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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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Missing Wisconsin man found, arrested at Sleeping Bear Dunes

A man reported missing from Milwaukee was located by officials at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Tuesday afternoon, August 20. Steven Lisowski, 28, of Wisconsin, was taken into custody about 2:30 p.m. ET after an altercation between Lisowski and police officers. Lisowski had been reported critically missing by the Milwaukee Police Department on Sunday, August 18. A critical missing alert is used by the police department when an individual may be particularly vulnerable. On Tuesday, as officers attempted to detain Lisowski, an altercation ensued before he was eventually restrained with the assistance of the Benzie County Sheriff’s Office police K-9. Lisowski and the two officers were transported to Munson Medical Center for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries sustained during the altercation. Charges against Lisowski are pending.

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Port Oneida Fair marries old with new

Everything old is new again. That’s not simply a cute quote or the title of a song—it’s what happens every year at the Port Oneida Fair. Haying the fields with horses. Making soap, churning butter, spinning fibers. Wood cutting with huge cross-cut saws (try it yourself). People dressed in turn-of-the-century garb (19th to 20th century, that is). Each August, amid the pastoral setting of meadows, maples, barns, farmhouses, and corncribs, the Port Oneida Rural Historic District awakens from its peaceful slumber. The district comes alive with activity true to the period when it was a community of robust farms.

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Exciting changes coming to the Port Oneida Fair

Mark your calendar for the 2024 Port Oneida Fair at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Friday and Saturday, August 9-10, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Each August, amid the pastoral setting of meadows, maples, barns, farmhouses, and corncribs, the Port Oneida Rural Historic District awakens from its peaceful slumber. The district comes alive with activity true to the period when it was a community of robust farms. Visitors are invited to step back in time to experience life as it was in the late 1800s and early 1900s. 

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Port Oneida Run supports Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear

The 12th annual Port Oneida Run—an event of the National Park’s nonprofit partner Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear—will take place on Saturday, August 3. The run starts and ends at the big red barn and lawn area at the Olsen Farm/Port Oneida Farms Heritage Center, just four miles north of Glen Arbor. It is the only race that winds through the beautiful scenery of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore’s Port Oneida Rural Historic District. With its historic farms and barns, Port Oneida is hailed as one of the most prized historic landscapes in the country and should be on every runner’s bucket list.

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Preserve holds Log Cabin Day event

Come celebrate Michigan’s Log Cabin Day with National Park partner Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear on Sunday, June 30, from 11 am to 4 pm. The event this year will take place exclusively at the Boekeloo Cabin located in Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore and Benzie County. Descendant Stuart Boekeloo will provide the interpretive history of the unique cabin situated on a cranberry bog at the end of a quiet two-track. The late 1800s log cabin location also has a walking path to Lake Michigan. Bill Herd, Preserve board member and retired interpretive ranger for Sleeping Bear Dunes, will also be on-site to highlight Preserve’s extensive preservation work on the cabin.

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Pathways to Sleeping Bear hosts event series about Heritage Trail extension

Pathways to Sleeping Bear will host several events this summer, including happy hours and open houses, to share information about the Pathway to Good Harbor—the northernmost segment of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail. Community members, visitors, trail users, and anyone interested in learning more about the trail are invited to attend these events. Open houses will meet at the intersection of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail and Glen Haven Rd. The next one is scheduled for Thursday, June 27, from 10 am-noon.

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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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Recognizing National Historic Preservation Month in Leelanau

May is National Historic Preservation Month, a time set aside to highlight the important work of organizations working to preserve historic places like Port Oneida. Locally, in Leelanau County, there are 25 nationally recognized historic places and 18 additional state recognized historic sites, with several organizations which operate to support their preservation. Mae Stier writes that she and her husband Tim Egeler—a descendent of the Egelers and Kelderhouses, who were early settlers to Leelanau—spent the summer leading up to their wedding learning the names of family members. “When we committed to creating our future together, we did so by standing under a giant old oak tree that looked out at the Manitou Islands, on a farmstead that members of his family had once cared for.”

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Victorious in National Park lawsuit, Riverside Canoes celebrates 60 years

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Riverside Canoes will not need a commercial use authorization from the National Park Service to continue renting canoes, kayaks and tubes on the Platte River at the southern end of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Nor will the business have to share five percent of its gross sales with the Park. On March 1, federal judge Paul Maloney with the Western District of Michigan ruled in favor of Riverside, which will celebrate 60 years of operating on the Platte when it opens on May 1. The National Park Service has until the end of April to appeal. Riverside previous owners fought a long legal battle with the Park after Sleeping Bear Dunes was created in 1970. In 1992 they signed an agreement that allowed the business to continue operating within the National Lakeshore. It’s unclear why the Park sought to revisit the matter in 2022. Officials with the National Lakeshore declined to comment, citing active litigation. “Riverside is an anomaly. The business existed before the Park was there,” said Riverside co-owner Kyle Orr. “We try to provide family fun for generations. But we also recognize that we are stewards of the river. We are not anti-park. At end of day, I just want to coexist.”

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