Northwest Indiana Paddling Association
NWIPA
News
Hi everyone,
Sorry about not getting back to everyone right away after the Burnham to Marquette Water Trail Expedition. I have been pretty busy since the event trying to capitalize on the enormous amount of momentum that we gained through pulling off this unprecedented two day event with a level of success that I think surprised a lot of people. Not only did we have a great time paddling from Chicago to Michigan City to dedicate the new Lake Michigan Water Trail, we somehow ended up on the cover of about every newspaper from here to Chicago. The press coverage was unbelievable. We even had a reporter from the Chicago Tribune join us for the entire weekend and report on the event. Check out our website at www.NWIPA.org to see some of the articles and our online photo scrapbook. If anyone has pictures that they would like to contribute, e-mail them to nwipa@nwipa.org
We also were able to forge a lot of new very good relationships through this event including with the Chicago Area Sea Kayakers Association, the Illinois Paddling Council, and the West Michigan Sea Kayakers Association. In addition, we established relationships with the NPS IDNL, IDNR, as well as with many of the municipalities from Michigan City to Chicago who would like to work with us to make their areas more paddler friendly.
I can't tell you how many people we need to thank including all of the sponsors, partners, and especially, the people who participated including a very large group of NWIPA members. From the paddling association, we especially have to thank Kris Krouse, Steve Barker, Eric Neagu, Nicole Kamins, Erik Sprenne, Kenneth Nesbitt, Tina Rongers, Rod Loosemore, Ders Anderson, Jay, Pat, and Gene Plath. We couldn't have done it without them. I have a list a mile long for everyone else who we need to thank, but I will spare you the list in this e-mail. We still have commemorative posters available, so please contact me if you would like one.
Now that the expedition is finished for this year, were do we go from here? Being that the expedition was a lot to put together, we put a few of the committees and organizational stuff on the back burner until after the event. On the Blueways Stewardship side though, we have been making a lot of progress including helping with the acquisition of the 30 acres parcel of property through Shirley Heinze Land Trust which a very large chunk of the initial property costs have been awarded by NiSource. Rod Loosemore from NWIPA and his crew cleared about 13 miles of Deep River from around Lake Station to the IDNL in Portage. There is one major obstacle though still before this water trail can be fully utilized. There is a large very dangerous low head dam at the Deep River Outdoor Education Center that needs to be addressed. We are pursuing options including removal or the establishment of a portage around it. More news on this soon. We also are starting to get some work days set up to start learning how to do log jam removals in a safe manner. We will be having a Blueways Stewardship Committee meeting soon. Please keep an eye out for this. On the Operations and Paddlers Committees, we are working on scheduling meetings soon. We have filed our articles of Incorporation. Now we need to start forming our board & putting into place a structure of operating for the organization.
Now for the fun stuff. When are we going to do some more paddling? We have a few upcoming events that we are are just on the horizon.
One of the things that we were able to do through the expedition was to be able to purchase two 8 boat trailers that can be used for trips. I personally am not positive that I will be able to go on Sunday being that the Shirley Heinze Summer Gala,where we are going to try to completely seal the deal on the 30 acre parcel as mentioned before, is on Saturday night. If paddlers are interested in using the trailers to go to Paddlefest & carpool over there, let me know I I can help facilitate setting something up.
We do not want to neglect our members who are canoeists, so we are planning a trip down to the Kankakee very soon. I will keep everyone posted on this. We are going to get our paddlers committee up and going shortly, so we should be able to plan a bunch more trips throughout the summer and fall. If you have suggested trips and are interested in helping to coordinate them, please let me know.
Finally, our next signature event is the 2nd Annual Michigan City Eco-Fit Challenge. http://www.toweronline.org/eco-fit/index.htmlt
It is scheduled for Sept. 20th & will feature both competitive and more recreational geared canoe and kayak races on Lake Michigan as well as Trail Creek. The event also features running, a Sea Kayak Biathlon, a beach volleyball tournament, and the Crazy Tri (run, paddle, & beach volleyball).
I apologize for the long e-mail, but wanted to catch everyone up and welcome all of the new NWIPA members who have joined us over the last few weeks.
Thanks again so much
Sincerely,
Dan Plath
Wed 6/24/09
Sorry about not getting back to everyone right away after the Burnham to Marquette Water Trail Expedition. I have been pretty busy since the event trying to capitalize on the enormous amount of momentum that we gained through pulling off this unprecedented two day event with a level of success that I think surprised a lot of people. Not only did we have a great time paddling from Chicago to Michigan City to dedicate the new Lake Michigan Water Trail, we somehow ended up on the cover of about every newspaper from here to Chicago. The press coverage was unbelievable. We even had a reporter from the Chicago Tribune join us for the entire weekend and report on the event. Check out our website at www.NWIPA.org to see some of the articles and our online photo scrapbook. If anyone has pictures that they would like to contribute, e-
We also were able to forge a lot of new very good relationships through this event including with the Chicago Area Sea Kayakers Association, the Illinois Paddling Council, and the West Michigan Sea Kayakers Association. In addition, we established relationships with the NPS IDNL, IDNR, as well as with many of the municipalities from Michigan City to Chicago who would like to work with us to make their areas more paddler friendly.
I can't tell you how many people we need to thank including all of the sponsors, partners, and especially, the people who participated including a very large group of NWIPA members. From the paddling association, we especially have to thank Kris Krouse, Steve Barker, Eric Neagu, Nicole Kamins, Erik Sprenne, Kenneth Nesbitt, Tina Rongers, Rod Loosemore, Ders Anderson, Jay, Pat, and Gene Plath. We couldn't have done it without them. I have a list a mile long for everyone else who we need to thank, but I will spare you the list in this e-
Now that the expedition is finished for this year, were do we go from here? Being that the expedition was a lot to put together, we put a few of the committees and organizational stuff on the back burner until after the event. On the Blueways Stewardship side though, we have been making a lot of progress including helping with the acquisition of the 30 acres parcel of property through Shirley Heinze Land Trust which a very large chunk of the initial property costs have been awarded by NiSource. Rod Loosemore from NWIPA and his crew cleared about 13 miles of Deep River from around Lake Station to the IDNL in Portage. There is one major obstacle though still before this water trail can be fully utilized. There is a large very dangerous low head dam at the Deep River Outdoor Education Center that needs to be addressed. We are pursuing options including removal or the establishment of a portage around it. More news on this soon. We also are starting to get some work days set up to start learning how to do log jam removals in a safe manner. We will be having a Blueways Stewardship Committee meeting soon. Please keep an eye out for this. On the Operations and Paddlers Committees, we are working on scheduling meetings soon. We have filed our articles of Incorporation. Now we need to start forming our board & putting into place a structure of operating for the organization.
Now for the fun stuff. When are we going to do some more paddling? We have a few upcoming events that we are are just on the horizon.
One of the things that we were able to do through the expedition was to be able to purchase two 8 boat trailers that can be used for trips. I personally am not positive that I will be able to go on Sunday being that the Shirley Heinze Summer Gala,where we are going to try to completely seal the deal on the 30 acre parcel as mentioned before, is on Saturday night. If paddlers are interested in using the trailers to go to Paddlefest & carpool over there, let me know I I can help facilitate setting something up.
We do not want to neglect our members who are canoeists, so we are planning a trip down to the Kankakee very soon. I will keep everyone posted on this. We are going to get our paddlers committee up and going shortly, so we should be able to plan a bunch more trips throughout the summer and fall. If you have suggested trips and are interested in helping to coordinate them, please let me know.
Finally, our next signature event is the 2nd Annual Michigan City Eco-
It is scheduled for Sept. 20th & will feature both competitive and more recreational geared canoe and kayak races on Lake Michigan as well as Trail Creek. The event also features running, a Sea Kayak Biathlon, a beach volleyball tournament, and the Crazy Tri (run, paddle, & beach volleyball).
I apologize for the long e-
Thanks again so much
Sincerely,
Dan Plath
Wed 6/24/09
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