Ecological Restoration of Urban-Industrial Lands 

This project is funded in part by the U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO)

This regional effort complements and expands existing, voluntary efforts by Northwest Indiana industry and municipalities to restore and expand native habitats that have been secluded from development or have been degraded from industrial activities. WHC proposes the use of new, creative and often overlooked options involving wildlife habitat enhancement, education and public participation that can be applied equally to federal, state and local programs designed to assist land restoration. These opportunities for ecological restoration include also site cleanup and land restoration for reuse, including RCRA, Brownfield redevelopment and the removal and cleanup of properties affected by leaking underground storage tanks. 

The northwest Indiana landscape reflects a region of contrasts, dilemmas and hopes. The land is rich in biodiversity and rare ecosystems, fragmented between urban and industrial areas. The Wildlife Habitat Council staff and members are poised to integrate the outstanding wildlife habitat of the area with the landscapes of oil refineries, power plants, steel manufacturing and new emerging industries. The biodiversity challenge, as described by the Chicago Wilderness Biodiversity Recovery Plan (1999), is to balance economic development with environmental conservation. WHC is taking on that challenge by working with industry, government and community in restoring and creating quality wildlife habitat in northwest Indiana.

A large number of these urban-industrial lands, located within the Lake Michigan basin, are linked to ongoing programs that rehabilitate industrial properties under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1984 with the region’s ecosystem needs, as well as current efforts by the Citizens Advancing the Remediation of the Environment (C.A.R.E.) committee and the Grand Calumet River Restoration Fund Council. There is also great potential in linking public/private efforts in habitat restoration with Save the Dunes’ emerging habitat restoration partnership, the Gary Greenlinks and Groundwork initiatives in the City of Gary, Marquette Plan and others. 

WHC is already working with the U.S. EPA Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response and WHC corporate members, including BP, ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Ford Motor Company and United States Steel Corporation’s Gary Works in connecting their work on ecological enhancements with “outside the fence” projects.

This will be the first project of its kind for the Indiana Harbor, which is part of the The Grand Calumet River Area of Concern (AOC). The Grand Calumet River, originating in the east end of Gary, Indiana, flows through the heavily industrialized cities of Gary, East Chicago and Hammond. The majority of the river’s flow drains into Lake Michigan via the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal. The AOC begins south of downtown Chicago and includes the east branch of the river, a small segment of the west branch and the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal. Today, 90% of the river’s flow originates as municipal and industrial effluent, cooling and process water and stormwater overflows. 

Goals with EPA GLNPO

The overall goal of this project is to engage industries on the northwest Indiana’s portion of the Lake Michigan Basin in restoring or creating new valuable wildlife habitat within their facilities and properties plus to: 

• Expand and integrate wildlife habitat restoration efforts in natural areas with industrial and corporate landscapes.    
• Develop model private-public local partnerships for ecological restoration of unmanaged, degraded, and contaminated sites in northwest Indiana and southeast Chicago.    
• Promote and disseminate these models to other similar industrial-natural communities on the Lake Michigan Basin.