Opposition grows to new trail carved into wilderness, dunes at Sleeping Bear Dunes

( Detroit Free Press) The National Park Service and a trail-promoting nonprofit organization are moving forward with plans for a controversial trail segment at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, despite a local township board and Native American tribe expressing opposition to the plan.

At issue is "Segment 9," a more-than $15 million extension proposed at the national lakeshore by the Park Service and Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation Trails Inc., known as TART. It would extend by 4.25 miles the existing 22 miles of Heritage Trail along Lake Michigan near Sleeping Bear Dunes from Bohemian Road to Good Harbor Trail, a nonmotorized trail connection providing access to the bay at the northern boundary of the national lakeshore.

Supporters tout the proposed segment's expansion of nonmotorized access to some of the lakeshore's lesser-explored areas. But opponents say the project will require boardwalks through sensitive wetlands and significant retaining walls through critical dune areas. An independent analysis conducted by Borealis Consulting of Traverse City and commissioned by the Little Traverse Lake Association, a neighborhood group near the proposed trail segment, found that the trail as envisioned would require the removal of more than 7,300 trees. .........(more)

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2024/09/22/sleeping-bear-dunes-trail/75250831007/