Bioblitz Starts Today!

Year-long plans for a Bioblitz at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (IDNL) will be executed today -- rain or shine!

Sponsored by National Geographic, BioBlitz is a free, 24-hour event in which teams of worldwide and world-reknowned scientists, volunteers and community members join forces to find, identify, and learn about as many local plant and animal species as possible. These teams will start carefully combing through the IDNL at noon today to begin their count, including wetland and terrestial plants, birds, amphibians, insects and fish found in Long Lake and Lake Michigan. While pre-registration closed for working with a scientist a week ago, it's possible that openings may still be available on site. To see a list of slots available, visit http://www.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Field/PDF/bioblitz-general/team-status.pdf.

Even if you are not interested in participating in the species count, consider visiting West Beach anyways, which is considered the Base Camp for the event. Throughout the event there will be talks and live animal demonstrations, exhibitor booths and nature hikes. One highly recommended demonstation is the Bird of Prey live demonstration to be held Saturday at 10:00 a.m. To see a complete schedule for the Bioblitz visit http://www.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Field/PDF/bioblitz-general/schedule.pdf.

The event will wrap up with a Biodiversity Festival from 1:00-4:00 p.m. Saturday. Scientists will be bringing their findings back to West Beach, a stage will feature musicians and other presentations, such as Professor Oops, a fun presentation
showing the many invisible connections that make up life on our planet.

You may also notice a lot of activity at the South Shore parking lot and at Marina Shores. Thousands of schoolchildren are coming by train from Chicago to the Ogden Dunes station to participate in the event, and Marina Shores is being used as overflow parking for West Beach with free shuttles running to and from the park.

National Geographic conducting a BioBlitz in a different park each year throughout the decade leading up to the U.S. National Park Service Centennial in 2016. The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was selected because it is an urban park and is the 5th most biodiverse national park property in the entire nation.

Beach Testing Season Starts May 18

Residents will now be able to learn whether or not it's safe to swim on Saturdays when the 2009 Beach Water Quality Program starts on May 18.

Made possible with an annual grant from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), water samples will be drawn every Monday through Friday -- except Tuesdays -- through September 12, 2009. Results from those samples will be posted Tuesdays through Saturdays, except Wednesdays. Monies from the grant are used to hire a Grant Administrator, a Sampling Technician, and to contract with a laboratory for testing.

For the third year in a row, Polly Costanza has been hired as our official Sampling Technician. You may see her bravely wading into the lake at 7:00 a.m. to grab water samples at three locations along the beach. She then transports the samples to a pre-arranged location in Marquette Park in Gary.

From there our contracted Laboratory, United Water, picks up the samples for analysis. United Water then cultures the samples for 24 hours for E. coli bacteria. Results from the cultured samples are then e-mailed to Karen Berrier, Grant Administrator, who is responsible for determining if a beach is open for swimming, if an advisory should be posted, or if a closure is necessary.

Based on the results and the latest beach conditions (i.e., if there was a heavy rainfall in the past 24-78 hours), Karen then indicates on http:://www.ogdendunes.net/beachconditions.html whether or not the beach is open or if an Advisory or Closure are necessary.

Karen is also responsible for posting the appropriate signage along the accessways and near the Town Hall. IDEM is providing new signage soon that the Town tested for the State of Indiana last summer.

Yellow signs will indicate that an Advisory is posted. In this case, an increased risk of illness may be present based on recent monitoring for E. coli bacteria.

For your safety during an Advisory:

• Swim at your own risk.

• Do not ingest lake water.

• Shower after swimming.

• Wash hands before eating.

• Do not swim if you are ill.

Red Signs will tell the public that the beach is closed to swimming, and that a serious risk of illness may be present.

The ODEAB and Karen Berrier will also be working this summer with resident Dan Manas to finalize and release a video explaining why beach water quality needs to be monitored and how it is accomplished.

Register to Participate in a Bioblitz - Fun for Everyone!

Want to have fun, do good, and be part of something BIG? Public registration is now open for the 2009 Indiana Dunes BioBlitz, sponsored by National Geographic and taking place at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore May 15-16! Base Camp for the event will be at West Beach, and there are lots of opportunities to get involved and have fun.

Enroll yourself and up to five companions to join scientists on species inventory teams in the park. They're fielding teams at a number of locations. (See the map.) It’s fun for the whole family, and it’s free, so don’t miss your chance—sign up now!

Volunteers are also needed to help with BioBlitz logistics at Base Camp and other Indiana Dunes locations. If you can lend a hand for several hours or throughout the event, volunteer today!

BioBlitz is a 24-hour event in which teams of scientists, volunteers and community members join forces to find, identify, and learn about as many local plant and animal species as possible. National Geographic is helping conduct a BioBlitz in a different park each year throughout the decade leading up to the U.S. National Park Service Centennial in 2016. The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was selected because it is the 5th most biodiverse national park property in the entire nation. Lucky for us!

Hope to see many of you out there!

Recycling Rate Increases to 33 Percent!

Just a reminder on this Earth Day to reference the Guide to Recycling in Ogden Dunes when you have questions about what and what cannot be recycled. Ever since the Guide was published late last year, the Town's diversion rate has risen from 25 percent to 33 percent at the end of March!

A .pdf of the document may be found on the town website at http://www.ogdendunes.net/images/Guide_to_Recyling_in_Ogden_Dunes.pdf. A special feature is hypertext linking that allows you to jump to the question you want answered.

Would You like to Adopt our Beach?

The ODEAB is looking for a group of residents who would like to participate in the Alliance for the Great Lake’s "Adopt-a-Beach" Program three times per year. This is a great opportunity for friends and families to do something to help the beach, while learning about our most precious resource – Lake Michigan.

All around the Great Lakes, schools, families and community groups have adopted beaches. These groups periodically gather to remove litter, monitor beach health and conduct an at-home water quality test. They then work with the Alliance to log the information onto a website database, which the Alliance uses for pollution prevention advocacy and education.

Some of you may be familiar with this process. For the past several years, Ogden Dunes has been participating in the Annual International Coastal Clean up Day held each September. This program expands that effort in Ogden Dunes to two more times per year, taking place in early and mid-summer, then again in September.

Participants would need to dedicate approximately two hours each visit and would work in pairs to collect and tally litter; and fill out a Routine Visit Report that asks questions about conditions that day such as air temperature, wind direction, time of last rainfall, and other pertinent information.

If you are interesting in joining with this effort, please contact Susan MiHalo at spsmodin@verizon.net or any of the ODEAB members. Once we have a group of dedicated volunteers, we can arrange a training event.

Note: this would not be an effort to clean the entire beach and would not replace overall clean up efforts. It's more of an effort to monitor the state of our beach and track it's condition over time.


For more information on the Alliance for the Great Lakes “Adopt-a-Beach” program, visit http://www.greatlakes.org/Page.aspx?pid=525.

Partcipate in a Garlic Mustard Pull on April 26!

During the town's Clean Up Weekend, April 25-26, join the Ogden Dunes Environmental Advisory Board in a "Garlic Mustard Pull" along the Sand Tracks. Meet at the Tennis Courts on Diana Rd. at 4:00 p.m.

We'll show you how to spot and pull first-year sprouts of this alien biennial invader that crowds out native species and harms the soil. We'll also show you how to properly dispose of it (rather than just throwing on the ground, which really does not help!). The event will officially end at 5:30 p.m. -- that is unless you wish to keep at it!

As you can see from the photos above, first-year and second-year Garlic Mustard looks remarkably different. If you can manage to get most of the first-year sprouts out of the ground, the invasion won't be as bad the next year.

So wear some old clothes and come join us! Gloves and paper bags will be provided.

Ideas for Celebrating Earth Hour

On March 28, 2009 at 8:30 pm, tens of millions of people around the world will turn out their lights for one hour — Earth Hour — to demonstrate concern for our living planet and send a loud message to our leaders that they support action on climate change.

Several Ogden Dunes residents have asked for suggestions for things they can specifically do that night. Here are a few ideas for things to do in the dark…by yourself or with others:
1. Enjoy a romantic candlelit dinner with someone special using organic or sustainably grown food items.
2. Invite friends and family over for a "lights-out" party and serve green-themed snacks and drinks—green tea or apple martinis anyone?
3. Turn off the lights and power down the computer and cell phone. Use the quiet time to take a break from a "plugged-in" world by meditating or resting.
4. Take a bubble bath by candlelight.
5. Use the hour for practical tasks that you never seem to have time for. Test essential items in your emergency preparedness kit like flashlights, radios, and cell phones. Change out all your light bulbs to energy-efficient CFLs. Change the batteries in your smoke detectors. Think about how you would evacuate your house in an emergency in the dark.
6. Read a book set in an era without electricity. Marvel that the Romans conquered much of the world without a single cell phone and that Shakespeare wrote masterpieces without a laptop or the Internet.
7. Turn off the computer and write a letter by candlelight the old-fashioned way using pen and paper.
8. Invite friends over to play charades or Scrabble by candlelight.
9. View the night sky via telescope--the reduced "light pollution" may make some stars more visible.
10. Take photos of how you spent Earth Hour and upload them to the Earth Hour pages on Facebook, Myspace and YouTube. Keep it clean please!

Earth Hour is not about how much electricity we can save in one hour. The idea behind Earth Hour is that by working together, each one of us can make a difference on the issue of climate change. By doing something as simple as turning off the lights, we send a visual symbol to the world’s leaders that we are counting on them to work together to find solutions to climate change.