“Shooting the tube” through the Crystal River culverts under County Road 675 is now an experience of the past. This month the Grand Traverse Engineering & Construction will remove the three culverts and replace the road above them with an 80-foot timber bridge. The work should be complete by the end of November, according to GTEC construction manager Ken Ockert. S. Dunns Farm Road will be closed to thru traffic and rerouted around Big Glen Lake for the duration of the project. Labor Day Monday, Sept. 2, was the last day for kayakers, canoers and paddleboarders to float through the culverts. Their removal is bittersweet for the staff at Crystal River Outfitters, which has sent thousands of people down the river in the past three decades. “It’s fun to look back at the last 30 years and think that the term ‘shoot the tube’ has become synonymous with Crystal River Outfitters kayak trips down the Crystal River,” said Katy Wiesen, who co-owns the business together with her husband Matt. “Shooting the tube became not only an annual family tradition but also led to many variations on stickers, hats, t-shirts and more that are soon to be a piece of history.”
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New Community Vision’s two-year effort to acquire and preserve the former Timber Shores property between Omena and Northport will benefit from a multi-million dollar federal grant to the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians as part of an overall $11.9 million funding recommendation announced last Thursday by the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The grant is part the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. NCV and the Band hope to preserve more than 200 acres—including 1,800 feet of lakeshore—as a public nature preserve for the community while using 24 acres in an upland section of the property for affordable housing—an acute issue facing the region. The land between Omena and Northport, which sits along West Grand Traverse Bay and was once the site of Timber Shores campground, was later considered for a luxury condo development with a private marina. More recently, developers sought to turn it into an RV park and campground, but faced local pushback and were stopped by a 2022 ballot referendum that opposed the RV park.
It’s early April, and Jim VerSnyder is sitting at a big stainless-steel table that’s covered in fish blood at Carlson’s Fishery in one of the historic Fishtown shanties in Leland. He’s got a long, sharp knife in one hand, and with the other, he reaches into a bin filled with ice, pulls out a fish, and plops it on a cutting board, reports Dan Wanschura in this story adapted from a podcast for Interlochen Public Radio. Right now, the value of an average Great Lakes whitefish is around $15. But there’s a project that’s trying to double—even triple that amount in the next several years. And it does that by finding ways to use parts of the fish that are often thrown away. This project is based on a success story in Iceland.
They may be beautiful. They may look nice as lawn ornamentation. They may even be as familiar as the bouquet from the florist. But make no mistake: non-native plants and animals threaten native flora and fauna as well as the enjoyment residents and visitors derive from the area. Knotweed, barberry, baby’s breath and Eurasian milfoil are just a few of the invasive species found in our fields and forests, lakes and waterways. Some target specific hosts, such as hemlock wooly adelgid, and before that, the emerald ash borer. Others simply crowd out native plants, such as garlic mustard or autumn olive. The Northwest Michigan Invasive Species Network works with a number of partners, including the Leelanau Conservancy, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the Leelanau Conservation District, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and numerous private landowners to combat these and other invasives.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will hold a public storytelling webinar on Monday, March 18, at 6 pm. The free event is offered as a partnership between the National Lakeshore and the Nurturing the Eighth Fire team of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. The guest speaker is Isaac Murdoch whose Ojibwe name is Bomgiizhik (“Revolving Sky”). His presentation will focus on the ancient traditional knowledge of Ojibwe communities regarding the night sky. He will delve into the cultural significance and meanings behind these celestial stories, highlighting the unique perspectives of star knowledge within Indigenous cultures. Additionally, he will explore how these narratives are both distinct and universally relatable on a global scale.
Emily Modrall drew an audience of 150 to Suttons Bay High School on Nov. 29 where she summarized the Kchi Wiikwedong Anishinaabe History Project and its work to give more space and visibility to the Anishinaabe past and present through signage and art on public land. A fascination with history led Modrall, who grew up in Suttons Bay, to a Ph.D. in Art & Archeology from the University of Pennsylvania and 15 years of field work in Italy. But upon returning home, this region’s own history seemed far away. Two years ago, Modrall ran across a marker at West End Beach etched “OLD INDIAN TRAIL” which she learned led south to Cadillac and was used by the Anishinaabek more than a century ago. Most of these trails are now lost to history—or paved over. Modrall describes herself in that moment unmoored, as she felt the history of her home and birthplace shifting beneath her feet. “What was this old trail?” She remembers wondering, “Who put up this marker? And what more can we do to preserve the past?”
Just outside of Glen Arbor, a well-traveled section of County Road 675 is imperiled as it crosses three sets of undersized culverts slowly crumbling into the Crystal River. That’s a multi-million-dollar problem for the Leelanau County Road Commission. The engineering plans call for the construction of a concrete and steel structure to replace the culverts under CR 675 closest to M-22. That will keep the two road surfaces closely matched in elevation. The two sets of culverts further east, including the “shoot-the-tube” culverts, are to be replaced with classic wood bridges providing a lot of headroom for paddlers, ending the need for portages across the road. Plans call for the replacement of the Tucker Lake overflow culvert with a wide and substantial concrete box culvert.
On May 5, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians observes “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day.” This is a day to remember those who have been murdered, and those who are still missing, particularly Native women and children.
The Crystal River near Glen Arbor in Leelanau County is one of the central features in a new documentary film to be screened on WCMU Public Television at Noon on Sunday, Oct. 2. Restoring Aquatic Ecosystems shines a light on Michigan’s first indigenous-led, multi-agency collaborative created to restore and protect the ecology of streams and rivers across the entire region. Led by the Grand Traverse Band (GTB) of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, the Tribal Stream and Michigan Fruitbelt Collaborative includes more than a dozen nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies working together to remove blockages to the natural flow of water in Michigan’s streams and rivers—often called “the arteries of mother earth.”
Late August is the time when Peshawbestown in Leelanau County typically hosts its annual Pow Wow, a vital part of Native culture. A social gathering, it’s a time to dance, to feast, and to share stories. Vendors sell their crafts, children dance and spectators gather and watch the dancers move to the beat of the drum. The colors swirl and the Native pride is palpable. These photos featuring past Pow Wows were taken by Minnie Wabanimkee, a Native artist and photographer.