Making the Great Lakes Accessible for People with Mobility Disabilities

Canoers using one of the accessible boat launches. Photo provided by Dan Plath.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is known for providing funding that helps remediate contaminated sites, improve water quality, and restore habitats, but the social elements of stewardship are equally as essential. To fully understand the impact of these projects, it’s important to bear in mind the people who will access, enjoy, and care for these resources for years to come. Local activists and organizations in the Great Lakes region and beyond are at the forefront of these social efforts, including a nonprofit organization in Indiana that was inspired by one of its own.

When Lorri Kovitz, a dedicated member of the Northwest Indiana Paddling Association (NWIPA), lost one of her legs to cancer, founder and former president Dan Plath knew that something needed to change.

“Lorri would come to almost all of our events still and struggled with getting in and out of boats,” recalls Plath, who founded NWIPA in 2009 to promote paddle sports education and stewardship of Indiana’s waterways. “About that time, I started investigating how we could make it easier for her. … What can we do to improve access?”

Located just south of Lake Michigan and southeast of Chicago, northwest Indiana is home to a robust network of lakes and rivers that provide hundreds of miles of open water for canoeing, kayaking, and paddleboarding, but rough terrain, unpredictable water levels, and existing inaccessible boat launches sometimes make it difficult for people with mobility concerns to safely enjoy paddling.

As Plath began to research solutions, he learned about the EZ Launch, a type of universally accessible kayak launch that could be built on one of NWIPA’s popular paddling locations on Trail Creek in Michigan City, Indiana. He began pursuing a grant for an EZ Launch through the Trail Creek Watershed Committee and learned that the EZ Launch apparatus alone—without installation costs, maintenance fees, or other financial considerations—costs about $28,000.

“We went after the funding and Lorri’s health continued to decline,” Plath says. “Kind of the crazy, ironic thing is that we got the thing built and we had a ribbon cutting, and she passed away the day before the ribbon cutting. Michigan City named the kayak launch at Hansen Park in her honor.”

The Lorri Kovitz Accessible Kayak Launch, and the woman who inspired it, provided inspiration for the next seven years of planning, fundraising, and installation of EZ Launches throughout northwest Indiana. Since 2015, NWIPA and its more than 2,000 members have established seven universally accessible boat launches to help people of all abilities enjoy water sports—a feat that has given the Hoosier State a new claim to fame.

“[Northwest Indiana has] the most accessible canoe and kayak locations that we know of anywhere in the world right now,” says Plath. “In a given geographic area, we have more accessible ADA launches than anyplace around.”

One of the accessible boat launches. Photo provided by Dan Plath.

To fund the launches, dedicated individuals and board members helped facilitate partnerships with community foundations, government institutions, and other nonprofit organizations.

Currently, NWIPA also boasts accessible launch sites at Marquette Park in Gary; Festival Park in Hobart; Veterans Park in Lake Station; Keith Richard Walner Nature Preserve and Wykes Plampin Nature Preserve in Chesterton; and at the Howe Road launch site in Indiana Dunes National Park. This September, the next accessible launch will open on Wolf Lake in Hammond.

“Our goal is for every body of water in northwest Indiana to have at least one location where people can get out and use it and it’s fully accessible,” says Plath. He refers to water as “the great equalizer”—a space where all people, regardless of age and ability, can come together and be outdoors. “Quite often, paddling, canoeing, or kayaking is one of the only ways that people can commune with nature.”

Moving forward, efforts are underway to add an EZ Launch to the Indiana side of the Kankakee River, which is designated as a National Water Trail. “We’re working with the Indiana DNR,” Plath says. “They’ve got some money raised already, but they’re about $7,000 short.”

Although NWIPA has established itself as a leader, the organization is far from alone. “There are other great paddling clubs around the country that are doing similar work,” Plath says.

The Potawatomi Paddlers Association—an organization modeled after NWIPA—is raising funds to implement an accessible launch on the Illinois side of the Kankakee, and in Michigan, a universally accessible water trail is set to open this summer. The 2-mile trail loop will begin and end at the accessible boat launch on Hamlin Lake, just off Lake Michigan.

Plath feels that increasing accessibility is an integral part of NWIPA’s mission. “It’s hard to get people to visualize what they’re trying to protect if they can’t see it firsthand,” he says.

Visit nwipa.org to learn more.