Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education - Indiana Dunes National Park

The Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education is located at 100 N Lake Street in Gary, Indiana. While the center is west of Lake Street, free paved parking for about three dozen vehicles is located east of Lake Street. A covered pedestrian overpass joins the two. In addition to its educational role, the center serves as a visitor center to the western section of Indiana Dunes National Park. As such, it houses the usual information desk, theater or assembly room, and restrooms. It does not have a bookstore or gift shop.

By using several learning methods including visual, aural, and tactile, the facility is designed to enable visitors to make lasting connections with the natural environment that surrounds the center. We visited during our October 2019 trip to Indiana Dunes National Park.

Paul H Douglas was a US Senator from Illinois from 1949 to 1967. So why is an environmental education center in Indiana named for him? The park explains the rationale on its webpage recalling the history of the creation of the park. Three individuals played key roles in preserving the dunes: Henry Cowles, Dorothy Buell, and Paul Douglas. Quoting from the park's History & Culture webpage:

In the summer of 1961, those fighting to save the dunes began to see greater possibilities for hope. Then President John F. Kennedy supported congressional authorization for Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts, which marked the first time federal monies would be used to purchase natural parkland. President Kennedy also took a stand on the National Lakeshore, outlining a program to link the nation's economic vitality to a movement for conservation of the natural environment. This program became known as The Kennedy Compromise, 1963-1964.

The Kennedy Compromise entailed the creation of a national lakeshore and a port to satisfy industrial needs. Then Illinois Senator Paul H. Douglas spoke tirelessly to the public and Congress in a drive to save the dunes, earning him the title of "the third senator from Indiana." In 1966, Douglas made sure that the highly desired Burns Waterway Harbor (Port of Indiana) could only come with the authorization of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

 

Approaching the pedestrian overpass from the parking area

Covered walkway over N Lake Street

Welcome kiosk

A section of the vestibule

Mobility assist devices in the vestibule

Information desk

Dune cutaway

Monarchs line the hallway

Arrowhead poster and exhibits

Theater/meeting room

Another poster and exhibits

Henry Cowles exhibit

Paul Douglas exhibit

More posters

Mount Baldy display

Student seating in the Animal Room

Animal habitats

Eastern Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum)

Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina)

Outdoor bird feeder and birdhouses

Junior Ranger badges on display

National Parks

Entry to Indiana Dunes National Park is free. However, an expanded amenity fee of $6 daily is collected at West Beach from the Friday of Memorial Day weekend through the Monday of Labor Day weekend from 8:00 am to as late as 7:00 pm Central Time. This fee is used to provide the bathhouse and lifeguard service.

The park website is https://www.nps.gov/indu/index.htm.