Posts

Ice Cave mania returns to Leelanau

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Leelanau’s ice caves are back. They’re not as gigantic or awe-inspiring as the 2014 ice caves that formed near Gill’s Pier between Leland and Northport, but they have nonetheless garnered the attention of nationwide media. Glen Arbor resident Eric LaPaugh took this video on Feb. 16 of ice caves that had formed in Sleeping Bear Bay, just outside Glen Arbor. The lucky find has attracted free publicity for his company Leelanau Adventures, which offers guided tours of lesser known spots in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

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Sleeping Bear Dunes offers guided snowshoe hikes

Come explore Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on snowshoes this winter. Join park rangers for a guided snowshoe hike this holiday season and every Saturday throughout the winter. The first hike of the season will be on Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014 at 1 p.m. The snowshoe hikes will continue to be offered every Saturday at 1 p.m. through March 7, 2015. Meet at the National Lakeshore’s Philip A. Hart Visitor Center in Empire. If you don’t have your own snowshoes, a pair will be loaned at no charge. Participants need only purchase the park entrance pass or have an annual pass to join in the fun.

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National Lakeshore proposes fee increase: citizens want one-day pass

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Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is requesting public comment as the Park considers an increase to entrance and camping fees beginning in January 2016. The current entrance fees and first come-first served camping fees have been in place since 2004 with only a slight increase in fees for reservable campsites which occurred in 2006. The National Lakeshore is one of only 131 of the 401 National Park Service (NPS) sites that charge entrance fees and were recently authorized by NPS Director Jon Jarvis to consider fee increases based upon a new fee structure.

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Proposed Sleeping Bear Bay to Bay Trail meanders through support and opposition

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A “Bay to Bay” hiking, paddling and camping trail proposed for the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore has generated excitement among local business owners and recreation enthusiasts but also attracted significant opposition from private property landowners who live near the trail’s potential route. Staff at the National Lakeshore have subsequently slowed planning for the Bay to Bay Trail initiative. They extended the public comment period by an extra month this fall, and have drawn out the project’s scoping phase until next summer.

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State Rep. Ray Franz calls Climate Change a hoax, as your basement floods

On Thursday, October 16, Glen Arbor resident and business owner Chris Sack posted photos on his Facebook page that showed the basement of his home on M-109, west of Glen Arbor, flooding with water. But Sack’s frustration fell on deaf ears. Later that evening, at the Township Hall in Glen Arbor, State Representative Ray Franz (Republican) concluded a townhall forum by calling Climate Change “a hoax”.

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National Lakeshore to move ahead with Kettles Trail

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Superintendent Dusty Shultz recently announced the issuance of a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the Kettles Trail Plan and Environmental Assessment (EA). The National Park Service (NPS) has selected a modified version of the Preferred Alternative (Alternative 4) presented in the EA.

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Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore holds antique apples program

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It is apple season and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will host an Antique Apples Special Program on October 18 from noon to 3 p.m. in the Port Oneida Rural Historic District. Park Rangers and volunteer experts will be on hand for this apple bonanza. Apples played a big role in Port Oneida during its peak and the apple pickers of today still realize their value. Some of the topics that will be presented at this program include: 1) identifying varieties of apples in the park, 2) understanding why early Port Oneida settlers planted them and how they were used, and 3) discussing and demonstrating grafting techniques being used in the park to ensure rare and antique apple varieties remain in the park for years to come.

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How Climate Change will affect Sleeping Bear Dunes

On August 21, scientist Lukas Bell-Dereske gave a public presentation to a packed house at the Sleeping Bear Dunes Visitor Center in Empire that offered a window into how climate change will affect our cherished National Park.

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Celebrate Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore’s Wilderness Weekend

Celebrate the newly designated wilderness at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore during the Lakeshore’s first Wilderness Weekend event on September 13-14. Activities are planned for both days and include hikes, Leave No Trace games, guided canoe/kayak trips and a Star Party. There will be something for everyone to enjoy; especially children.

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Artists in Residence, Sleeping Bear’s creative ambassadors

What’s an artist’s residency? The Alliance for Artists Communities defines it this way: A place “where artists of all disciplines can go to work on their art … They are research-and-development labs for the arts, providing artists with time, space, and support for the creation of new work and the exploration of new ideas.” AIR programs are offered by the Glen Arbor Art Association and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

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