EMPIRE -- Fresh plans are under way for Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, including new trails, campgrounds and the designation of wilderness spaces.
Federal officials want to add some trails and campgrounds to the park to improve recreational opportunities, as well as set aside 45 percent of the lakeshore as wilderness zones where no county roads exist. The new management plan is expected to be adopted by year's end.
One planned trail is called the Bay-to-Bay Trail and would stretch along 35 miles of shoreline from Platte Bay to Good Harbor Bay, although no specific path is yet determined. It would include a simple hiking path with intermittent campgrounds so hikers could complete multi-day trips, said Tom Ulrich, deputy park superintendent.
The plan is designed to "offer some improvements to visitor access and recreational opportunities, but still provide a wilderness recreational experience, mostly in places that are currently providing that," Ulrich said.
Martha Acton thinks the Bay-to-Bay Trail concept is fine, as long as the park doesn't infringe on nearby private property owners' rights. She and her husband fall into that category; they are retired schoolteachers who moved to the lakeshore in Empire three years ago.
"If they want to have a trail in the national park, that's fine. But don't intrude on our property," Acton said.
Acton and some of her neighbors are concerned about the trail's location and whether private holdings within the park might be impacted.
Glen Arbor resident Ronald Payne said a long-distance hiking trail is a good idea to increase recreational opportunities, but he also worries about federal government infringement on private property. The path hasn't been plotted, meaning "the devil is in the detail," he said.
Campground locations also haven't been determined, but Ulrich said they would resemble the six-site White Pine Campground near the Platte Plains Trail in Benzie County. There is no cost estimate for developing the hiking trail and campgrounds, Ulrich said.
Another potential non-motorized bike trail would run parallel to M-22 and M-109 through the length of the lakeshore, near the highways but not along the shoulder. That potential $7 million trail would be made of crushed limestone and likely would be built in phases, Ulrich said.
Glen Arbor resident Jeanine Dean doesn't want to see park public access sacrificed in the name of wilderness zones.
"I would like it to be as it is, as it's used now," she said.
Mandates from Washington, D.C., about wilderness areas shouldn't require existing roads to be removed, Dean said.
The plan does not include the removal of county roads, Ulrich said.
He said other important park changes include the removal of the Cottonwood Trail into the dunes from the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive from proposed wilderness areas because of heavy foot traffic, and electric boat motors will be allowed on Otter, Tucker and Bass lakes.
Call (231) 326-5134 for more information about the new management plan. The plan can be viewed at www.nps.gov/slbe.
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