Amidst the pain, it’s important to remember this lesson: the Aug. 2 megastorm — though it may have been the storm of the century — is one of several cataclysmic events that have changed this land we call Sleeping Bear since the glaciers receded and left behind the great lake and the rolling dunes and forests. And after each event, the land and its animals adapted and tended ahead. Alligator Hill will do the same.
New York City resident Emilie Lee rolled into Glen Arbor for a two-week visit on Sept. 27. Did she come to color tour? Wine tour? Any one of a million natural and artificial attractions that draw work-weary travelers to this little R+R oasis called Leelanau County?
Skyrocketing land prices and high taxes have priced Glen Arbor out of the market for most service workers and working professionals like teachers and emergency medical workers. Over the past five years, we’ve lost countless professionals who have moved to other areas. But it’s not hopeless, say some.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore welcomes the September artist-in-residence for 2015; Cara O’Brien, a Michigan artist currently working and living in Whitehall, Michigan.
Largely forgotten amidst our Aug. 2 storm coverage, July 2015 set a record for monthly visits to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, with 438,291. That’s 7,000 more than July 2014. June was also a big month for visitors, as the Park welcomed only 800 fewer people than in June 2012, which was the “summer on steroids” following the “Most Beautiful Place in America” coronation.
What trees, plants and animals will repopulate the area of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore that was decimated by the Aug. 2 megastorm — particularly Alligator Hill? We asked that question of the National Lakeshore’s chief of natural resources, Kevin Skerl.
Every Kid in a Park, an initiative to do just what its title says, kicked off Sept. 1 in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and all national parks. It focuses on fourth-grade students, who will be given free access to any national park, forest, land or water for the 2015-2016 school year. The pass also grants access to the fourth-grader’s family when in the company of said 9-year-old.
There are as many stories from the megastorm that hit Glen Arbor on Aug. 2 as there were people touched by it. This is the story of a local law enforcement ranger who survived a very near miss in the first moments of the storm and then without hesitation went back to work protecting the lives of others.
Sun co-editor Mike Buhler took these photos of the destruction to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and Glen Arbor area following the Aug. 2 megastorm.
The Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail within Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is now open from Glen Haven to Glen Arbor, the National Park reports. The DH Day Campground will reopen on Sunday, Aug. 16. Both areas have been closed since a severe storm on Sunday, Aug. 2 caused downed power lines and extensive tree damage.