National Park to name new Sleeping Bear superintendent by late May
Tom Ulrich, Sleeping Bear’s interim superintendent, is among the candidates being considered for the job.
From staff reports
The National Park Service will name the next superintendent to run Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore by the end of May — if not sooner — Park spokesperson Christine Powell told the Glen Arbor Sun today. Powell works out of the National Park’s Midwest Regional office in Omaha, Neb.
Sleeping Bear’s interim superintendent Tom Ulrich, who joined the National Lakeshore in 2002, is among a crop of approximately 20 candidates being considered from across the nation. According to Powell, the criteria for the superintendent position is to understand the National Park Service’s mission, with an emphasis on natural resources conservation, personnel and budget management, and also Park law enforcement. Before rising to interim superintendent, Ulrich was Sleeping Bear’s deputy superintendent under Dusty Shultz, who retired last year.
During his 14-year tenure at Sleeping Bear, the National Lakeshore has pivoted from a single-minded focus on wilderness preservation to a nuanced strategy that preserves much of the Park but also opens certain parts to recreation. (The Park faced a firestorm in 2002 when it unveiled a plan to close popular beaches, roads and hunting and fishing areas to the public.) The Park opened the popular Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail in 2012, giving bikers, runners and skiers a place to recreate away from state highways. The Heritage Trail currently stretches from Empire to the Port Oneida Rural Historic District, north of Glen Arbor, and will expand to Good Harbor Bay this spring. Meanwhile, much of Sleeping Bear will be protected as wilderness, following President Obama’s signing of bipartisan legislation two years ago that was celebrated by Michigan dignitaries including Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, Congressman Dan Benishek, Shultz and Ulrich. The Sleeping Bear Conservation and Recreation Act is widely seen as a win-win for both the Park and the public.
Local citizens have been encouraged by their chambers of commerce, their neighbors and friends, to write letters to the Park’s Midwest Regional Office with their thoughts on Ulrich and the recent direction of Sleeping Bear. However, Powell told the Sun that the Park is not seeking public input, though letters that arrive will be accepted.
