Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

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Summer brings activities to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Day or night, sunny or cloudy, the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore provides opportunities for family fun. Whether it’s self-directed hikes or drives, ranger-led programs or events coordinated by partners such as Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes or Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear, the area offers plenty of ways to explore, engage and maybe even get a little exercise. You may want to start early if you’re planning on some of the more popular attractions. On its website, the National Park Service recommends hitting the following before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m. to allow for easier parking, lower temperatures and fewer fellow outdoor enthusiasts.

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Sleeping Bear Dunes hosts National Trails Day Project

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore invites those interested in assisting the Park to join in a National Trails Day project on Saturday, June 7. Park Rangers will meet participants at the Shauger Hill Trailhead parking lot at 9 am and will conclude at noon. The project will put the finishing touches on this year’s cleanup of Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive’s Lake Michigan Overlook.

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Northern Michigan national parks prepare for summer visitors amid staffing, morale concerns

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With a new tourism season upon northern Michigan, uncertainty remains about how national parks will handle millions of visitors amid lingering staffing questions because of back-and-forth federal workforce policies. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore has approximately two-thirds of the seasonal staff it typically needs to welcome more than 1.5 million visitors over the next three busy months. “They’re still trying to get anybody else to accept a job, but it looks like there won’t be many more coming,” said former Sleeping Bear deputy superintendent Tom Ulrich. He added that the true impacts aren’t being felt yet because the park isn’t yet getting 400,000 visitors per month as they do in peak-season.

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Health Department warns of tick bites and Lyme disease

May is National Lyme Disease Awareness Month, a time to focus on protecting your health and staying informed about tick-borne illnesses. The Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department reminds residents that Lyme disease, caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, is the most common tick-borne illness in Michigan. Ticks are most active in spring and summer, and wooded, grassy, or brushy areas increase your risk of exposure. Early detection and prevention are key to avoiding Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections.

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Friends of Sleeping Bear offer volunteer training

Join Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes, the National Lakeshore’s nonprofit partner for a volunteer training on Sunday, May 18, from 1–3 pm at the Glen Arbor Town Hall. The Friends are kicking off the summer season with an afternoon of connection, updates, and inspiration. Come learn about volunteer opportunities and hear directly from National Lakeshore rangers and staff about what’s ahead for the Park this year.

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Wine for wildlife: Dune Bird’s new rosé supports Piping Plover conservation

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Dune Bird Winery is collaborating with Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes, a nonprofit partner of the National Park Service, to protect the endangered Piping Plover and other resource protection efforts along Lake Michigan’s shorelines. On Thursday, May 1, Dune Bird will release a sweet rosé called Pink Plover. Click here for information on attending the event. The Piping Plover is a small, endangered shorebird which breeds along the shores of the Great Lakes from April to August each year. Almost half of the Great Lakes population nests within the National Lakeshore. Dune Bird’s Pink Plover represents a community commitment to protect one of Michigan’s most beloved and vulnerable species. A portion of every bottle sold will go toward supporting conservation efforts for the Piping Plover and other Friends of Sleeping Bear resource protection programs.

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Sleeping Bear Dunes to conduct prescribed fires this spring

The National Park Service plans to conduct four prescribed fires in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore before May 15. Prescribed fire is used as a tool to assist in restoring forest habitat while also reducing the threat of wildland fires. In the Platte Plains area of the National Lakeshore, two prescribed fires will be on 1,490 acres. One burn unit includes and surrounds the Lasso Loop of the Platte Plains Trail. The second burn unit falls between Peterson and Lasso Roads.  

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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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Demonstrators at Sleeping Bear Dunes and nationwide stand up for National Park Service workers

Bitter cold winds and temperatures in the teens didn’t stop them. Neither did the catatonic state of the federal government as the Trump administration and oligarch-in-chief Elon Musk take a wrecking ball to the national workforce. Yesterday, March 1, more than 60 local demonstrators gathered at noon at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore headquarters in Empire to rally on behalf of their fired National Park workers and to protest the federal spending freeze that will delay the hiring of more than 100 seasonal employees who are integral to opening our National Lakeshore to 1.6 million visitors this summer. They marched through snow and wind from the Visitor’s Center to the Empire public beach and back.

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