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National Park visitation sets nationwide record as economic engine

The Department of the Interior announced that visitor spending in communities near national parks in 2022 resulted in a record high $50.3 billion benefit to the nation’s economy and supported 378,400 jobs. The report showed that the approximately 1.5 million visitors to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore last year spent an estimated $182 million in local gateway communities. These expenditures supported a total of 2,390 jobs, $72.5 million in labor income, $130 million in value added, and $234 million in economic output.

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Taking Account

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This summer, Petoskey-based writer Alexandra Dailey attended a national Road to Healing event in Pellston—part of a year-long tour by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland (a Michigan native) to provide a platform for survivors of the federal Indian boarding schools to share their experiences and grievances. On Thanksgiving today, as she and her white family members gather and express thanks for their homes, shelters, and jobs, she plans to recognize her privilege of not having familial trauma associated with the Indian boarding school system. She writes in the Glen Arbor Sun that she will be grateful for the healing that is occurring within the tribal communities—grateful that she was able to witness the beginnings of the healing that is yet to come for our Native neighbors.

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Interior Secretary Deb Haaland visits Sleeping Bear Dunes

United States Interior Secretary Deb Haaland visited Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Thursday, Aug. 11, before she traveled north to Pellston to meet with survivors of Federal Indian Boarding Schools. At Sleeping Bear, she toured Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, visited the Dune Climb, and sites at Glen Haven including the Sleeping Bear Inn, the cannery and Lake Michigan. Haaland’s visit to Sleeping Bear Dunes was the second by a U.S. Secretary of the Interior. In June 1998, Secretary Stewart Udall spoke at an emotional standing-room-only public gathering at the Sleeping Bear Dunes—the Park he helped establish.

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President Biden’s Cabinet All Hands on Deck to Accelerate Energy Transition and Adapt to Climate Change

We asked Northport resident and environmental policy guru Skip Pruss how President Joe Biden and his cabinet of environmental all stars will combat the climate crisis and what the federal government’s effort could mean for Michigan and the Great Lakes. Pruss is co-founder of 5 Lakes Energy, former board chair at the Traverse City-based nonprofit FLOW (For Love of Water) and former director of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth under former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who is Biden’s nominee for Energy Secretary.

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