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Resistance awakes as “Hands Off” rallies energize Northern Michigan against Trump

As many as 4,000 demonstrators rallied at the Traverse City Governmental Center on Saturday, April 5, as part of nationwide “Hands Off” protests to oppose the Trump administration’s aggressive policies on trade tariffs, cuts to social services, health programs and National Parks, and threats against immigrants and free speech. Hundreds more protested along state highways in towns including Benzonia and Suttons Bay. Huge crowds at the “Hands Off” rallies suggested that the resistance to Trump’s policies has awoken.

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Piping Plover citizen volunteers sought, with Sleeping Bear Dunes employment in flux

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Ready or not, here they come. The endangered, migratory Piping Plover birds will return to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in April and set up their stony nests—regardless of National Park staff cuts and federal politics. Sleeping Bear staff might not be able to hire all the seasonal employees it needs to work with the shorebirds—or those workers might not arrive on time—since the federal hiring process resumed late in the winter. In their potential absence, volunteers are stepping forward. Grawn resident Maryellen Newport is recruiting local volunteers to monitor and protect the Piping Plover from predators. Read the story for a link to sign up.

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Your Sleeping Bear Dunes experience this year may feel very different

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UPDATE (March 12): The National Park Service once again has the green light to hire seasonal workers, but the late start has hampered the ability of Sleeping Bear Dunes to populate its seasonal roster. As of Glen Arbor Sun press time, approximately 80 percent of the National Lakeshore’s more than 100 seasonal positions remained vacant. The federal government chaos and the inability of seasonals from outside the area to find housing has prompted a slew of declines from candidates who were suddenly called and offered seasonal positions in March. Sleeping Bear Dunes staff have been paralyzed in other ways, too. Government-issued credit cards used by Park staff are frozen. They can’t buy ammunition or ranger supplies; they can’t even buy toilet paper for outhouses at hiking trails.

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Boughs that won’t break: Sleeping Bear Dunes employees should stand strong against Trump’s attempt to humiliate federal workforce

Sleeping Bear Dunes and other federal employees opened their work emails last week to find threatening form letters from our own government. From a new regime hell-bent on shrinking and neutering our United States government and the crucial services it provides to our citizens and people around the world. Addressed to nearly every public servant, the generic letters question their worth, belittle their service, and encourage all to resign. A simple one word reply to the email is all that’s needed to end a lifetime of service. It is wrong to treat people as replaceable and unwanted tools, but that is the clear sentiment behind the current flurry of messages. Seasonal worker programs like the one that shaped my life are at stake. The federal workforce deserves to know they are appreciated and assured that their work is important.  

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