Sleeping Bear: Preserving a Special Place

The summer sun sets along Lake Michigan. Source: National Park Service

By Dusty Shultz,

Superintendent

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

On a typical spring day at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore you'll see the morning sun shining through mature stands of beech, maple, and pine trees to illuminate carpets of wildflowers.  In summer you can hear gentle waves washing onto isolated beaches, and in the fall you can see vivid colors and feel cool breezes as they wind their way through sweeping dune formations.  This unique mixture of beaches, forests, and ancient glacial phenomena is a place of tranquility and peaceful recreation year-round, even during winter months.  This is "Your Place" for nearly 1.2 million visitors each year.  However, most park visitors are completely unaware of the tension lingering just behind the scenes where National Park Service (NPS) planners are currently working with the public on the direction of a new General Management Plan and Wilderness Study (GMP/WS), a document that will provide basic long-term management guidance for the Lakeshore for years to come.

This apprehension about park planning is nothing new.  Because the establishment of the Lakeshore was so controversial, and was followed by a sometimes-bitter land acquisition process, many citizens formed a deep-seated resentment and mistrust of the federal government here.  I first arrived at the National Lakeshore in 2001, while the NPS was in the process of trying to update its 1979 GMP, and I remember vividly how heated things got just before the planning process was halted in 2002.  There was a lot of misinformation circulating and as a result the plan was nixed very early in the process.  Still, a lot has changed since the 1979 GMP was written, and we need to update our GMP so it is current and relevant, similar to why local governments update master plans periodically.  

Updating the GMP is not as simple as it sounds.  The Lakeshore has been placed in a difficult position by events that occurred over twenty years ago.  From 1979 to 1981, the Lakeshore used a very similar public planning process to decide what lands in the park should be proposed as wilderness, areas where the park would be managed primarily for the qualities of naturalness and solitude, where recreation and access would be on foot rather than by wheel.  As a result, a wilderness recommendation was prepared that included lands traversed by several county road rights-of-way.  These lands were recognized as having the potential to provide the wilderness qualities mentioned above, if and when Leelanau and/or Benzie counties decided to abandon their road rights-of-way and the NPS closed the roads to vehicles.  This proposal was forwarded up to the Department of the Interior (DOI) for recommendation to the President, and on to Congress, but the DOI chose not to send it to the President.  Congress however, knew that the DOI was holding the proposal and decided to pass a law that, essentially, has required the NPS to manage as wilderness any proposed lands that it has control over (still not the county roads) until Congress finally does receive a proposal to act upon.  In the meantime, because of this 1982 law, the Lakeshore cannot change its management of those lands without further congressional action.  Ahhhh, politics.

A kayaker enjoys a paddle on School Lake. Source: National Park Service.

As was demonstrated by the halting of the GMP process in 2002, many people are now opposed to the wilderness proposal that was prepared in 1981, fearing that the counties might someday abandon their rights-of-way, resulting in a loss of vehicle access to Esch and Peterson beaches, as well as to a few remote areas of the park.  This fear has led some to accuse the NPS of plotting to actually ban people from much of the park.  The truth is just the opposite!  Because of federal ownership, the public has more access to the Lakeshore now than it ever has.  We want to honor the sacrifices of those who were uprooted by ensuring that the beauty of this special place is open to everyone, just as Congress intended.

The biggest difference between this GMP process and the one that was stopped in 2002 is that this time the GMP includes a Wilderness Study, which may well result in a new wilderness proposal being forwarded up the chain of approvals.  The NPS is actively seeking public participation in drafting and evaluating a variety of alternatives for wilderness.  Ideally, the process will result in a wilderness proposal the Administration can endorse and that Congress will act upon, thus helping the Lakeshore escape the planning purgatory caused by the 1982 law.  We see balance as the key to success.  We have no illusions about achieving complete consensus, but our goal remains to resolve the wilderness/roads issue in a manner that will meet the Lakeshore's mission and be supported by a wide range of interests.  The extra public planning workshops that we have held have allowed people to see for themselves how challenging it is to address the wide range of views regarding how the Lakeshore should be managed.  The comments we have received are truly across the board on nearly every topic, including wilderness, which ranged from eliminating it entirely to making nearly the whole park wilderness. 

I thank everyone who has participated in the GMP process so far.  The Lakeshore has the benefit of having a public who cares deeply about this special place - "Your Place" to so many.  Through cooperation and teamwork with all of our stakeholders, we can develop a wilderness proposal and GMP that maintains a variety of recreational opportunities, from drive-to beaches to solitary hikes, while continuing to preserve and protect the nationally significant natural and cultural resources of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.