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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.