RETITLE, OR REDESIGNATE, THE INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE AS THE INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL PARK, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES".
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Porter, Mailing Address: 1100 North Mineral Springs Road; Us, IN 46304 Phone:395-1882 Indiana Dunes Visitor Center phone number Contact. "Maple Sugar Time Festival 2019 - Indiana Dunes National Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
- ↑ "Photo Gallery (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2020-08-18.