TWF Tours Projects On Board The Dixie Sternwheeler
KOSCIUSKO COUNTY — Built in 1929, the Dixie Sternwheeler is Indiana’s oldest sternwheel excursion boat and one of the area’s favorite water attractions. On Friday, July 21, 75 supporters of The Watershed Foundation, representing seven area lakes, attended a private cruise hosted by TWF.
TWF works to stop water pollution at its source through on-the-ground projects, some of which were featured on the tour. Attendees were shown the bank stabilization of Kline Island, eroding into the lake at an alarming rate, adding excess nutrients and debris to the water.
“You can see where we have added rocks and native plants to rebuild the shoreline,“ explained Lyn Crighton, executive director for TWF. “This was a partnership project among Epworth Forest, Webster Lake Conservation Association and TWF. This stabilization alone keeps 540,000 pounds of weeds and algae from growing in the lakes every year.”
The Dixie also gave passengers a front-row ticket to a few of TWF’s nationally renowned Healthy Shorelines Initiative projects. The program assists property owners in rehabbing shorelines with glacial stones or bioengineered shorelines to secure sediment and decrease polluting wave action. Three hundred feet of shorelines were restored in 2015 and another 300 feet will be saved in the fall of 2017.
Finally, as the boat passed Epworth Forest Conference Center, Crighton commented upon the significance of the beautiful native rain garden. “The rain used to come off of the roof and create a landslide of dirt and nutrients directly into the lake,” she said.
“We worked with Epworth Forest to re-grade the hillside, stabilize the area, and then plant native species that grow roots to stabilize the hillside even further. This is a beautiful and impactful solution to a serious lake health concern,” she added.
After the tour, Crighton gave updates on upcoming events, including a snapshot water monitoring day in September that will organize 300 plus volunteers to test 100 stream sites around the watershed.
“We want to thank the Dixie sternwheeler for their amazing efforts keeping Webster history and tradition alive and for their support of TWF,” said Crighton.
TWF was founded in 1997 to protect and improve water quality in the Upper Tippecanoe River Watershed; spanning from Crooked Lake in Whitley County to the Warsaw-Winona area. During the past 20 years, TWF has worked with farmers and lake residents to implement more than 200 water quality improvement projects.
In the last four years alone, these efforts have prevented more than 815 million pounds of weeds and algae from growing in area lakes and streams.