Nature preservation is focus of Wednesday (8/13) seminar

The effects of a highly industrialized landscape on the ecological processes that create and sustain native biodiversity will be discussed Wednesday (8/13) at 6:30 p.m. at The Calumet Conference Center at Purdue University Calumet.

The presentation, titled “Managing Nature Preserves in a Fragmented Landscape,” will be led by Paul Labus, Northwest Indiana region director of the Nature Conservancy. The presentation is the third installment of the Go with the Flow—Get to Know Our Indiana Coastal Resources seminar series. The series is offered to increase awareness of land use practices on Lake Michigan’s coastal resources in Indiana.

Labus will address inherent problems managing highly fragmented preserves within the Calumet region and offer possible solutions. Labus also serves as program director for the Nature Conservancy Southern Lake Michigan Rim Project Office. He and his staff partner with others to protect the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and other northwest Indiana natural areas.

Admission is free.

Upcoming topics in the seminar series are:

• Sept. 10 – Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products: The Impact on Our Water Systems
• Oct. 8 – The 21st Century Battle Between Precipitation and Evaporation in the Great Lakes Water Cycle.

A grant Purdue Calumet received from the Lake Michigan Coastal Program is sponsoring the series. Other sponsors are the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Program and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

Purdue Calumet’s Calumet Conference Center is located one-third mile north of Interstate 80/94, three blocks east of Indianapolis Boulevard, south of 173rd Street. Other information is available by contacting Leslie Dorworth, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant aquatic ecology specialist, at 219/989-2726; 800/HI-PURDUE, ext. 2726; or dorworth@calumet.purdue.edu

News Release Date: August 7, 2008