As a 5/9/24 front page Enterprise article said, the debate over the final 4.2-mile Segment 9 of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail continues. There’s a simple reason why.
More information is available. The Borealis Tree Survey counted 7,300 doomed trees and identified three state-protected ecosystems: Critical Dune Area (85% of the route), globally rare dune and swale complex, and wetlands.
The Mansfield Engineering Report calculated the extreme construction required along the steep forested dunes that border Traverse Lake Road. Retaining walls up to 25 feet high for 950 feet would be necessary to hold back the razed dunes.
The engineering report also details alternatives to Segment 9, ideas that save thousands of trees, don’t require retaining walls to hold back dunes, and cost a fraction of the $14.5 million cost.
The National Environmental Policy Act requires that alternatives be considered in planning. Although the Park Service and planners proposed alternatives in 2008-2009, none offered the option of a route to Good Harbor Bay itself, a prime destination in the Lakeshore. With the project name “Pathway to Good Harbor,” Traverse Area Recreation and Trails (TART) seems to promise a trail to Good Harbor Bay. Yet that is not part of Segment 9 planning.
The 2009 Environmental Assessment (EA) didn’t accurately evaluate the current off-road route for Segment 9. Sleeping Bear Naturally is asking the Lakeshore to halt the project until an accurate EA is done. With a new EA, alternatives that save money and trees and take trail users to Good Harbor Bay could be considered. The National Parks Conservation Association, the Borealis Tree Survey and Mansfield Engineering Report authors, and hundreds of our petition signers have joined in this request.
So who is Sleeping Bear Naturally? We’re a grass-roots group with over 1,400 Facebook followers. We formed 16 years ago after learning that the surface of the Heritage Trail would be asphalt, saying “Don’t Pave the Forest.” We’re volunteers from Leelanau County, Michigan, and other states. We’ve always known that this Good Harbor section is the most environmentally sensitive of all the segments. With new information available we knew we had to get the facts out.
The bottom line is the National Park Service is responsible for preserving and protecting the environment of the Lakeshore. TART is the Park’s fundraising partner in the Heritage Trail project, but the National Park Service is the final decision-maker in what happens to the natural resources of the Lakeshore.
Sleeping Bear Naturally exists to encourage Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to remain true to the National Park Service mission: “to preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.”
Please visit our website, www. SleepingBearNaturally.com, and our Facebook page to see photos, videos, the Tree Survey and Engineering Report, alternative ideas, and more -- and to sign our petition and read petition comments.
About the author: Marilyn Miller is a founding member of Sleeping Bear Naturally and a long-time summer resident of Glen Arbor.
