Future green: Who will carry on the legacy of the region's environmental activists?

"We didn't know what we were getting into, and we didn't know how to quit." -- Save the Dunes founder Dorothy Buell

Charlotte Read said she was shocked to recently read of her retirement from Save the Dunes in a local paper.

"I've left the board, but my interest in Save the Dunes and the national lakeshore is probably as strong as ever," she said. "I simply ran out of terms."

Read, of Chesterton, and her husband, Herb, were instrumental in pushing for the protection of the Indiana dunes through the creation of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore nearly 50 years ago and have continued their fight for the environment.

Like a number of other notable local environmentalists -- including Alliance for the Great Lakes founder Lee Botts of Gary's Miller neighborhood -- the Reads are in their 80s.

While none is showing any signs or intentions of slowing down, Charlotte's absence from the Save the Dunes board raises the question of who is up to the task of continuing the legacy of those who set the stage.

"I think there are people who are up to the challenge, but it's going to take the resources, not just bodies," Read said.

Cameron Davis, senior adviser for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Great Lakes issues, said today's challenges present opportunities for the next generation of green advocates.

"Back in the 1960s, environmental advocacy thought and acted one, single way," Davis, dubbed Obama's "Great Lakes czar," said. "Today, there are great thinkers and actors that touch many more disciplines ... finance, genetics, journalism, business and education. And those are just examples where we've gotten smarter about the integration of the economy and ecology."

Nicole Barker, 40, was tapped in the summer of 2010 to be the executive director of Save the Dunes.

"There's so much respect here for everyone who has laid the foundation," Barker said. "We know they struggled for decades. Their commitment is stronger than steel. It's palpable, and luckily it's contagious."

Barker said no one can fill their shoes, but it's crucial to understand their fights as the movement pushes forward.

"It's a huge responsibility on our shoulders to carry this torch and learn from these people," Barker said. "You want to honor what they've done while keeping an eye toward the future. I think people forget how far we've come."

Larry Davis, vice president of the Save the Dunes board, said he has attended the last three national green jobs conferences in Washington D.C., "and they had separate workshops for the youth."

Davis, 52, said he fears that separatism could be problematic.

"They do not know the history," he said. "We have, as environmentalists, not done a good job of teaching the history, and you know what they say. If we don't learn from history, we're doomed to repeat it."

Read pointed out Save the Dunes Council founder Dorothy Buell was in her 90s when she retired. Ruth Osann, former Save the Dunes president, passed away earlier this year at the age of 93 and was "as active as she could be well into her 90s. "

Sylvia Troy, another past Save the Dunes president, is in her 90s and still active in the environmental movement as well.

"I'm looking forward to hanging on into the 90s," Read said. "What is it about Save the Dunes that keeps you young and active?"