After the Derecho, Ogden Dunes Is Deciding What Grows Back
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
"We are all just a little stronger than we were before and the heart of Ogden Dunes shines a little brighter." That line sits near the top of the September 14, 2026 Town Council agenda. Right after it comes a four-word aside: "Maybe less tree cover."
The aside is accurate. The August 11 derecho took down trees across a town known for being wooded. Three months later, the cleanup items are still on the council agenda. Ogden Dunes already has a head start on what gets planted in their place. For two years before the storm, a group of town volunteers had been working out which trees belong in this sand and why.
The National Weather Service's Chicago office documented the August 11, 2026 derecho as a line of storms that crossed the region on a Tuesday morning with straight-line winds of 70 mph to over 100 mph. A survey team of NWS staff and wind-damage experts estimated peak gusts of 100 to 110 mph across parts of northern Lake and Porter counties. A gust of 99 mph was recorded at Gary/Chicago International Airport.
The weather service singled out Portage, Ogden Dunes' neighbor, for the tree damage. In and near Portage, several forested areas lost more than 80% of their canopy. Many trees in residential areas were uprooted or snapped, or lost most of their limbs. Power poles snapped across a wide area, and parts of Northwest Indiana went without power for more than two weeks.
A regional summary from the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission shows NIPSCO at 99% restoration on August 25. The utility declared restoration substantially complete on August 26.
The September 14 agenda opens with thanks to the people who kept the town running:
The agenda also notes that the Community Room stayed open so people could charge phones and tablets. Residents donated money for food for NIPSCO crews, the street and police departments, and office staff while the cleanup went on. The town marked its first year past the centennial by living, in the agenda's words, "without internet, television, air conditioning and even telephone service." It drew a practical lesson from that: "generators are a good investment as well as satellite service."
Fallen trees have to be hauled somewhere. On September 8, the town posted notice of an emergency council meeting for the next evening, September 9, at 5 p.m. The notice said there was an immediate lack of disposal capacity for storm-generated tree and brush debris. The meeting was called to consider ways to keep debris removal going without disrupting road and street services.
The storm has stayed on the agenda since then, and the tree items moved from emergency response to funding:
| Date | Storm items on the agenda |
|---|---|
| Sept. 9, 2026 | Emergency meeting on tree and brush debris disposal capacity |
| Sept. 14, 2026 | Storm update, tree removal, and a FEMA meeting on derecho recovery set for Sept. 16 |
| Oct. 5, 2026 | Storm-damaged tree funding, debris cleanup update, FEMA update |
The October 5 agenda lists the storm-damaged tree funding item under Jeremy and Mike, and the FEMA item under Bernadette and Jeremy. The same meeting also held the hearing on the town's 2027 budget. Agendas and minutes for these meetings are on the town's agendas and minutes page.
Federal help came through a separate process. FEMA's major disaster declaration DR-4933 was declared August 25, 2026, for an incident period of August 11 to 24. Porter County was approved for Individual Assistance, and for Public Assistance covering emergency work and repairs to public facilities. The Indiana Department of Homeland Security's August 2026 disaster page lists Sunday, Oct. 25 as the Individual Assistance application deadline. FEMA's page says the initial application period has closed and that late applications may be considered case by case. This is general information and not legal or financial advice, so anyone with an open case or a question about eligibility should go to FEMA or IDHS directly.
The storm hit a town that had spent two years learning which trees suit the dunes.
In July 2026, a month before the derecho, Indiana Audubon renewed Ogden Dunes' Bird Town Indiana designation through June 2028. The work behind the renewal centered on Kratz Field. There, the Ogden Dunes Environmental Advisory Board partnered with the Ogden Dunes Home Association, Ecorealm LLC and volunteers on a formal ecological management plan. Crews cleared invasive species from several acres and began planting native grasses and shrubs. The goal is to bring back the black oak savanna and sand prairie that once covered this stretch of the Indiana Dunes.
The board also added interpretive signs to the ones already standing at Long Lake Marsh and Pollywog Pond. In 2026 it launched a community speaker series with the Historical Society of Ogden Dunes, the Home Association and the Women's Club, covering bird habitat, invasive plant identification and bird counts.
"Being designated as a Bird Town has enabled us to plan a broad array of outreach activities that place birds at the center of our commitment to conservation," Environmental Advisory Board chairman Tom Davenport told Indiana Audubon.
Indiana Audubon's announcement points out how much the town's trees support local birds. Its photo caption describes the Pine Grosbeak, an irregular winter visitor from the boreal north. The bird comes south in years when conifer seed crops fail farther north, and the caption calls Ogden Dunes' pines and berry-laden trees a reliable stop for it. The same piece connects the town's conservation work to Dorothy Buell, founder of the Save the Dunes Council, and to Shirley Heinze, the conservationist the Shirley Heinze Land Trust is named for.
Before August, that knowledge served a few acres of town and Home Association land. After August, every yard missing a tree faces the same question of what to plant.
The board's series reached trees this fall. On Sunday, November 8, the Environmental Advisory Board hosted "Dunes Trees: Natives vs Non-Natives and Impact on Bird & Animal Habitats" in the Ogden Dunes Community Room at 111 Hillcrest Road. The talk ran from 2 to 4 p.m.
The presenter was Kelsay Shaw, owner of Possibility Place Nursery in Monee, Illinois. The session was titled "Tree Selection: Choosing the Right Trees for the Right Places and Choices for Bird, Pollinator and other Animal Habitats." The board's notice for the series ties it to the town's Bird Town status.
It took place in the same Community Room where people charged their phones in August.
The town's Bird Town page links to Indiana Audubon, native-habitat resources and bird-friendly gardening guides. Indiana Audubon keeps a fuller record of the town's conservation actions at birdcity.org/indiana/ogden-dunes.
These meetings and events on the town and Women's Club calendars are next:
The town's annual events page also lists a Historical Society Holiday Open House, the Lions Club Annual Holiday Party and the Women's Club Arts and Crafts Fair as yearly events.
Any decisions on storm-damaged tree funding and debris removal will come through the Town Council, with agendas and minutes posted on the town's site. The plan for what to plant will come from the Environmental Advisory Board and its partners, who were already restoring black oak savanna at Kratz Field before the storm.
If your property lost trees in August and you're weighing how that affects its value or a future sale, Jordan Gallas has worked these lakeshore towns since 2012 and can talk through how replanting and canopy loss look to buyers. Let's Connect.
Stay up to date on the latest real estate trends.
Etiam non quam lacus suspendisse faucibus interdum. Orci ac auctor augue mauris augue neque. Bibendum at varius vel pharetra. Viverra orci sagittis eu volutpat.