URBANWATERS
A Partnership for Restoring Urban Waterways and Revitalizing Communities
Save the Date! Next NWI Urban Waters Meeting
October 27,2017,9:30-12 CST
Location to be determined
The tentative agenda features presentations from the Student
Conservation Association Tree Team on their summer planting
accomplishments and Save the Dunes on work to open the
East Branch of the Little Calumet River to paddling.
After the meeting, help us plant some trees and watch the SCA team in action!
Can't wait that long to plant trees? Join the SCA Tree Team for a Community
Tree Planting September 30, 9 am - noon at Turner Park & People's Park in
Hammond.
Work Underway to Reopen East Branch of Little Calumet
River
For years several partners, including
the Northwest Indiana Paddling
Association, Save the Dunes,
National Park Service (NPS), and
Shirley Heinze Land Trust, have been
working to increase public access to
the East Branch of the Little Calumet
River for passive recreation. The East
Branch begins in incorporated
La Porte County and flows west
through Porter County and the Indiana
Dunes National Lakeshore before
discharging to Lake Michigan via Burns Waterway. Much work has been
completed upstream of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore to allow safe passage
for paddlers by carefully removing some logs, while also minimizing harm to in-
stream habitat. With the recent approval of the Final East Branch Little Calumet
River Use Management Plan and Environmental Assessment paddlers will soon
be able to access the river into the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
An inaugural paddle on the East Branch of the Little Calumet River is scheduled
for October 7 as part of NPS's Outdoor Adventure Festival.
Above: Photo of East Branch of the Little Calumet
River courtesy ofGina Darnell.
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Canoemobile Coming to Northwest Indiana
Wilderness Inquiry's Canoemobile returns
to Northwest Indiana in September and
October! Many partners, including Dunes
Learning Center, LaPorte County Soil &
Water District, and National Park
Service will connect hundreds of local
youth to our urban waterways with this
incredible experience.
Canoemobile engages people in
introductory outdoor experiences, enhances learning opportunities, cultivates a
stewardship ethic, and creates pathways to pursue educational and career
opportunities in the outdoors.
Mark your calendars for these free Northwest Indiana community paddles:
- Friday, October 6th at Marquette Park, 6:00pm-8:00pm
- Saturday, October 7th at Wolf Lake, 10:00am-3:00pm
- Sunday, October 8th at Marquette Park, 11:00am-4:00pm
Inaugural Creekness Stakes Race to Support Trail Creek
Week
Show off your paddling skills while supporting Trail
Creek in the first Creekness Stakes, a premier
community team paddling event scheduled for
September 30 in Michigan City. It's a super fun,
competitive event for businesses, families, friends
and neighbors of LaPorte County. All race entry
fees ("the stakes") are donated to fund the annual
Trail Creek Week outdoor education program.
Partners in the Press
Check out this recent media coverage of Urban Waters partners:
• Michigan Citv awarded S650.000 to improve Trail Creek
• East Chicago starts lead pipe replacement at Superfund site
• Blind Northwest Indiana residents learn to kayak
• Gary. Indiana: A Midwestern steel town making a slow comeback
• NIPSCO's Luminary Awards honors four individuals for community work
Above: Photo of students canoeing courtesy
of Dunes Learning Center.
Above: Creekness Stakes logo.
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Funding Opportunities
Marine Debris Grants
Marine Debris Prevention Grants support
activities to prevent introduction of debris
into the marine and coastal
environment. LOIs due September 28.
Community-based Marine Debris
Removal grants support projects that will
create long-term, quantifiable ecological
habitat improvements for NOAA trust
resources through marine debris removal.
Full proposals due November 1
Award range: $50,000 - $150,000
Captain Planet Foundation Small Grants
Small grants fund environmental
stewardship and service learning projects
that engage children in critical thinking,
research, inquiry investigations, and real-
world environmental problem solving.
Grants provide educators with the funding
needed to purchase equipment and
supplies.
Up to $2,500
Proposals due September 30
FWS Coastal Program
The USFWS announced funding to provide
direct technical and financial assistance to
coastal communities and landowners to
restore and protect fish and wildlife
habitat.
Applications due September 30
Community Exposures to Contaminants
Grants for projects using community-
engaged research methods to investigate
health risks of environmental exposures
and implement a public health action plan.
Applications due October 5
NSF Environmental Sustainabilitv Grants
Grants to promote sustainable engineered
systems that support human well-being,
are compatible with sustaining natural
systems, and provide ecological services
vital for human survival. Research areas:
industrial ecology, green engineering,
ecological engineering, and earth systems
engineering.
Proposals due October 20
Nominations for Conservation Projects
Conservation Alliance grants are
awarded to non-profits in support of
projects designed to secure permanent,
quantifiable protection of a specific wild
land or waterway with clear habitat
and recreational benefits.
Up to $50,000
Nominations due November 1
EPA Brownfields Program Grants
Provides funds to empower states,
communities, tribes, and nonprofits to
prevent, inventory, assess, clean up, and
reuse brownfield sites. Multiple grant
programs are open for for Assessment.
Revolving Loan Fund. Cleanup.
Due November 16
Award range varies by program
Kresge Foundation Healthy Housing and
Neighborhoods Initiative
Grant to address: policies, systems
change, and communication to connect
health and housing; policies that promote
healthy housing and mitigate the impacts
of substandard housing and/or; innovative
investments that connect community
development, health, and housing.
Applications reviewed on an ongoing
basis
Upcoming Local Events
IDNR Urban Forestry Symposium
September 26, 2017
Urban Forest Basic Training Workshop
September 27, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
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Martinsville, IN
| Carpentersville, IL
Healthv Forests on the Edge Conference !
September 28-30, register by Sept. 30
The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL
! National Public Lands Dav
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
September 30, 9 am to noon
Trail Creek Creekness Stakes Race
September 30
Michigan City, IN
Community Tree Planting
September 30, 9 am - noon
I Turner Park & Peoole's Park in Hammond !
Outdoor Adventure Festival
October 6-8
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
i Canoemobile Community Paddles
October 6-8
Various locations in Lake County, IN
Shirlev Heinze Land Trust Fall Bus Tour
October 14, 8 am - 3:30 pm
Departs from Valparaiso
: Indiana Watershed Leadershio Academv
January-May 2018 (apply by Nov 3)
Meetings throughout IN
Grand Calumet Area of Concern Seminar j
October 26
Gary, IN - Location TBA
i State of Lake Michigan Conference
November 7-10
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Items of Interest
CamDus RainWorks Challenge
Student teams design an innovative green
infrastructure project for their campus that
effectively manages stormwater pollution
while benefitting the campus community
and the environment.
Register through Seotember 30
Arbor Dav Award Nominations
Each year, the Arbor Day Foundation
honors top individuals and organizations
involved in exemplary tree planting and
environmental practices.
Nominations due November 30
Promoting Green Streets Guide
River Network and partners developed this
guide to support city administrators,
planners, designers and environmental
advocates in determining the potential -
and developing strategies - for green
streets in their cities and watersheds.
Irrmroving Public Health through Public
Parks and Trails ReDort
The National Park Service and Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
collaborated on a report that identifies
eight measures that can be used to link
parks and trails to public health goals.
Integrating Smart Growth and Hazard
Mitigation into Community Planning
NOAA and EPA produced a report
exploring strategies that communities
across the nation are using to ensure that
new development benefits the entire
community and that limited public
resources are used as efficiently as
possible.
Student-led PR firm seeks client
Region Communication Solutions (RCS)
is a non-profit public relations firm run by
students from Purdue University
Northwest. RCS is seeking local
businesses and organizations to perform
an audit on its communication culture.
Read the NWI Times article
Upcoming Webinars
Anti-Litterina: Social Marketing for Behavior Change
September 26, 1 - 2pm
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Emerald Ash Borer University - Fall Webinar Series
• EAB for Homeowners: Managing EAB, Individuals to Neighborhoods, Sept. 28
• EAB Management and Pollinator Safety, October 5
• After EAB: Encouraging Regrowth of a Healthy Forest, October 12
Teach. Learn. Grow: The Value of Green Infrastructure in Schoolyards
October 11,
12:00 -1:30 pm Central
Leveraging CWA 319 and SDWA Programs for Surface and Ground Water Quality
Planning
November 7, 1 -2:30 pm
Online Course: Urban Forest Adaptation Planning and Practices
November 7, 2017 - January 30, 2018
The Northwest Indiana Urban Waters Partnership focuses on the Lake Michigan watershed in Lake, LaPorte
and Porter Counties, Indiana.
Urban Waters works to connect urban communities, particularly those that are overburdened or
economically distressed, with their waterways by improving coordination among federal agencies and state
and local partners. The goals are to improve the Nation's water systems and to promote their economic,
environmental and social benefits.
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