save-the-dunes-retro-1950s
save-the-dunes-retro-1950s

Michigan City, Indiana

Save The Dunes

Dorothy Buell’s legacy as a preservationist came about serendipitously. After a visit to New Mexico’s White Sands National Dunes, she saw a poster in a hotel lobby for a meeting of the Indiana Dunes Preservation Council and decided to join. The group struggled to organize, so Buell went DIY, gathering a group of women at her home in Ogden Dunes in June 1952 to form the Save the Dunes Council. Their mission: Protect the remaining untouched dunes along the southern tip of Lake Michigan in Northwest Indiana from disappearing beneath harbors, steel mills and unchecked development. As one of Indiana’s oldest environmental groups, Save the Dunes continues to address threats to the local environment – shoreline erosion, invasive species, water pollution, development pressures, and public beach access. They work to preserve the dunes by reducing the presence of invasive plants to protect and restore the natural landscape; advocating for public funding, protective policies, and sustainable solutions; and engaging and educating the community through presentations, online activities and in-person events.

Save the Dunes and other northwest Indiana advocates traveled to Washington, D.C., in March 2024 to meet with members of Congress to discuss bipartisan water policy priorities.(Top left: Save The Dunes founder Dorothy Buell, standing, and early Save the Dunes members. Top right: U.S. Senator Paul Douglas, seated left, and local representatives on a tour of the Indiana dunes during the fight to save them.) Photos courtesy of Save the Dunes

Contact
Harshini Ratnayaka, Advocacy Coordinator
Climate impacts
Erosion-Subsidence, Flooding (ocean, riverine, urban)
Strategies
Nature-based solutions and green infrastructure (example: wetland restoration), legal/permit challenges to development/contamination/pollution etc., land trusts/conservation, community organizing and education
Environmental Justice Concerns
PFAS/PFOS, groundwater contamination, fighting development/destruction of wildlife/extinction of species
501c3 Tax Deductible
Yes
Accepting Donation
Yes