Indiana’s most-visited site, with 3.5 million visitors annually, is now a national park — and it’s right on the shores of Lake Michigan. The 15,000-acre Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was announced as a national park by Indiana Sen. Todd Young, Rep. Pete Visclosky and Rep. Jackie Walorski on February 15.
This action provides our shoreline with the recognition it deserves, and I hope further builds momentum to improve open and public access to all of our region’s environmental wonders,” says Rep. Visclosky.
The announcement comes after the three lawmakers pushed for the bi-partisan legislation for a few years.
Indiana Dunes is now the nation’s 61st national park and Indiana’s first. According to The National Parks Foundation, Indiana Dunes “preserves an important remnant of a once vast and unique environment, resulting from the retreat of the last great continental glacier some 14,000 years ago. The park landscape represents at least four major successive stages of historic Lake Michigan shorelines, making it one of the most extensive geologic records of one of the world’s largest, freshwater bodies.”
Indiana Dunes was named a national lakeshore in 1966, one of only four in the nation. With its new designation, there are only three national lakeshores remaining: Sleeping Bear Dunes, Pictured Rocks and Apostle Islands.
