The Crystal River is a little green today but this is not an early St. Patrick’s Day celebration by our Chicago friends. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is treating the river to control the lamprey population. Lampreys are a type of fish that belong to the order Agnatha, which are the jawless fish. Originally from the Atlantic Ocean, they found their way into the Great Lakes after the construction of the Welland Canal around Niagara Falls. Having no natural predators, the lamprey became a devastating parasite to the lake trout population in the lakes and then the salmon. The lamprey breed in the river and their young live in the shallow slow areas around the bank.
Effect of the lampricide in Lake Michigan, near the mouth of the Crystal River.
Last month, researchers using backpack shockers looked in the shallow areas of the Crystal and discovered enough larval lamprey to warrant treatment with a lampricide chemical. While the chemical is stressful to the salmon, it targets the lamprey specifically. Due to the large number of spawning salmon, the Fish and Wildlife service postponed the treatment until the majority of salmon had already spawned. In order to track the progress of the lampricide, a vegetable based dye is used that turns the water a chartreuse color. As the lampricide moves downstream and becomes diluted, so does the dye, and soon the lampreys will be the only ones who knew it was there. Visit www.fws.gov for more information on this important conservation work.
Joe Blondia teaches Environmental Science at The Leelanau School in Glen Arbor.
This GlenArbor.com story was sponsored by the Foothills, a year-round motel and cafe on the east side of Big Glen Lake with eight clean and comfortable rooms.
A breath of fresh air may have descended on Sugar Loaf. Just weeks before snow is likely to fall on the downtrodden Leelanau County ski hill whose chairlifts have sat idle for nearly 12 years, a local resort owner is developing a plan that would open the mountain to cross-country skiing and ice climbing — perhaps this winter.
Erik Zehender, fourth generation co-owner of Fountain Point Resort in nearby Lake Leelanau, is negotiating with Sugar Loaf owner Kate Wickstrom to lease the mountain from her and create the Sugar Loaf Mountain Club, a nonprofit that would offer backcountry and groomed trails to members of the club who, in Zehender’s words, “participate in the costs of insurance, grooming, outhouses, warming huts, parking, plowing, safety programs and other operating expenses.”
Empire resident and Director of Sales and Marketing at DW North, Rick Desrochers, and Glen Arborite Eric Luthardt, a Product Line Manager at Flow Snowboarding, have assisted Zehender. According to Wickstrom, those two “believe in Sugar Loaf and have stood by me. I wouldn’t go forward without them.” Desrochers and Luthardt have worked with Wickstrom for over a year, and she says they bring ideas to resurrect the resort lodge and mountain.
Wickstrom confirmed that discussions are underway to lease the mountain to Zehender for a cross-country skiing and ice-climbing club. A deal might be complete by Thanksgiving. Of course, opportunist adventurers and skiers have used the mountain for many of the past 12 years, but the Sugar Loaf Mountain Club would provide an opportunity for them to ski legally.
“Erik (Luthardt), Rick and I are all extremely grateful to Kate for the chance to give this nonprofit idea a try,” said Zehender. “The Mountain Club would be a local solution.”
Zehender is the first entrepreneur to publicly make a bid to revitalize Sugar Loaf since the eccentric Las Vegas boxer-turned-businessman Liko Smith splashed on the scene in April 2010 and then disappeared once it became clear that he had no money to buy the resort. An outright acquisition, restoration of the lodge and redevelopment of the hills and chairlifts were estimated to cost over $15 million. Smith ultimately alienated Wickstrom, and speculation swirled that he was working for Remo and Hanna Karcho Polselli, the resort’s former owners and current guarantors of Sugar Loaf’s mortgage. Remo Polselli is a convicted felon who served a prison sentence for tax evasion, unrelated to Sugar Loaf.
Wickstrom told the Glen Arbor Sun that she is currently negotiating with Polselli. She said that in the past month, for the first time, she’s been in direct contact with him, whereas before that, Wickstrom’s lawyer Joe Quandt acted as her liaison.
“Remo just wants to get out of the picture: the county just wants Remo out of the picture,” said Wickstrom, who called Zehender’s proposal a possible win-win situation.” Wickstrom said she had no idea whether any other suitors were on the verge of making an offer for Sugar Loaf.
“People come forward, say they want to buy the place and tie you up for months,” lamented Wickstrom, who worries that she’s lost credibility within Leelanau County. “This is a last-ditch effort to do something.
“Having this team in place sheds a whole new light on the possibility of a rebirth of the resort. The intent has always been to give Sugar Loaf back to the people.”
How backcountry skiing and ice climbing would work
The mountain’s grounded chairlifts, which would cost millions to repair or replace, don’t dissuade Zehender, whose plan for the Sugar Loaf Mountain Club includes providing “skins” to help skiers ascend smaller hills such as “Peppie” or “Devil’s Elbow” in order to reach and descend the Black Diamonds, particularly “Awful, Awful”. Backcountry and telemark is original, “old-style” skiing and rapidly growing in popularity across the country. Zehender also plans to introduce the sport of ice climbing to the region by installing a water-trickle system down the run known as “Manitou”.
“This effort will focus on the experience of skiers and outdoorsmen seeking the extraordinary natural beauty and views that only Sugar Loaf offers without all the crowds of other regional ski areas,” Zehender said.
The entrepreneur hopes that owners of properties neighboring the mountain with good terrain will sign similar lease agreements with the Mountain Club in order to enhance the ski area’s potential. But such agreements are not necessarily critical to his potential deal with Wickstrom, Zehender added.
The National Ski Area Association, the U.S. Telemark Ski Association and the Midwest Ski Areas Association have all reportedly offered guidance; Zehender has approached the Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation (TART) Trails about grooming the cross-country ski trails, and possibly linking Sugar Loaf to its ambitious trail system in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (TART has been a key partner in developing the Sleeping Bear Dunes Heritage multi-use bike trail), and Zehender said that Traverse City Mayor Chris Bzdok offered to defer most billing for legal expenses until club membership grows.
The Fountain Point owner said he would pay the initial club formation insurance cost himself, but that the reopening of Sugar Loaf ultimately “needs to be a community effort and not just a private venture.”
An acquisition to follow?
Zehender has floated the idea of working together with a land stewardship nonprofit such as the Leelanau Conservancy to acquire the property from Wickstrom — which includes the mountain and the lodge — and issue ownership shares to the public, particularly local residents and stakeholders. Rick Desrochers mentioned the Mad River Glen Ski Area in Vermont, which sells $2,000 shares, as a successful example of a community-owned ski hill.
“We believe 12 years is long enough to wait for an entrepreneurial hero to parachute in and buy Sugar Loaf,” emphasized Zehender. “In the current market for commercial loans, we believe a buyer would never secure traditional bank financing anyway.
“Over time, as membership dues and the sale of shares allow, limited lift service and building refurbishments will take place, but this may take several years. Baby steps are better than no steps at all.”
Update: UpNorthLive.com published this video story on Monday of the bid to lease Sugar Loaf mountain from Kate Wickstrom for cross-country skiing and ice climbing. Have a look.
This GlenArbor.com story was sponsored by Becky Thatcher Designs, combining the natural textures of stone, the colorful depths of faceted gems and the luster of pearls with silver, high karat gold and platinum.
Environmental Protection Agency provides over $1.1 million for Sleeping Bear Dunes and Grand Traverse Band Watersheds
From staff reports
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced funding for Great Lakes Restoration Initiative projects in Northern Michigan totaling $1.1 million. The projects will help to restore the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and Grand Traverse Band watersheds and put people back to work, using a conservation corps model to hire unemployed workers to improve habitat and clean up shoreline.
The National Park Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs projects were selected from 44 proposals totaling almost $25 million, which were submitted in response to a $6 million challenge that EPA issued in August to encourage federal agencies to sign up unemployed workers to implement restoration projects in federally-protected areas, on tribal lands and in Areas of Concern in the Great Lakes Basin. To qualify for funding, each project is required to provide jobs for at least 20 unemployed people.
“The tremendous response to EPA’s challenge underscores the large backlog of Great Lakes restoration projects that are ready to be implemented and the strong support that exists for using a conservation corps model to get the job done,” said Susan Hedman, EPA Great Lakes National Program Manager, today at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. “This week, EPA is announcing a total of eight restoration projects worth $6.6 million as part of this challenge. Each project will produce immediate, direct ecological benefits and will help to put unemployed people back to work.”
The National Park Service will receive $891,225 to expand wetland restoration work in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The Bureau of Indian Affairs will receive $255,365 to work with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians on watershed restoration – part of $876,810 awarded to BIA to allow it to expand its work with tribal governments to complete Great Lakes restoration projects in Indian country. Other tribes that will participate in the project are the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin and the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
“The National Park Service is very proud to contribute to this effort,“ said National Park Service Midwest Regional Director Michael T. Reynolds. “Our participation in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has given us a terrific opportunity to do restoration work in all of our Great Lakes national parks that might never have been accomplished otherwise, and on a scale that can really make a difference. This project at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will not only provide jobs in an area with a high rate of unemployment, but will also accomplish much needed work to restore impacted sites throughout the 71,000 acre park.”
“The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians is very pleased to announce that we have received $255,365 to be utilized over 2 years. We will be using the award to employ 4-5 individuals for ‘on the ground’ field work,” said Tribal Chair Derek J. Bailey. “The work crew will be supervised by a Grand Traverse Band/Natural Resources Conservation Service collaboratively funded position. Work will include removing woody debris, planting grasses and shrubs, river shoreline restoration, and hands on placement of bank stabilization materials.”
Selected projects will advance the goals and objectives of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan, developed by EPA with 15 other federal agencies in 2010. The action plan, which covers FY 2010 through 2014, ensures accountability by including measures of progress and benchmarks for success over the next three years. It calls for aggressive efforts to address five urgent priority “Focus Areas”:
• Cleaning up toxics and areas of concern.
• Combating invasive species.
• Promoting near-shore health by protecting watersheds from polluted run-off.
• Restoring wetlands and other habitats.
• Tracking progress, education and working with strategic partners.
This GlenArbor.com story was sponsored by Anderson’s Market, which offers a unique “Up North” shopping experience with helpful, friendly staff.
South Manitou Island Boat Dock Extension Environmental Assessment Available for Public Review
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Superintendent Dusty Shultz announced the availability of the South Manitou Island Boat Dock Extension Environmental Assessment for public review and comment. The Environmental Assessment describes and analyzes alternative approaches for providing boat dock access to South Manitou Island.
The South Manitou Island boat dock lies in shallow water in an area subject to sediment accumulation. Eventually, this buildup of sediment forms a sandbar beneath the boat dock that extends out into open water, blocking access to the dock.
The South Manitou Island boat dock, located on the southeast shore of South Manitou Island bay, is the only manageable access point to the island for public visitors and National Park Service staff. From the dock, visitors have a short walk to the lighthouse, a U.S. Life-Saving Service and Coast Guard Station that now serves as a ranger station, and several historically preserved 19th century farm buildings. The island’s many trails begin from the dock landing and allow visitors a scenic hike to the high perched dunes overlooking the island’s western shore, a natural inland lake (Florence Lake), three designated backcountry campgrounds, and numerous other natural features.
Under the “No Action” Alternative, the proposed dock extension would not be constructed. The existing dock facility would continue to operate. There would be a continued need for ongoing maintenance dredging to support ferry operations. This dredging would be conducted as needed and would result in the removal of materials from the dock area and the disposal of such materials in nearshore aquatic habitats.
Under the Preferred Alternative, the existing dock would be extended further into Lake Michigan. This extension would allow boat access in deeper waters and would minimize or eliminate the need for future maintenance dredging at South Manitou Island. Construction of this facility is expected to be completed in a three to four week timeframe. The structure would be constructed out of wood and steel connectors. Wood pilings would be driven into the lake bottom to form the basis of the structure and would be of a similar type as the existing dock facility.
The National Lakeshore encourages you to comment on the Environmental Assessment until the public comment period closes on November 4, 2011. The document may be reviewed on the National Lakeshore’s website at www.nps.gov/slbe (just click on the “South Manitou Island Boat Dock Extension EA” icon). Paper copies are available for review at the National Lakeshore Visitor Center in Empire, the Glen Lake Community Library, Leelanau Township Library, Leland Township Library, and Suttons Bay Bingham District Library.
Please submit your comments electronically through a link on the National Lakeshore’s website. Alternatively, you may mail comments to: Superintendent, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, 9922 Front Street, Empire, MI 49630.
The National Lakeshore looks forward to receiving your comments concerning the South Manitou Island Boat Dock Extension Environmental Assessment. For more information, please contact Facility Manager Lee Jameson at (231) 326-5134, ext. 500, or visit the National Lakeshore website at www.nps.gov/slbe/.
This GlenArbor.com story was sponsored by Synchronicity Gallery, showing the original work of 95 outstanding Michigan artists in a wide variety of media.
Dr. Grenetta Thomassey Program Director at Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, will discuss the impact of hydraulic fracturing on water resources at the Leelanau County Government Center-Community Meeting Room on Monday, Oct. 17 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Sponsored by Leelanau Clean Water, the event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP by calling (231) 256-9812 or by emailing Karen at khall@co.leelanau.mi.us.
Hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking”, is the process of injecting a mixture of water, chemicals and sand
underground to create fractures, through which natural gas can flow for collection.
Dr. Thomassey will address water issues in the fracking process. Millions of gallons of water are used in each deep fracking well for the fracking process to which hundreds of chemicals are also added. Once the fracking is complete, 40-70% of the fracture water comes back to the surface as wastewater which must be disposed of in injection wells.
Dr. Thomassey will discuss:
• Where the millions of gallons of water used in each fracking well comes from
• What chemicals are added to the water for the fracking process
• Where the wastewater from fracking goes
This GlenArbor.com online story was sponsored by Sunset Watersports, your #1 source for ski boats, jet skis and pontoon boat rentals in northern Michigan.
This summer, the National Park Service (NPS) unveiled its options for the Historic Landscape Management Plan of the Port Oneida Rural Historic District. Some four miles east of Glen Arbor, the shoreline settlement was founded as a logging community, with subsistence (family) farming and fishing, in the early 1860s by immigrant pioneers from Prussia and Hanover (now parts of modern Germany), and lived in continuously until the 1970s. It is defined as a “historic vernacular landscape … that has evolved through use by ordinary people” over a “period of significance of 1870-1945,” in the Plan’s Executive Summary, and it is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Port Oneida’s treasures encompass over 150 buildings, including farm houses, barns and other outbuildings; cemeteries; two schoolhouses; sites of former farms, docks and other vanishing structures; and an “olden days” travel-distribution-communications network of cattle paths, logging trails, county roads and bluffside dugways. At 3,400 acres — just a part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore — Port Oneida carries the distinction of being “the largest and most complete historic agricultural landscape in public ownership in the country,” according to the plan, co-authored by Sleeping Bear’s environmental specialist Michael Duwe and NPS regional historical landscape architect Marla McEnaney.
With the recent honor (some might say dubious honor) of being named “America’s favorite vacation place,” by ABC’s “Good Morning, America!” Sleeping Bear must brace for increased visitor attention — including the inevitable “wear and tear” on its much-loved historical, cultural and natural resources that were already incrementally losing the battle with nature and decades-long neglect. Implementation of its “Preferred Alternative” Plan, along with the larger, 20-year General Management plan of 2009, would ideally focus and allocate resources to maintain and improve the historic landscape patterns that tell a vital part of Port Oneida’s story. (The other option is “No Action,” or more accurately, continuing the ad hoc: “as-fluctuating-budget-and-manpower-and-volunteer-efforts-allow” — management solutions thus far in place since the Park reversed its original “let it moulder” policy of wilderness reversion of the 1970s and early ‘80s.)
With any NPS proposal, differing ideas, historical information, and interpretations of terms and facts must be reconciled to the extent that the plan can move forward with concrete actions. In the case of Port Oneida, the illusion of a lost era frozen in time belies the urgency that some have felt, such as preservation groups Friends of Sleeping Bear, Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear (PHSB) and Manitou Islands Memorial Society, to save the precious resources from time’s ravages. In addition these groups, as well as the many individuals who love the park, want to be as certain as they can be that the plan gets it right, both in the facts and the spirit of the shared endeavor to save Port Oneida.
On a summer day in early September, one of these concerned citizens, former park ranger Tom Van Zoeren, led an instructive tour through some of the historic district. The 21-year veteran of Sleeping Bear carries a wealth of knowledge about the area’s history as it entwined Port Oneida’s families, socioeconomics, culture and the natural world over its 75-year span of “significance.”
Though he retired in 2005, Van Zoeren tirelessly researches Port Oneida’s people and places, interviews remaining descendants, and writes a popular, ongoing series of books, Images and Recollections from Port Oneida — his way, he says, of giving back to a place and career that has nurtured and sustained him. In addition, he acts as a Port Oneida advocate and watchdog of the Park’s plans and proposals; with his depth and breadth of knowledge, he is able to seek clarity and ask questions in ways that the average Park visitor might not know how to articulate.
On our tour, Van Zoeren points out some of the changes in the landscape, both large and small, which affect the integrity of the historic landscape. Visiting a “nonextant” farm site such as George Eckherdt’s holding (across from the Martin Basch farm), regularly spaced, gnarled apple trees and non-native foundation plantings provide scant clues to human habitation. Half-buried, disintegrating fence posts, (their rail mortises still visible) and a square section of folded wire bear mute testimony to the boundaries of hardscrabble lives once eked out here, while a pine plantation, darkening the Eckherdts’ former fields, speaks of the destructive possibilities of non-native species that deny a place for native plants and animals.
The retired ranger suggests that, in places like this, or more prominent locations such as the so-called Miller barn (the only remnant of second pioneer family Frederick and Margretha Werner’s farm), placement of identifying corner posts or even outlined timber frames could show locations of lost structures, along with interpretive displays or signs.
He says, “As a docent in the Charles and Hattie Olsen Farm, I have found this is really what people are interested in,” that is, the human lives that unfolded in this place so long ago, but which still connects them to a shared common history of living on the land.
His ongoing work is “based on the idea that we have all these farms in Port Oneida that the government has spent so many thousands of dollars on. This [management plan] is a permanent plan; maybe we can’t picture restoring some of the features now, but 30 years from now, maybe we can do that, so it should be outlined … If we’re going to draw up a plan saying what we’re trying to do — to the degree possible — let’s say it’s a goal to be historically accurate. ‘Topography’ — what does that mean? I’d rather try to document the historically correct configurations,” of farms and fields, the evidence of which is more numerous than the 1938 aerial photographs being used as the main guideline for the plan.
Field clearing and maintenance is a huge part of the ongoing effort to reestablish the spatial patchwork that the former agricultural community had created. By the 1890s, the entire area had been clear-cut by the logging operations of its pioneer settlers, whose descendents turned next to farming, fishing and trade with the steamships that plied the Great Lakes. Crops, orchards, invasive species, dairy farming and now-outmoded land-use practices all left strong patterns on the fragile ecosystem, which nevertheless has crept relentlessly back in the years since the National Park’s formation in 1970.
In the Preferred Alternative, work on fields would continue and increase, including annual mowing, fence lines restored, and site-sensitive removal of pine plantations and black locust tree groves. Some of these projects have been underway for several years, evidenced by the piles of brush and locust logs seen along roadsides that were cleared by volunteers, such as the nonprofit SEEDS Michigan Youth Corps.
Van Zoeren’s work with Port Oneida descendants and his GPS identification of historic spots for the Park’s Geographical Information System software program have shown where old structures are or were, numerous fence lines not on the 1938 photos, and even a small family cemetery completely covered by lilacs.
He explains, “I’ve interviewed pretty much everybody that’s left, I record any information or memory they may have. It’s like mining for gold; you have to sift through the nuggets.” One recent “nugget” was a 1926 photograph given to him last year by Fritz Barratt, a Port Oneida descendant who holds private property on the Baker Farm, near the former site of the village and the Carsten Burfiend Farm. Looking north towards Pyramid Point, it shows an astounding degree of cleared land, as well as farm buildings (some now gone), and some village structures that orients a viewer strongly to a distant place in time, and establishes a clear continuum between then and now.
An area that is given little coverage in the plan is the identification and adaptive reuse potential of some of the travel network that stitched the individual farms and businesses together across Port Oneida. Old cattle paths, which crisscross the area around the Bay View Trail and elsewhere, remain anonymous, as do the hand carved “dugways” that zigzag down bluff faces to Lake Michigan and Shell Lake, enabling wagon goods, logs, small boats and livestock to traverse to and from the shore and “commons” grazing areas. Several places in the plan suggest “new” or “improved hiking trails, with no mention of adaptive reuse of historic cattle trails and human footpaths, or signs identifying them as such to visitors. Van Zoeren also emphasizes the need for these physical connections to be more prominent, a point he brought up at the public presentation given on August 23 at the Park’s Visitor Center in Empire.
At the same time, the recent implementation of the new, 27-mile-long Sleeping Bear multiuse Heritage Trail, which would run through Port Oneida along the north side of M-22, gets little attention, raising concerns about an intrusive non-historical, hardscaped feature running within feet of (at least) the Charles Olsen Farm’s front door. At the August 23 meeting, several people expressed worries over the Park’s perceived continuing pattern of paving, straightening and widening travel surfaces (mainly for automobiles). Recent examples include sections of the Heritage Trail, the trail at the base of Alligator Hill, and parking lots at North Bar Lake, Glen Haven and Good Harbor Bay.
Cookie Thatcher of Glen Arbor expressed frustration with the apparent missed communications between public wishes and Park implementations in the past, saying, “Be very careful when someone [in the NPS] says, ‘recreational zone’!”
Another audience member commented unfavorably on the “Disneyfication” of the Port Oneida area, mentioning “stairs to the beach,” and pots of geraniums (actually both are historically accurate) on the Charles Olsen porch, which serves as a popular visitor stop and the headquarters of PHSB). But her larger point was a fear of Port Oneida’s historical truths, written in its centuries-old landscape, being eroded and destroyed — as real a threat as the blurred edges of fields encroached by trees, or the erosion of bluffs by overeager beachgoers disdaining the stairs.
With increased visitation in Port Oneida, the Park (in collaboration with Leelanau County, which is the actual owner of these roads) may be tempted to widen, straighten and pave some of the gravel roads (such as Baker Road and old logging tracks (part of Basch or Thoreson Roads, for instance) that contribute to the historical integrity and atmosphere of the landscape, as well as provide “calming” traffic stratagems, like curves and softer surfaces.
Tom Van Zoeren says, “There is a lot of protectiveness, concern that, ‘We’re going to lose this.’ I think that people really want to preserve the charm, the feel of it. Everybody owns the Park, everybody feels that way,” even though their expressions of that concern may look very different to each other.
Although the public comment period ended on September 12 at midnight (Mountain Daylight Time), hopefully the many individuals, groups, and governmental units who share a stake in Port Oneida will continue their thoughtful dialogue, so that, in the spirit of the commons on which public stewardship is based — a true consensus in the here and now — its future preservation is assured.
This GlenArbor.com online story was sponsored by Ruth Conklin Gallery in Glen Arbor, which for over 25 years has brought the natural beauty of the shores of Lake Michigan to life through exquisite artwork and handcrafted pieces created by over one hundred talented artists.
Anatomy of a northern Michigan social media campaign
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
Ever since Wednesday, August 17, Northern Michiganders have both embraced and grappled with the news that the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and surrounding region are considered the “most beautiful place in America” — at least according to 22 percent of 100,000 voters who participated in the ABC show Good Morning America’s online competition the second week of August.
Sleeping Bear narrowly beat out Asheville, N.C., for the top spot and also bested vista heavyweights, Newport, R.I., Cape Cod, Mass., Point Reyes, Calif., Aspen, Col., Sedona, Ariz., Destin, Fla., Lanikai Beach, Hawaii, and Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Those vanquished opponents are known worldwide for their beaches, their lobster, their sunsets, their skiing and their peaks. Suffice to say, we’re now on the map too.
Here’s how it happened.
In June, Good Morning America (GMA) solicited online nominations, photos and testimonials from its viewers to help pick the top 10 most beautiful places nationwide. Jim Madole of Grand Rapids, Mich., nominated Sleeping Bear with these words:
“It is peaceful and serene, a place for gazing out into the world, night or day, and realizing that the universe is truly a magical, majestic mystery, and humans are just a very small part of it all.”
“Here at Sleeping Bear,” he continued, “I sit in awe and wonder at the perfection of Mother Nature.”
In late July, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Deputy Superintendent Tom Ulrich received a call from GMA videographer and journalist Sabrina Parise in New York to inquire about stock video footage of the area. Ulrich referred her to MyNorth.com, the website of Traverse Magazine, which recently produced a DVD video titled “Journey into Sleeping Bear Dunes”.
On Thursday, July 28, Parise flew to Traverse City, rented a car and drove to Glen Arbor, where she met Traverse Magazine editor Lissa Edwards and MyNorth.com’s Rachel North for lunch at Blu, Randy Chamberlain’s gourmet restaurant at Le Bear Resort on Sleeping Bear Bay.
North recalls that Chamberlain opened the deck for them so that Parise could eat lunch while gazing out at the Manitou Passage — the stretch of water between the mainland and the Manitou Islands, where passing ships often find safe haven from Lake Michigan storms. The sky was so overcast that the islands were not visible¬ — an uncharacteristically hazy late July day. Nevertheless, Parise was smitten. This was her first trip to Glen Arbor, and all the New York journalist knew of the area was what she had seen on MyNorth.com and on the National Lakeshore’s website.
For lunch, North blogged that Chamberlain served them creamy amuse bouche with a cherry garnish, morels, local greens, walleye, crawdads, cherries, Leelanau raclette and smoked whitefish in an incredible cucumber soup, rounded out by cherry cobbler covered in Moomer’s Ice Cream.
Edwards was Parise’s first tour guide. That afternoon they visited the Dune Climb and Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. With video camera in tow, a smitten Parise told Edwards, “Wow, it looks like we’re on top of the globe.”
North firmly believed that Edwards was the perfect ambassador for Sleeping Bear. “Lissa has a nice, three-legged approach to the dunes. She’s been reporting on them for 15 years, and she’s been a conservation supporter of the dunes for a couple decades. She understands that this place needs as much protection as it does exposure.”
Articulating to Good Morning America the fine line between recreation and preservation — that complex dance that we choreograph every tourism season — was Edwards’ job. She chronicled the history of the National Lakeshore for Parise, its cultural significance, and how the dunes came to be protected.
“When you talk about Northern Michigan, you talk about people who are absolutely committed to promoting it in a mature way,” reflected Rachel North. “We understand that we don’t want dune buggies tearing up our dunes. We don’t want condominiums everywhere. We understand conservation, and conservancies. And yet we invite thousands every year to come and visit … without giving it away.”
Early that evening, Parise checked into the historic Inn at The Homestead. The resort north of Glen Arbor had been nearly full — this being late July, and the visit being a spontaneous one — but Vice President of Sales & Marketing Jamie Jewell shuffled a few reservations to accommodate Parise and give her a view of Sleeping Bear Bay, a stone’s throw from where the Crystal River joins Lake Michigan. Jewell had arranged to meet Parise the following night for dinner, but as she was about to leave the office for the day, Jewell remembered that the Manitou Music Festival was holding a concert on top of The Homestead’s ski hill that evening. Instead, she invited her New York guest to ride the chairlift to the top of the mountain for a performance by the Celtic quartet Blackthorn and then to Nonna’s afterwards for appetizers and local wine.
“She was lovely,” recalls Jamie Jewell. “She was excited to be here … we sometimes get a bad rap (outside of the Midwest) because everyone thinks Michigan is Detroit. She had no idea there was any place like this in Michigan.”
On Friday, Park Deputy Superintendent Tom Ulrich — the first person to be contacted by Good Morning America — toured Parise through parts of the National Lakeshore that Lissa Edwards hadn’t already shown her. Rather than hike up the Empire Bluffs or Pyramid Point with all her camera equipment, Ulrich took her to the Scenic Drive’s Lake Michigan overlook so she could film its spectacular view. The following day, he sent her to South Manitou, and one of his rangers gave her a tour of the recently restored lighthouse. That day offered the best weather during Sabrina Parise’s three-day visit.
“When I was out with her, she said she had no idea about the beauty of this area,” said Ulrich. “This is a not uncommon reaction for people from around the country. They hear of a beautiful place in Michigan. But when people think of national parks, they think of mountains and ocean coasts.”
Ulrich has worked in other picturesque national parks, including Rocky Mountain and Crater Lake National Park. He chuckles at how friends and former colleagues from those parks react when they first encounter Sleeping Bear: “They come here to visit. Their jaws drop and they say, ‘Tom I had no idea there was anything like this here.’ Even though they’ve worked in amazing places too.”
Social media blitz
Parise returned to New York on Sunday, and a week later Good Morning America began featuring two of its 10 “most beautiful places in America” every weekday morning. Our turn came on Tuesday, Aug. 9. (along with Point Reyes, Calif.). Many of the approximately 4.5 million viewers who regularly watch GMA saw Parise’s video (and anchor Josh Elliott’s narration) of Sleeping Bear’s aerial views and pristine waters for the very first time. Some undoubtedly wrote the word “Michigan” into their future travel calendars. That day The Homestead’s Sleeping Bear Dunes Visitors Bureau website received 10,000 unique visits — far above the typical peak of 1,000 per day.
Voters had until Friday at midnight to cast their ballot on GMA’s website, and if you were online at all that week, you probably received emails, Facebook updates or (Twitter) “Tweets” from MyNorth.com, The Homestead, Leelanau.com, the Glen Lake or Empire Chambers of Commerce, Cherry Republic, the Leelanau Coffee Roasting Company, Crystal River Outfitters, the Glen Arbor Sun, or a host of other web-savvy outfits, encouraging you to “pull the lever” for Sleeping Bear.
On Friday afternoon, Aug. 12, GMA discreetly contacted Lissa Edwards, Rachel North and Tom Ulrich to let them know that Sleeping Bear was a top voter-getter, and that the race was tight. Good Morning America was considering sending out a larger film crew to capture more footage early the following week — before the ultimate announcement on Wednesday. To do so, they would need National Park permits through Ulrich (they ultimately decided not to send a crew). Just after 3 p.m. Edwards emailed Jamie Jewell at The Homestead to let her know that the race was close, and Sleeping Bear had a shot at victory.
Fourteen months prior, The Homestead had hired Ileana Habsburg-Snyder to be its social media-Internet marketing guru. Snyder worked from home on Fridays, and at 4 p.m. she was just about to shut down her computer when Jewell called and informed her that it was time to send the campaign into overdrive. Though Snyder had a house full of family and guests at her home near Leland, she cranked out three e-newsletters that evening: one for The Homestead resort, one for the Sleeping Bear Dunes Visitors Bureau and one for the Manitou Passage Golf Club, which The Homestead opened last year. Then she perused the web and posted on any Facebook wall she could think of that was related to northern Michigan. Twitter was next. Snyder “tweeted” on each of The Homestead’s accounts in order to draw the attention of as many online-savvy, and Sleeping Bear-aware users as she could. Her e-campaign reached its crescendo when food celebrity Mario Batali re-tweeted her Sleeping Bear Visitor’s Bureau message at 7:45 p.m. from his iPhone. 142,000 Mario Batali Twitter fans instantly saw him endorsing Sleeping Bear as the most beautiful place in America (his following has since surpassed 150,000).
Meanwhile, Homestead CEO Bob Kuras encouraged Jewell to reach out to the State of Michigan, the Governor and Travel Michigan. Jewell was busy communicating with everyone in her online Rolodex. “Tell them to vote on GMA’s website for Sleeping Bear.” Each individual, she hoped, would touch many others. What a great opportunity, she thought to herself, as the emails flooded her Inbox from contacts across country: vendors, work partners, Orbitz travel agents, friends and family. Her message was going viral.
At 9:30 p.m., Snyder sent Jewell a text message saying that she was signing off for the night. Meanwhile, MyNorth had emailed 27,000 people on its e-list. And Cherry Republic had blasted 50,000 customers with its “Orchard Report”, encouraging them to vote for Sleeping Bear. Northern Michigan’s social media campaign — young but potent — was firing on all cylinders.
Edwards, who had been in direct contact with Parise, stopped responding to Jewell’s emails Friday evening. “Whatever, people are busy,” she thought. Then, just before 11 p.m., Jewell received a text from Parise in New York, asking The Homestead vice president to call her. Jewell did so, and learned that Parise needed accommodations for Monday. She was returning for more footage. The race was down to Sleeping Bear and Asheville, N.C. But that was top secret.
Tom Ulrich was the one person in this inner circle who, due to the nature of his employer — the publicly funded National Park Service, wasn’t using online social media to promote or market a product. Perhaps that was why he was informed by GMA over the weekend that Sleeping Bear had won. They knew they could trust him not to post the news on Facebook or Twitter. True to form, he didn’t tell a soul, except his wife, and his boss, National Lakeshore Superintendent Dusty Shultz.
When Sabrine Parise returned on Monday, Aug. 15, to film more Sleeping Bear footage, she focused less on the National Lakeshore and more on Glen Arbor, and the town’s commerce and tourism infrastructure. She spent time on the Crystal River with Matt and Katy Wiesen of Crystal River Outfitters; she visited Cherry Republic, where owner Bob Sutherland (the “Willy Wonka” of cherries) could tell she was exhausted after two hours of filming, and gave her a cherry float; she shot video of Glen Arbor mainstays, the Good Harbor Grill, the Pine Cone, the Totem Shop, Art’s Tavern, Boone Docks, the Cottage Book Shop, Thyme Out and the Glen Arbor Bed & Breakfast.
Parise’s focus on commerce connected the dots for Ulrich. To the National Lakeshore Deputy Superintendent, this wasn’t just a competition to name beautiful places — but beautiful places that also could support tourists.
“The 10 they chose to feature had some kind of support community right there, and not 50 miles away,” said Ulrich. “These destinations are surrounded by places you can stay, tourism infrastructure. Even with Grand Teton, you’ve got Jackson Hole right there. This was deliberate.”
Tuesday afternoon Jamie Jewell received a text message from her sales representative at Traverse Magazine informing her that community leaders would gather at Art’s on Wednesday morning, Aug. 17, to watch GMA’s announcement of the winner. She arrived at 8 a.m. to find the tavern packed with approximately 50 excited locals — Lissa Edwards, the Wiesens, owner Tim Barr, David Marshall, the Fishers, the van Norts … but not an ABC film crew, which she had feared. Bob Sutherland, too, had been granted last-minute permission by his wife Stephanie to leave the kids and join the gang at Art’s.
Good Morning America announced Sleeping Bear as its most beautiful place in America for 2011 in what looked to be Times Square. As they had on Aug. 9, GMA’s anchors chronicled how receding glaciers shaped the Dunes; they compared the beaches and waters to the Caribbean. And they aired an interview with loyal northern Michigan promoter Mario Batali, whose Tweet may have made the difference in the social media campaign.
Back in Glen Arbor, the crowd screamed when Sleeping Bear was crowned the winner. Sutherland said that people were tearing up. The Cherry Republic president called this the most special event of many he’s experienced at Art’s over the years. “I love my company,” he reflected. “But I love my region 10 times more.”
In retrospect, the victory made sense to Sutherland. “Our national park is for most of the people who live in the Midwest,” he said. “We don’t have as much competition as, say, Aspen. No one in the next Rocky Mountain valley is gonna vote for them. And just up the coast from Cape Cod is another national park, so the vote gets split. Whereas we have one iconic spot.”
But there was no champagne or victory dance at Art’s. This was a workday — in the height of the tourism season, and many of the business-owners gathered there had to return to their desks. Within 20 minutes of the announcement, said Jewell, The Homestead received 600 magazine requests from potential visitors. And the National Lakeshore website, which typically receives 1,000 hits per day, jumped to 15,000, followed by 10,000 hits on Thursday, and 7,000 Friday.
More fudgies?
The boost from the victory would be a sustained one, it seemed. Two weeks later, on Labor Day weekend, the traditional end of the major tourism season in Glen Arbor, the Dune Climb parking lot and Scenic Drive were so packed with cars that National Lakeshore employees weren’t admitting new vehicles. Ben Bricker, who lives near the Dune Climb on M-109, counted 300 more cars than he’s ever remembered in the Dune Climb parking and along the road, for half a mile in each direction.
“We had a real strong latter half of August, and one of biggest Labor Days we’ve ever had,” Tom Ulrich confirmed. “In terms of the lines at the Dune Climb and the Scenic Drive, these crowds rivaled the Fourth of July.
What was noteworthy wasn’t that the Dune Climb and the Scenic Drive were packed, he emphasized. It was that — this year at least — Labor Day had become the Fourth of July.
“What this whole GMA coverage has done is to raise Sleeping Bear Dunes in the national consciousness. The next time people plan a vacation — especially in the upper Midwest — they’ll think about the Dunes as option, whether it’s for the fall color tour or next summer as family. We’re gonna see pulse from this that spreads out over time.”
Some locals, and lovers of northern Michigan as a serene and sparsely populated wonderland, have received Good Morning America’s honor with less than open arms. They dread the crowds, hibernate until the tourists leave in the fall, and worry that hundreds of thousands of feet treading on their pristine beaches will destroy them. Understandable.
The claim is also made that tourism in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore has increased, annually, since the early-1990s, and that the human footprint will continue to grow. But that claim is false, says Ulrich. In fact, the Park boasted its highest annual total of 1.35 million visitors … in 1999. Since then Americans have suffered an economic recession, gone to war, developed Facebook and built an entire creative class around social media, and Glen Arbor’s tourism infrastructure has ballooned. Still, we haven’t reached 1.35 million visitors.
“We’re behind that pace again, even with the amazing summer we’ve had,” said Ulrich. We’re on pace for the third or fourth biggest year ever in 2011 … some of that is because we had a slow April and May.” Ulrich added that the long-term effect of the GMA recognition could help 2012 make a run at 1999.
“I have to think that even with this attention, it’s not as if visitors are going to double or something crazy,” opined Ulrich. “While those of us who live here say, ‘Don’t bother going to a restaurant in July,’ our perception has little to do with the actual number of visitors. This area is geared for tourism. We have the infrastructure intended for visitors. It may strain on some summer days, but there won’t be a horrible impact — especially if spreads out a bit.”
“The trick,” said Rachel North of MyNorth.com, “will be to encourage people to come here in June and September. That’s the next step for us all.”
The day after GMA’s announcement, The Detroit News, the motor city’s second newspaper, ran a provocative article titled “Sleeping Bear Dunes ‘GMA’ honor perplexing to some”, which questioned whether Sleeping Bear was even the prettiest place in the state. “It’s nice but I can think of a bunch better,” said a woman from Mount Pleasant. The story concluded that the victory “may have had more to do with an intensive lobbying campaign in northwest Michigan.” Then on August 24, Crain’s Detroit Business ran a story titled “The sleeping giant behind Sleeping Bear: How scenery and social media created ‘The Most Beautiful Place in America’.”
The point was clear. While Glen Arbor may owe its beauty to pristine dunes and beaches, the National Lakeshore and tourism infrastructure, glaciers and Manitou islands, a mature local social media machine helped secure the victory. Each deserves credit for the GMA honor.
That sentiment worries Tom Ulrich a bit. “If people think we won because of social media presence, wouldn’t that kind of backfire? People who saw the piece might feel cheated.” Perhaps until they wade in Sleeping Bear Bay or run down the Dune Climb, that is. It’s hard to feel cheated at those majestic spots.
I asked Ulrich whether he considered this the most beautiful place in America, given that he’s worked in other picturesque national parks. The National Lakeshore official, always careful with his words, wouldn’t commit to a simple answer.
“This is definitely one of the most beautiful places in America. But it’s a very personal thing. I’m the kind of person who can’t name you just one: there are so many different places. It’s the same with my favorite band. It all depends on my mood at the time.”
Mayberry no more
There’s no denying northern Michigan’s social media prowess and ability to promote this region we love. Ileana Habsburg-Snyder’s role at The Homestead is a testament to that. So is Mario Batali’s Twitter account, MyNorth.com’s website, and Cherry Republic’s weekly e-newsletter.
“We have a distance relationship with most of our customers,” said Bob Sutherland. “We don’t see them every day like businesses in some regions do. They come and see us, and then go away for nine months. So we’ve developed an Internet-based relationship.”
Sutherland sends his weekly “Orchard Report” to some 50,000 recipients. It typically includes details on certain Cherry Republic products, “news from the north,” a trivia question of the week, and a personalized paragraph at the bottom written by Bob, in which he talks about his wife, children, and their adventures of the previous week.
“After I send out the Orchard Report, I can’t go through town without people asking about my kids,” said Sutherland. “Former U.S. Senator Don Riegle stopped me on the side of the road recently and talked for 15 minutes about the Orchard Report and how that’s his tie back to northern Michigan.”
While the Orchard Report, Facebook and Twitter are all relatively new on the scene, the presence in northern Michigan of a population on the cutting edge is not new. Rachel North recalls seeing a map four or five years ago in USA Today that showed the infiltration of technology and where the Internet was taking hold the most. Colored in red she saw a little pinky finger on the map that represented the Leelanau-Grand Traverse region and ran up toward Petoskey.
“I think frankly that the people who live and work here are highly technically oriented — they are a very creative class. Many here run a bed & breakfast and used to work in the automotive industry downstate and understand sophisticated programs and policies. They leave that work behind but they don’t leave knowledge behind.”
Sutherland concurs. “So many of the retirees up here have been very successful, and now they are running chambers of commerce and things. We’re talking about a bunch of ex-CEOs.”
North vividly recalls the day that Traverse Magazine made the jump into the digital age. Three years ago publisher Deborah Wyatt Fellows called a management meeting and told her staff, “We’re no longer a magazine company. We’re now a media company. That means video, and online …” She saw the direction things were heading.
Perhaps it was our social media infrastructure that surprised folks in Detroit and New York even more than our stunning vistas did. For while this may be the rural Midwest, where a friendly, folksy attitude prevails, this is not Mayberry (the fictional town in North Carolina, which was the setting for the Andy Griffith Show).
“I think (New Yorkers) would be surprised,” said North. “They talk about how friendly we are, and use the expression ‘Mayberry’. But if you were in Mayberry, you couldn’t go to the Interlochen Arts Academy and hear world-class music. You couldn’t dine at Blu or La Becasse, Red Ginger or Stellas in Traverse City. New Yorkers have trouble coming up with a moniker that describes this friendly, yet culturally sophisticated northern Michigan.”
And now that Sleeping Bear is considered the most beautiful place in America by a major Manhattan-based media network, more and more people are sure to discover both our setting and our sophistication.
On Labor Day weekend, Cherry Republic’s front patio on Lake Street was so busy that Bob Sutherland began walking through the crowd asking visitors how they had heard of his company. About every fifteenth person, he estimated, learned about Cherry Republic through Good Morning America. He met a tourist who had left the East Coast and was en route to Portland, Oregon, when they saw GMA on television and decided to take a detour to Sleeping Bear. Cherry Republic also received a call from a woman in San Diego who had seen the show and wanted to visit this fall. Where could she stay, she asked?
At The Homestead, Bob Kuras ran into a couple at Nonna’s who were from Toronto and had time for one more trip before summer ended. Upon seeing GMA, they chose Glen Arbor. This is shaping up to be the resort’s biggest September ever, confirmed Jamie Jewell.
But nothing quite topped the story of Shelly and Jeff Plumb, a couple from Butler, Missouri, whose wedding plans on Cape Cod were dashed by Hurricane Irene and its torrential downpour all over New England in late August. Friends back in Missouri who had watched GMA told them about Sleeping Bear, and they decided to “honeymoon” here. While shopping in Glen Arbor, Shelly and Jeff’s story reached Black Swan owner Christy Marshall — a legal wedding officiant. Homestead resident Helen Muzzin offered the beach outside her South Beach condominium for the setting, and Christy’s husband and County Commissioner David Marshall served as the official witness. An impromptu Glen Arbor wedding, made possible by Sleeping Bear’s social media machine.
Northern Michigan wasn’t the only Good Morning America finalist to use a social media campaign to get out its vote, of course. In early September I called the Convention and Visitors Bureau in GMA runner-up Asheville, North Carolina, to inquire about that area’s social media infrastructure, and learned about ExploreAsheville.com and the Asheville Citizen-Times and the Mountain Xpress’ Facebook pages. But when I mentioned that I publish a magazine in Glen Arbor, Michigan, (and without rubbing in the victory) communications director Dodie Stevens became excited at the other end of the line, and said that colleagues of hers in the office had been to the Sleeping Bear Dunes and told her about the cherries.
“I love cherries,” Stevens said. “I want to come visit.”
(Speaking of social media, local videographer extraordinaire Justin Warnes recorded the crowd that walked the Narrows Bridge on Labor Day as saying, “Good morning America from the Sleeping Bear Dunes!” This video has been viewed nearly 2,500 times online. Watch it below.)
This GlenArbor.com online story was brought to you by Pegtown Station. In the heart of Maple City, Pegtown Station boasts among the best homemade pizza, subs and salads in northern Michigan, according to the Northern Express’ “Readers Choice Awards”.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (National Lakeshore) will host a presentation on Lyme disease and ticks on Thursday, September 15, from noon to 1 p.m., in the auditorium of the National Lakeshore Visitor Center in Empire. Visitors are encouraged to come and learn about tick identification, their life cycles, the diseases they transmit, and the measures used for prevention.
Ticks are significant vectors of pathogens that cause human disease. Tick-borne diseases do occur in Michigan, and can be serious or fatal if not properly diagnosed and treated. There have been two reported cases of Lyme disease that the individuals affected believe were contracted while camping on North Manitou Island. Evidence of similar problems has also been found on the mainland portions of the National Lakeshore.
Michigan State University and the Michigan Department of Community Health are working together at the National Lakeshore to research the emergence of Lyme disease and the associated ticks that transmit the disease. Erik Foster of the Michigan Department of Community Health will be presenting the program on ticks and Lyme disease at no cost to the visitors.
For additional information about this presentation or its location, please contact National Lakeshore Chief of Natural Resources Steve Yancho at (231) 326-5134.
In mid-June, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (National Lakeshore) staff identified an ash tree near Little Glen Lake infested with Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). This was the first time EAB had been confirmed within the National Lakeshore. National Lakeshore staff is working with partners and visitors to assess and mitigate the damage caused by these invasive pests.
Since the initial EAB discovery, National Lakeshore staff have been working with the Michigan Department of Agriculture to assess its spread. It appears that up to 90% of the ash trees on the mainland in the National Lakeshore may be infested. With the rapid rate at which the spread has occurred, all of the ash trees on the mainland in the National Lakeshore are at imminent risk. The highest level of known infestation occurs at the north end of the park in the Good Harbor area.
EAB was first discovered in the U.S. in Detroit in 2002; however, it is thought to have been introduced in the early 1990s in wooden packing material that originated in Asia. Since its discovery in Detroit, EAB has been found in 13 states. Although the insects are only able to travel about one mile per year on their own, EAB has spread far more rapidly through transport of firewood. It is estimated that 80% of the infestations in Michigan are the result of firewood transport.
Superintendent Dusty Shultz notes, “The National Lakeshore is saddened by the news that this destructive insect has been found here. We are in the process of working with other agencies to explore our options for control, but the outlook for the ash trees is bleak.” EAB kills all species of ash (Fraxinus spp.) found in Michigan by feeding on the cambium layer that transports nutrients in the tree. The feeding effectively girdles the tree, restricting nutrient transport and eventually killing the tree.
In addition to EAB, area forests are threatened by numerous other pests, including Asian longhorn beetles (affecting maples), beech bark disease, oak wilt, and hemlock woolly adelgid. In an effort to slow or prevent the spread of forest pests, the National Lakeshore instituted a partial firewood transport ban in its campgrounds in 2011, and plans to expand that to a full ban in 2012. All firewood used in the campgrounds would have to be purchased onsite from the National Lakeshore’s approved vendors, or collected by camping permit holders as dead and down wood within designated areas of the National Lakeshore. EAB may be here to stay, but visitors can help stop the spread of other invasive pests by not moving firewood.
This GlenArbor.com exclusive is sponsored by Crystal River Outfitters, which invites you to experience the beauty of the Crystal River, splash through its gentle currents and explore its winding trail.
Six women from the Leelanau Independent Women for Democratic Action (LIWDA) attended the Democracy Convention in Madison from Aug. 24-27. They included Barb Schneider, Betty Bushey, Jenny Olson, BJ Christensen, Betsy Johnson and Elsie Peterson. Attendees from across the country learned about the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) made up of legislators and leaders from the business world who write model legislation together and then pass these laws in their own states including Michigan. They also learned about Move to Amend, a movement to amend the U.S. Constitution to abolish corporate personhood, to bring an end to corporate rule in America (made possible in large part by the Citizen’s United case) and how to legalize democracy for all people.
To learn which companies and legislators are writing our laws and the wording of these laws, visit www.ALECexposed.org. Also check out www.movetoamend.org. To learn more about what individuals can do, attend the next LIWDA meeting on September 13, at 4 p.m. at The Leelanau School north of Glen Arbor.
