The USDA Forest Service ARRA project continues successfully out of the Chicago-Northwest Indiana office with a total of 170 acres of dune and swale, oak savannas, and wetlands restored at Heinze Land Trust properties and ExxonMobil Hammond Tank terminal. Projects include five miles of Little Calumet River log jam removal and shoreline restoration with the Towns of Porter and Chesterton, Indiana. A half- acre native landscape project was completed with BP Whiting refinery employees at the Franklin Academy Middle School in East Chicago, Indiana.
The crew is mobilizing to start construction of locust Timber Bridge and setting up fire breaks and fire plans for several properties in lake and Porter County for the upcoming prescribed fire season. The crew received fire training from the Chicago Wilderness for the effort. The partnership will be expanded to plan for a new grant proposal to agencies to repeat this green jobs program in ecological restoration in 2011.
