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Sleeping Bear Dunes reopens part of Alligator Hill Trail

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore reported in a press release today that it will officially reopen portions of the Alligator Hill Trail on Thursday, Nov. 19. The trail has been impassable since a severe storm blew down thousands of trees on Aug. 2. National Park Service crews and National Lakeshore volunteers have completed work on the Easy Loop, Advanced Loop, Islands Lookout, and Big Glen Lookout. More than 2,800 trees have been cleared on six miles of trail. Clearing of approximately 1,000 more trees from the two-mile Intermediate Loop and trail access from Forest Haven Drive will take place in the spring of 2016.

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Clearing Alligator Hill Trail

This week, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore workers began clearing the Alligator Hill Trail of downed trees, following the Aug. 2 storm that decimated local forests. Alligator Hill is located just west of downtown Glen Arbor, north of Little Glen Lake, and offers stunning views of Sleeping Bear Bay.

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Time heals

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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.

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Emilie Lee’s painting vacation

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?

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Affordable housing in Glen Arbor? Some say it’s possible

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.

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National Lakeshore presents artist-in-residence O’Brien

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.

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Busy summer in Sleeping Bear, but storm prevented run for the record

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.

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Vultures and hornets and bears, oh my!

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.

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Kids in the Park

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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.

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Everyday superstar in Sleeping Bear

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.

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