HAMMOND, Ind.--Casey King plucked trash along the Parrish Avenue side of Briar East Woods, stuffing a white trash bag as we waited for others of Save Briar East Woods before Christmas. Joey Hinds soon joined with his own white trash bag.
Then Ken Rosek arrived with fire and passion, pulling out maps of the proposed Governor’s Parkway Railroad Overpass Project, whose construction swath would gut this unique piece of urban wilds.
A dune ridge, centerpiece of the woods, makes Briar East Woods unique. It's a farthermost ridge remnant of the old Tolleston strandplain on Lake Michigan, probably from 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. The ridge itself is black oak savanna. The edges of the 35-acre woods are more disturbed with maples and other plants of disturbed habitat.
Mayor Tom McDermott's office sees the overpass as a bypass to a busy railroad corridor "plagued" by trains stopped for extended periods. His office also noted, "The overpass is also slated to include a shared-use path for pedestrians and cyclists, and the structure will also help fire and police response times in the Hessville section of the city."
Those trying to save Briar East Woods think other options accomplish the same things and would not gut the woods. Maybe the feds agree, so far full funding has not come.
The political pissing match doesn't interest me, how people value, or don't, their wild urban spaces does.
Briar East Woods is rich with wildlife from red foxes fed by neighbors, deer rutting in the fall, snapping turtles, green frogs, barred owls and eagle flyovers. The day I toured, no squirrels flitted about, but I saw dozens of dreys, as befits a black oak savanna. Same goes for plant diversity.
But so far there are no dramatic biological finds that would halt a project.
When Rosek spoke from growing up, it reminded me getaway space is the other major value of urban wilds.
At Briar East Lake, he walked on sketchy ice and reminisced, "I always make it a point to ice skate here. There is where I learned to play hockey."
As we walked back, a man carrying groceries cut through on a trail, showing what the woods meant to him. As small as the woods is, there's an extensive trail system.
A few steps on, Rosek stood on the highest point in Hammond, then pointed down the ridge slope, "This was our sledding hill."
Getaway wild spaces enrich our lives and deliver memories, especially for kids.
Near the end, King and I looked for flowers on a good patch of witchhazel.
It was time.
Trying to save Briar East Woods draws on creative power more than brute force.
Filmmaker Jana Abouhashem's "Save The Briar Woods East Documentary," packed Joy Bomb Social Center on Nov. 3 for the premier. It's now on YouTube.
Rosek, a fan of Jens Jensen and the landscape architect's work with Humboldt Park, dreams similarly for Briar East Woods, a park he would consider "the gem of Northwest Indiana, if it's done right."
Or a roadway bypass.
