A morning bike ride and an afternoon walk will be featured at the 23nd annual Wolf Lake Bi-State Wetlands, Wind & Water festival on Saturday, May 25, 2025.
The 25th annual Wolf Lake Bi-State Wetlands, Wind & Water festival starts at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 24, 2025 with a mile walk between Wolf Lake and Powderhorn Lake and back.
The Association for the Wolf Lake Initiative sponsors the event. The group’s president, Dr. Phil Willink, will lead the walk from 133rd and Avenue K south to 136th Street and east of Avenue K and back again.
A half-mile-long underground system has been engineered to prioritize safe passage that serves a diverse aquatic ecosystem, including fish, turtles and wetland birds. Between 2021 and 2024, more than 100 acres of wetlands were restored.
Using a water control structure at the north end of Powderhorn Lake, land managers are now able to lower, raise, or maintain the water level as needed, allowing water to drain safely from Powderhorn Lake through the northern marsh and into Wolf Lake and the Calumet River. The return trip of the festival’s walk should be much faster.
A second event of the Wetlands festival, a hike, begins at 2 p.m. at the entrance to the Mitigation Wetlands in Hammond. It lies a block west of 129th Street and Sheffield Avenue. Park bikes and cars near the entrance.
Joe Kruczek, director of this year’s cleanup of the Wolf Lake Watershed, will lead the hike. It will be a tour of spring wildflowers, sedges, and shrubs and spring activity of water fowl and small animals.
Participants in both events should wear long pants, sturdy shoes and long-sleeved shirts. On-line registration is required for both events.
Hikers should wear long pants, sturdy shoes and long-sleeved shirts. On-line registration is required for both events. Consult AWLI’s website at www.wolflakeinitiative.org. Registration deadline is May 22.
AWLI is a bi-state not-for-profit organization and land trust seeking to protect and enhance the thousands of acres within the Wolf Lake watershed.
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michael@wolflakeinitiative.org . www.wolflakeinitiative.org
Susie Young Baxter, CEO, has published PanoramaNOW Magazine for 31 years. Her hobbies are Camping, Boating, Hiking, Nature, Gardening and Outdoor Activities. She is an Artist, Graphic Designer, an Avid Seamstress, Dabbles in Homemade Crafts and Landscaping. Since her Father was a Health Teacher, she also likes homeopathic Health Solutions. Since blogging started over 10 years ago, PanoramaNow has been added to Newsbreak – a national news affiliate.
