NiSource Funds Restoration of Indiana Utility Corridor

Save the Dunes Conservation Fund has received a $50,000 grant to replace invasive brush and plants with prairie species on seven miles (424 acres) of power-line right-of-way in northwest Indiana. The land belongs to the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO).

According to Carol Cook of Save the Dunes Conservation Fund, "This is a very exciting model project involving a public utility company and a not-for-profit organization looking towards restoration of natural habitat along a public right-of-way." NIPSCO is assisting with restoration planning and work. In addition, NiSource, NIPSCO's parent company, is providing a $56,000 match to the grant by donating a nearby 11-acre prairie to Save the Dunes.

A plant inventory of the right-of-way has already identified 81 plant species, including Culver's root, colic root, lead plant, and white wild indigo. Cook, a botanist by training, says she is "thrilled as I look around at the plants that are already there and think about those that will appear there soon."

Restoration work currently underway includes removal and, as needed, herbicide application to eliminate invasive brush, purple loosestrife and common reed (Phragmites). Seeds from previously restored rights-of-way near Michigan City will be used to replenish areas left bare by removal of invasives. Save the Dunes Conservation Fund will also contract for prescribed burning under the grant.

NiSource Vice President Arthur Smith told the Northwest Indiana Times that the company's maintenance costs will be lower once prairie plants have replaced the brush.

The project will also exclude off-road vehicles from the right-of-way by erecting barriers and signs. These vehicles have caused extensive damage in both the utility corridor and the Liverpool Nature Preserve, according to Cook.

The utility corridor runs from Three Rivers County Park in Gary through Hobart to Indiana Route 30. The Liverpool Nature Preserve in Hobart adjoins the corridor, and Hobart Prairie Grove in the Indiana Dunes National Lake Shore lies nearby. The right-of-way helps to connect these existing natural areas and will be an important link in a web of natural areas now being pieced together by many partners in northern Indiana.

— Barbara Hill