Northwest Indiana Regional Greenways and Blueways Plan

The Northwest Indiana Regional Greenways and Blueways Plan presents a comprehensive vision for land and water corridors, or greenways and blueways, in forty-one municipalities throughout Indiana's Lake, Porter, and La Porte counties.

Healthy greenways and blueways offer a wealth of public benefits such as:

• Protecting natural and cultural resources,
• Providing recreational opportunities,
• Improving and sustaining hydrological functions, and
• Enhancing the natural beauty and quality of life in neighborhoods and local communities.

This plan, the outcome of a partnership between Openlands and the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC), aims to impart these benefits by making area open space and waterways accessible, navigable, and sustainable.

Beyond simply providing a blueprint for the future, though, the plan also issues a call to action for government entities, advocacy groups, and residents alike. For example, the plan emphasizes the importance of mobilizing private property owners, who can fill gaps between existing protected spaces and create linear continuity in land and water-based passageways. This reduces fragmentation of wildlife habitat and improves stream quality, among other positive outcomes.

Already, the plan has added value to other major initiatives in the region—it has been integrated into the Marquette Plan, which has an overall vision to open up 75% of the lakefront to public access. And through a three-year commitment from the ArcelorMittal Foundation, Openlands and NIRPC are advancing parts of the blueways component of the plan, developing water trails for paddlers on the Lake Michigan shoreline and along the Little Calumet and Kankakee rivers.

Funding for the Northwest Indiana Regional Greenways and Blueways Plan  was generously provided by a grant from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation.