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04/08/2007
Park service details management plan
Superintendent Dusty Shultz stands on a stretch of beach in Glen Haven. EMPIRE — The first time Dusty Shultz worked on a management plan that would define the future of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, opposition crashed down like thunder on Lake Michigan. This time, midway through a process that began a year ago and is scheduled to conclude late next year, there apparently are no storm clouds in sight. "I think what's making the difference is we are really going out of our way to be as transparent as possible,” Shultz said. "I think some people will be looking at these alternatives and say, 'Hey, I think that's my idea right there.'” The National Park Service published "Newsletter 4” last month, a detailed look at three management plan alternatives drawn up after about 200 people made comments about what they want to see in the park that covers 71,199 acres and includes 65 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, including 30 miles on North Manitou and South Manitou islands and 35 miles on the mainland. The alternatives include one that would concentrate on conservation, another that would emphasize recreation, and a third that would attempt to concentrate use of the park to central areas. Shultz said the final draft proposal, due out next spring, could be a combination of the three alternatives and current management practices. Ultimately, Shultz will chose what the final proposal will look like and she will submit it for approval to the National Park Service's regional director, Ernie Quintana, in Omaha, Neb. Newsletter 4 includes maps of the park that describe what kind of activity would be allowed where under the different alternatives. In each of the alternatives, the park is broken into zones labeled "high use,” "experience history,” "recreation,” and "experience nature.” Each alternative also includes different amounts of land designated "wilderness,” a divisive term in the recent history of the park. Many details change between the alternatives. For example, in the recreation alternative, motor boats are allowed on more lakes. In the conservation alternative, motor boats would be prohibited from most lakes within the park. One of Shultz's favorite features is a "bay-to-bay” trail proposed to run along the beach from the Platte Bay to Good Harbor Bay. Four or five rustic camp grounds would be located along the trail, which would take most people five or more days to hike. Drive to save beach access 
County roads, such as the one leading to Esch Beach, would stay in place regardless of which management plan is implemented. Shultz and staff at the national park have gone out of their way to get public input and publicize the process after the failure five years ago of a general management plan effort. That time, the park service announced a proposal to limit road access to beaches, remove coho salmon from the Platte River, and eliminate the deer population from North Manitou Island. Those proposals spawned uproar from sporting groups and led to the creation of Citizens for Access to the Lakeshore. The fervor eventually prompted officials to scrap the plans. Jeannette Feeheley, of Citizens for Access, said she read the latest newsletter and needs to study it more carefully, but she's pleased at first glance. "The tone of the presentation and everything about it is so far superior to anything they've done in the past four, five years,” Feeheley said. Nonetheless, worry lingers about access to beaches by car on right-of-ways owned by Benzie and Leelanau counties. Feeheley said too much land is designated "wilderness” in the conservation and concentrated use alternatives. She prefers the recreation alternative, which limits to North Manitou Island the land designated as wilderness. The problem with the "wilderness” designation, which currently covers large swatches of the park and would take an act of Congress to change, is that the park service is required by law to close roads to motorized traffic if they are able, Feeheley said. Many of the beaches remain accessible because the roads are owned by the counties. Feeheley and others worry that some day county officials will lose their desire or resources to maintain the roads and the ability to drive to the beach at, say, Otter Creek, will be a thing of the past. Robert Weaver, Benzie County Road Commission manager, said neither county currently plans to abandon local control of roads in the park. Different people, different priorities The fight over plans to close roads to beaches wasn't the first time proposed park changes ignited passion. Beth Stoner, vice president of Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear, said her nonprofit formed in the 1990s as the National Park Service considered bulldozing historic buildings inside the park. The group was able to save the Point Oneida Historic District, a smattering of farm homes and barns that date to the 1800s. Members of her group were at odds with the park over the first proposed management plan, primarily because of proposals to limit access, but this time Stoner said she supports the process Shultz has undertaken. She said the group will study the plans carefully with an eye toward historic preservation, but so far the plans look good. "The park wants to serve the general good and they have a lot of different interests that they're trying to accommodate and it's very tricky,” Stoner said. Tom Van Zoeren, a retired park ranger, said given the failure of the first attempt, the second effort has gone remarkably well. "It was a nearly impossible-seeming task after the way things went the last time around,” said Van Zoeren, a Leelanau County resident. Van Zoeren is a supporter of "wilderness” zones in the park. The wilderness designation may be divisive, he said, but people shouldn't be afraid because the land will remain accessible. "I think there's been some confusion over that point; a lot of folks are against having any wilderness in the park,” he said. Remote and wild areas of Sleeping Bear are Van Zoeren's favorite places. "I like to look at a map and say, you know, 'Where is the place that I haven't been?'” he said. Then he readies his compass and hikes into the woods. "A lot of people don't realize that there are spots back there, I get back there and I look around, and I really can't imagine that there's been a person in this area for the last year or two,” Van Zoeren said. "I tend to favor the alternatives that tend to the preservation of the natural features, I think that's why the park was created.”
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