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Leelanau’s influencers of 2024

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With 2024 in the rearview mirror and 2025 upon us, we’re recognizing 25 “influencers” we covered in the Glen Arbor Sun this past year who are making a meaningful impact on Leelanau County communities, commerce, and culture. Read below about those 25 local influencers, who include everyone from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, to Leelanau Investing for Teens, to Empire’s polar dippers, to popular new destinations River Club Glen Arbor, the Sleeping Bear Inn, and the Lively’s NeighborFood Market.

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Grand Traverse Band, New Community Vision, re-acquire Mashkiigaki on former Timber Shores property

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The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and the New Community Vision (NCV) nonprofit have reacquired land historically known as “Mashkiigaki” (formerly called Timber Shores)—which totals more than 200 acres along West Grand Traverse Bay between Suttons Bay and Northport. The Band gets more than 188 acres, including 1,800 feet of pristine shoreline; NCV gets 24 acres along M-22. The transfer deed was recorded on Dec. 26. New Community Vision has worked for two years to acquire and preserve the former Timber Shores property, which developers unsuccessfully tried to turn into an RV park until they were stopped by a ballot referendum in 2022. NCV is collaborating with Peninsula Housing to develop attainable housing on its portion of the land. Mashkiigaki is one of the largest undeveloped coastal properties in the Grand Traverse region.

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Sleeping Bear applies brakes on controversial Heritage Trail extension along Little Traverse Lake

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Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is putting the brakes on its planned 4.5-mile extension of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail, which was to run near Little Traverse Lake and conclude at Good Harbor Trail. National Lakeshore superintendent Scott Tucker announced the news today during a press conference at Park headquarters in Empire. (Click here to watch a livestream of the news conference.) The National Lakeshore is pausing the design of Segment 9 following months of conversations with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, which opposes the route of the extension and which sent a letter of concern on Aug. 26 to Secretary of the Interior Debra Haaland and U.S. Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow.

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Goodbye culverts, hello timber bridge over the Crystal River

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“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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More than just a filet of fish

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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.

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Invasives threaten local environment

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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.

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Sleeping Bear Dunes holds night sky webinar with Grand Traverse Band

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.

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“This land needs to hear its language”

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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?”

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Multi-million-dollar bridges will replace Crystal River culverts: County Road 675 closes this Fall

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.

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Grand Traverse Band recognizes Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day

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.

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