February 15, 2019 | Northwest Indiana Times | By Dan Carden & Joseph S. Pete |

The 15,000-acre Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore that runs for 15 miles along Lake Michigan on Friday was re-designated by President Donald Trump as America’s 61st national park — and the first national park in Indiana.

House Joint Resolution 31, which provides $1.4 billion for Mexican border fencing demanded by Trump, also includes a provision long sought by Region leaders to recognize the national lakeshore as a national park.

“I am heartened that because of the support of our U.S. senators, the entire Indiana congressional delegation, and numerous Northwest Indiana organizations, we have successfully titled the first national park in our state,” said U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Gary, who led the Indiana Dunes National Park effort.

“This action provides our shoreline with the recognition it deserves, and I hope further builds momentum to improve open and public access to all of our Region’s environmental wonders.”

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When Pat Wisniewski, of Valparaiso, first embarked on a college education, she likely didn’t realize what a powerful career she’d chosen.

The Indiana University Northwest alumna was once a steelworker who wrote plays and stowed them under her bed until she decided to return to school in her 40s and pursue a bachelor’s degree in communication.

Back then, she had no idea that the title of “documentary filmmaker” would be one of those careers that has the power to change the world.

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The public is invited to a free showing Saturday in Wilmington of the environmental film “Shifting Sands: On the Path to Sustainability.”

The movie will be shown at 3 p.m. at The Mar Theatre, 121 S. Main St., with a discussion session afterward.

The documentary about the preservation of the Indiana Dunes portrays a region that has much in common with the Wilmington area, said Tom Desch, a member of the production team.

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The seventh annual One Earth Film Festival, the Midwest’s premier environmental film festival, officially begins with a “Green Carpet Gala” on Friday, March 2 and runs through March 11, 2018.

The festival coincides with CCSJ’s spring break and features dozens of free or affordable film screenings throughout Chicagoland.

But the festival began at Calumet College of St. Joseph with a pre-festival screening of the documentary “Shifting Sands: On The Path to Sustainability” (Shifting Sands). Nearly 80 people attended the screening and the panel discussion that followed.

Festival director Ana Garcia-Doyle says that, “We are a festival that uses film as a catalyst for conversation, for awareness raising, and ultimately for acting on behalf of our one and only planet.”

Encouraged by the increased number of volunteers and partners, this year’s festival theme is “This is the moment”. The festival features over 30 films including “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power”, “Wasted! The Story of Food Waste”, “Rise: Sacred Water, Standing Rock” ; “Jane”, and “Dolores”.

Shifting Sands provides the history of ecological science in Indiana, which predates the Great Depression.

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Lee Botts remembers walking through the woods at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore with an 11-year-old girl, who spotted Lake Michigan for the first time.

“She dropped to her knees and burst into tears – true story,” said Botts, who over the past several decades has had a hand in the creation of the national lakeshore as well as Dunes Learning Center, among almost countless other endeavors.

“I don’t know who she is,” Botts said, “but that story stuck with me.”

Botts’ own story is one of commitment to protecting the environment and, as she celebrates her 90th birthday Sunday, a lasting impact through those efforts on the lives of others.

Botts, an Oklahoma native, came to Chicago in the 1950s when her husband was attending the University of Chicago. Almost immediately, she began making trips to the dunes, taken in by the beauty of Lake Michigan and the likes of an ecosystem that simply didn’t exist in landlocked Oklahoma.

“It’s just a very special part of the world,” said Botts, who lived for a long time in Gary’s Miller section before recently moving to a retirement community in Oak Park, Ill., not far from her daughter.

Botts founded the Lake Michigan Federation, now known as the Alliance for the Great Lakes; put together the documentary “Shifting Sands: On the Path to Sustainability”; received honorary degrees from Indiana University Northwest and Calumet College; and serves or has served with numerous agencies and non-profits.

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Patricia Wisniewski held her camera as she stood among a group of big, burly guys and one woman holding guns at a firing range. The woman asked her, “Do you shoot?”

“My Canon,” Wisniewski replied.

A short time later, the group crowded into a room and Wisniewski stood before them and made her sales pitch. She asked for $80,000 and official sponsorship so she could make a documentary film. The group deliberated. She was nervous. Then a man stood up and said, “I think we should do this.” The group was the Diana chapter of the Izaak Walton League and those words of support launched “Everglades of the North,” a documentary about the Grand Kankakee Marsh. Momentum from that film rolled to “Shifting Sands: On the Path to Sustainability,” about the Indiana Dunes.

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