Manitou Island Transit family legacy in jeopardy: Grosvenor-Munozes sue National Park over dock closures

The Grosvenor-Munoz family, which operates Manitou Island Transit, has been unable to run trips to North Manitou this year. South Manitou will be closed next year. Photo (from 2019) by Raquel Jackson.

By Berry Kendall

Sun contributor

Tucked along the mouth of the Leland River where it meets Lake Michigan, sits Historic Fishtown, one of the last working commercial fishing villages in the Great Lakes region. Fishtown is known for its faded, timeworn fishing shanties, smokehouses, overhang docks, fish tugs, charter fishing boats, and the Manitou Island Transit ferry. The latter is a beloved 108-year-old institution, now struggling to survive due to forces beyond its control.

The Grosvenor-Munoz family, owners of Manitou Island Transit, filed a federal lawsuit against the National Park Service (NPS) in early February accusing the agency of breach of contract and mismanagement during dock reconstruction projects on North and South Manitou Islands. The National Park Service has closed North Manitou Island to visitors in order to replace and relocate the docks due to sediment shoaling which has created access issues. North Manitou hasn’t had regular ferry service since 2022.

But Manitou Island Transit—run by Megan (Grosvenor) and Jimmy Munoz—is more than a ferry service. It’s a fourth-generation, family-run company. Since 1917, the Grosvenor-Munoz family has connected mainland Leland to the Manitou Islands, seven days a week through Labor Day weekend. Beneath the chorus of shrieking gulls, the ferry—named the Mishe-Mokwa—carries mail, passengers, supplies, and stories across the churning waves.

Each year, Manitou Island Transit ferries roughly 10,000 visitors to the islands. Now, most are limited to exploring only South Manitou Island unless they can secure alternative transportation to the north. The rugged, remote North Manitou remains a favorite destination for seasoned backpackers and wilderness campers while South Manitou has historically been the destination for daytime excursionists. South Manitou does offer camping at designated sites, a tradition embraced by local organizations like the Glen Lake Yacht Club which brings a youth group to the island each July. For many of these youths, camping on South Manitou with their friends is the highlight of the summer. South Manitou will be inaccessible in 2026 while a new dock is being built.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore superintendent Scott Tucker confirmed to the Sun that work on the islands remains on schedule. His staff anticipates completing the dock relocation on North Manitou this fall and beginning work on South Manitou next spring.

The Park would not comment on current litigation brought by the Grosvenor-Munoz family.

According to the lawsuit filed in February, the NPS has not only failed to provide safe and functional docks for passenger ferries during construction but has repeatedly disregarded earlier warnings about the consequences of closure without a contingency plan. The Munozes are seeking $700,000 in damages and are asking the judge to force the NPS to fix the access issue. The $700,000 is equivalent to the income the Manitou Transit Authority has lost from not being able to ferry passengers to North Manitou.

The Park Service countered, claiming that the Manitou Transit Authority refused to use a temporary dock erected in 2024. The Munozes assert that the temporary dock was installed in unprotected, unsafe waters that cause the ferry to toss about violently in small swells. In the filing they state that the landing is unsafe and places passengers and crew in peril during use of the interim dock. “The only way I can prove my point is to hurt somebody,” Jimmy Munoz told the Leelanau Enterprise. “They have an impressive [temporary] dock that no one will use. We’re in violation because I won’t put someone’s life at risk. Neither will Michael (Grosvenor).”

A requirement of the contract between the ferry service and the NPS specifies that the docks must be maintained in a condition that guarantees ferry access “for the duration of the seasonal operating schedule.”

In 2021, the Munozes won a similar breach of contract lawsuit against the NPS when sand buildup due to untimely dredging prevented them from docking at both North and South Manitou Islands in 2020.

The impact isn’t limited to the business. Residents, small business owners, and loyal ferry passengers have spoken out, underscoring how deeply the closure reverberates. “I believe customers are as devastated as we are. Many rode to the islands when my grandfather drove the boat, and they are like my family,” Megan (Grosvenor) Munoz told the Leelanau Ticker.

Lisa Brookfield is the Leland Township clerk and a Harbor Commission member. “I don’t know much about the negotiations or hang up,” she told the Enterprise. “But the Grosvenor family has been running that service for generations and that service is important to the township and the community.”

Locals see the ferry as a lifeline—one that brings campers, hikers, families, and history-lovers to a part of Northwest Michigan like no other. Captain Jimmy Munoz, who helms the ferry, warned that the closure could be the end of an era. He told Leelanau.com, “If they shut us down—which they’re doing right now—there will never be a ferry boat back there again out of Leland.” The Park Service has promised that once completed, the dock projects will end years of dredging and improve island access. But to the Grosvenor-Munoz family, those gains come at an unacceptable cost.

“We’re going to go out of business…we’re trying our best to pretend like we’re not, but it’s our only option,” Jimmy told the Ticker. The Munozes own the dockside property out of which the ferry runs. Regardless of the blocked access to the Manitous, the company is required to maintain its insurance policies, parking lot, boat, and keep up with equipment and operating costs. Earlier this year, the couple was forced to sell property they owned in Leland in order to survive financially.

“All we need to run our business are two safe docks, and since the current administration in Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore was put in place, we have not had that,” Megan Munoz told the Sun. As the lawsuit works its way through the courts, the community waits—hoping the ferry’s horn will continue to sound in Historic Fishtown’s harbor. The loss of this service would mark more than a business forced into insolvency; the Mishe-Mokwa is a living heirloom whose legacy bears preserving.