Opposes Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail Little Traverse Lake extension

Doug Verellen

Op-Ed contributor

I’m writing to address the most recent op-eds [published in our March edition] supporting the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail (HT) extension as a neighborly and convenient thing to do. After the readings, I must confess desiring to drink cocoa with freshly made sugar cookies nestled under the blanket watching old Disney movies. The feeling didn’t last though when I considered the consequences of yesteryear.

Though well-intentioned, both articles miss the point entirely. Neighborly enters the discussion by realizing Mother Nature is our constant neighbor. And we need to treat her as such! Axing 7,300 trees, carving into her dunes while erecting 15 ft. plus concrete retaining walls, board-walking her wetlands, and bulldozing a 25-foot vector opening delicate ecosystems to sunlight and invasive species, all for a bike road, half of which is alongside another road.  This is a crime against nature! And not what’d you call—neighborly.

The National Park System (NPS) was founded based on this purpose: “To conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” It’s on the back of their business card. This HT Segment 9 initiative is the opposite of that directive.

The only reason to go beyond Bohemian Road is to fulfill TART’s theory of connectivity, whether your community wants it or not. It’s not about a dozen rosy-cheeked neighbors embracing each other as they roll and stroll about trailside. It’s about sacrificing wilderness and spurring habitat degradation for a trail without demand, to satisfy the desires of a very few. Then ending the trail about 20 yards north of CR 651/M22 at the access entrance of an already congested small beach area. In short, the trail to nowhere! Then TART can make the case to traverse the county for a Suttons Bay hookup. If it’s in the road Right of Way, it’s not on private property, right?

But hey, it’s only $15 million, about $10 million of which is public funds—tax dollars. That is roughly a 50% increase since proposed in 2019.  It will be higher when the final engineering is complete. To give you one perspective, the entire budget of Leelanau County is about $18 million; the Road Commission is $9 million for 600 miles of road. To give another perspective, the first 22 miles of trail cost about $10.5 million, or $477,000 per mile. This 4.3-mile segment is currently just under $3.5 million per mile! Is this a fiscally responsible way to spend our tax dollars?

I wonder if future generations, our children, and theirs, will be truly appreciative of an additional 4 miles of bike road, at $15 Million plus, or rue the fact that their forebears lacked the vision to respond to the climate change so apparent around them, and the continued taking of their wilderness to satisfy present, perceived needs. So, for them perhaps, 15 years in the future, it’s too hot outside in the barren countryside to ride a bike.

I offer this advice to the “trail at any cost” contingent and visitors from everywhere. Don’t try to change this place into the place you just left. Approach our beloved Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore with awe and reverence. Immerse yourself in our remaining wilderness. Tuck yourself in here and let the land change you. That is the power and allure of our national park and wilderness preservation efforts.

Verellen is former vice president of the Little Traverse Lake Association.