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Dear Ms. Grundy - Executive Director, Camp Tannadoonah I hope this letter finds you well. I caught the recent news segment about Camp Tannadoonah and the report about your efforts to improve and preserve the lodge facility. As a member of the Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend & St. Joseph County, Indiana, I share your goal and enthusiasm. History and tradition is an important aspect for every community. The built environment uniquely holds this intrinsic value. When preserved and maintained, these historic assets connect every generation to a common and meaningful legacy. In the present we have a responsibility to understand the value of heritage and then a duty to keep that experience alive for the next generation - to confront those challenges - to fight the good fight. For once that chain is broken, it is lost forever. Camp Tannadoonah is worthy of this admiration. And so are you, for actively pursuing this goal on behalf of others. Hard work is too often a thankless task. So please accept my expression of gratitude for your continued efforts in our corner of the Midwest. As a student of my own experiences, I felt compelled to write you and share some thoughts and perspectives which have helped in my own struggle to keep our history torch burning --- brighter. Through experts and pioneers in the preservation field I've learned a great deal. Applying their lessons helped me to realize better outcomes. So while I've never had the opportunity to visit Camp Tannadoonah or the Morris Lodge in person, I believe that these tried and true practices and principles will help you to realize your goals with far greater benefit. Original building fabric and its character -defining features are in and of themselves part of a building's historic identity. Moreover, wood structures like your 1924 lodge are composed of significant old-growth material. This timber has a durable quality which is more stable, offers higher resistance to rot, decay, moisture, insects and deformity than its modern compliments. So the need to preserve old-growth timber stock present in historic flooring, siding, windows and doors is just as important as its composite forms and features. Modern building science has given birth to methods and materials that make this cost-effective and easy enough for architects, contractors and romantics, alike. Even drafty windows can be rehabilitated for outstanding thermal efficiency. The science of preservation means having the best of both worlds! When cost-effective maintenance and repair measures are applied to old-growth - it can last indefinitely! This is a proven fact. It By contrast, new materials and synthetics have a much shorter life expectancy and are usually not engineered to be repaired once they do fail. Modern replacements mean continued and perpetual replacements thereafter. So Beware! This defies sustainability and respect for the environment as much as your bottom line. Your lodge has a natural life expectency of hundreds of years. I've learned that it doesn't make good financial sense to install short-lived replacements except as a Very. LAST. Option. In all likelihood, your proposed $10,000 rehabilitation budget could be reduced or redirected in ways that would sustain the lodge much longer than the current plan promises to do. You wouldn't suffer the loss of valuable historic or architectural integrity while satisfying your very best intentions. For any loss, even as a last resort, diminishes a building's formal qualifications as a future historic landmark, a State or National place of interest. Camp Tannadoonah is certainly a candidate worthy of this distinction. To forfeit that honor would be an unfortunate consequence. I join with the staff Historic Preservation Commission in supporting Camp Tannadoonah's rich history and cultural identity. We all share your mission to preserve it! Please let us know if we might play a part by providing any additional information, resources or connecting you with our partners and affiliates. Thank you for your consideration. Best regards, Timothy S. Klusczinski; President - Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend & St. Joseph County EI!c!a D. Feasel - Executive Director - Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend & St. Joseph County