FRIENDS TURN 40

Forty years ago in the summer of 1982, a small group of volunteers at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore met with Ranger Warren Snyder to discuss how they could become more than volunteers and create an organization that would provide both financial and volunteer support to the National Lakeshore. The popular annual Folk Festival was in jeopardy of being discontinued due to lack of funding and these volunteers wanted desperately to help keep it going. These talks led to the creation of the Friends of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore with a mission to enhance and foster understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the Indiana Dunes through financial and volunteer support.

Four years later in 1986, Friends incorporated as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, changed their name to the Friends of Indiana Dunes, and added the Indiana Dunes State Park as another partner recipient of their financial support. In 1998, when the Dunes Learning Center opened as an overnight environmental camp for school children, the Friends extended financial support to this important childhood experience. The Friends now help under-served and economically challenged children to attend both the school year overnight camps and the summer camps as well as finance the American Camp Association accreditation costs. In February 2019, the Friends were happy to celebrate with you as the National Lakeshore was reclassified as the Indiana Dunes National Park. This same year, the Friends entered into an agreement with the National Park to rehabilitate an early 1930s clapboard house located north of Chellberg Farm into office space for their organization.

Initially, the Friends provided only financial ($1,500) and volunteer support for the annual Folk Festival which would evolve into the Duneland Harvest Festival in the mid-1980s. The Friends would add Maple Sugar Time at the National Lakeshore and the Northwest Indiana Storytellers Festival at the State Park to their rapidly growing list of events they sponsor. Today, the list also includes the following annual events at the National Park: Birding Festival, Midsummer, Outdoor Adventure Festival, and Holiday Traditions in the Dunes. At the State Park, the annual events they sponsor include First Day Celebration, Sand Sculpture Contest, Dunes Explorer Summer Day Camps, S’mores Day Fun, History Comes Alive Weekend, and “Howl”oween in the Dunes.

The Friends also provide financial support for many behind the scenes needs such as taxidermy, field guides, binoculars, snowshoes, beach cleanups, garden supplies, etc. - items and events that make trips to the Indiana Dunes more enjoyable for our visitors. The Friends also purchase the popular Bark Ranger Tags, many of the Chellberg Farm, Douglas Center and Nature Center animals, as well as the Nature Backpacks at the National Park. The Friends helped with the beautiful water feature outside of the birding view area (also sponsored by the Friends) and the native landscaping of the State Park’s Nature Center as well as the Indiana Master Naturalist classes.

Accessibility has become a need that the Friends have gladly supported by purchasing the all-terrain vehicles, the birding tower ramp, the Trail 2 and 8 boardwalks, and the beach mats at the State Park. Working with the Dunes Learning Center, the Friends have provided the Freedom Trax devices at the National Park.

This year our fabulous Friends will provide in total over $100,000 in financial support and over 4,000 hours in volunteer support to their three partners: Indiana Dunes National Park, Indiana Dunes State Park, and Dunes Learning Center.