When the National Park Service was created in 1916, Congress instructed the new agency to allow people to use the parks and to preserve and protect these areas so future generations will see them undamaged. The rangers have identified many threats to Indiana Dunes, which they want to stop before the damage gets worse. Some of the threats are so critical that they must be stopped or slowed now before the park is changed forever.

There are four categories of critical issues: alien species, habitat loss, unbalanced populations within the communities, and collecting.

ALIENS - Aliens are invading the park. Not the type of aliens that arrive in UFO’s but ones that come from other continents. Purple loosestrife and garlic mustard are plants from Europe. When they were brought to the United States and used as ornamental plants around houses, their seeds spread and now grow in the park. None of the North American insects or animals will eat these aliens, so they grow rapidly and crowd out our native plants. Zebra mussels are one example of an alien. They were brought from Russia and now are growing out of control in the Great Lakes and many of our rivers.

HABITAT DESTRUCTION AND LOSS - People love to come to the park, but they do not know the damage they may cause when they walk off trails. When people kill plants by stepping on them, the dunes can blow away. Houses, industries, and roads built around the park took the habitat needed for plants and animals. The destruction of forests, prairies, and wetlands in our country is just as critical as the destruction of the tropical rain forests at the equator. With all this habitat destruction the 16,000 acres preserved at Indiana Dunes is critical for plants and animals.

UNBALANCED POPULATIONS WITHIN THE COMMUNITIES -Some species such as raccoons, Ring-billed Gulls, deer, and Cowbirds adapted to the changes in the environment created by people. The populations of these animals also increased when wolves, mountain lions, bobcats, and other predators were removed. The abundant raccoons and gulls destroy bird nests, deer eat the plants growing under the trees and deprive birds of nesting sites, and cowbirds lay their eggs in other birds’ nests.

COLLECTING AND ILLEGAL HUNTING - Everything in the park is protected, but some people collect plants for foods, pick the flowers, take animals for pets, or illegally hunt. Each flower is needed to produce seeds. Each snake, turtle, or other animal is necessary to produce young and help keep the food web in balance.

The following activities will help you understand some of the critical issues that park rangers are trying to solve. Some do not have a solution but scientific studies are starting and they might help produce a solution.

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