7,300 trees face removal for trail
Extension near Sleeping Bear Dunes draws outcry
Some 7,300 trees would need to be removed to construct a planned, 4.25-mile extension of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail through vulnerable and protected ecosystems near Lake Michigan and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Leelanau County, an independent analysis found.
Even some supporters of the overall trail question “Segment 9,” a $14.5 million extension proposed by the National Park Service and Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation Trails Inc., known as TART. It would extend the existing 22 miles of 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.
Opponents of the plan say alternatives along existing roadways would be far less intrusive, noting the proposal traverses sensitive wilderness and wetland areas and critical dunes.
Doug Verellen, a Little Traverse Lake resident, said he’s a big trail user and supporter of TART, but opposes Segment 9.
“There are 7,300 trees that are about to bite the dust,” he said. “I never thought we’d be in a position where we are carving into protected sand dunes for a bike road. It seems kind of incongruous.”
But TART and Sleeping Bear Dunes officials say Segment 9 is the result of a long, public planning process that showed support for increased access to the area through means other than motorized vehicles.
An independent botanical survey found that in addition to requiring the removal of the trees, the trail extension would potentially impact sensitive wilderness areas, including wetlands; state-threatened pinedrops, a reddishpurple root parasite plant; vulnerable wooded dune and swale complexes; and state-protected critical dune areas. The survey was conducted by Borealis Consulting LLC of Traverse City and commissioned by the Little Traverse Lake Association, a neighborhood group near the proposed trail segment.
Trail foe sees plan as ‘kind of crazy’
Typical construction methods require clearing a 25-foot path to construct a 10foot-wide asphalt trail with 2-foot gravel
shoulders on each side. A retaining wall of a yet-to-be-determined height would also be required to hold back the dunes on one portion of the Segment 9 trail.
More than 85% of the Segment 9 route is designated as a protected Critical Dune Area by the state of Michigan, said Marilyn Miller, founder of Sleeping Bear Naturally, a nonprofit organization of local residents and national lakeshore enthusiasts opposed to the trail segment.
“Those sand dunes come down right on the road, practically, and it’s a forested dune complex,” she said. “They are going to have to put a wall in there. To think you can build a wall and hold back sand dunes is kind of crazy.”
Feds found ‘no significant impact’
The first segment of the 22-mile Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail was completed in 2011, and Segment 9 is the last segment of the proposal, said Scott Tucker, superintendent of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
A 2009 study examined the cumulative environmental impacts of the entire trail when completed, including Segment 9, Harris said. The findings of Little Traverse Lake Association’s botanical survey “lined up” with the findings of that earlier study, “and the finding of no significant impact that was signed onto at that time.”
The heritage trail planning process involved “more than 100 public meetings” with dozens more for the environmental assessment, Tucker said.
“This is a great access project that has been a community goal, not just a Park Service goal, with dozens of public partners who, over many years, brought this to fruition,” he said.
Trail segment ‘matched what the community wanted’
The proposed Segment 9 route is the result of community input, said Julie Clark, CEO of TART Trails Inc.
“All of the impacts were studied — trees, safety; that has been looked at,” she said.
“We did look at the least impactful route that matched what the community wanted, which is a trail separated from the roadway.”
While critics of the plan point to the removal of thousands of trees near one of Michigan’s most picturesque natural areas as particularly incompatible in a time of increasing concerns about human-enhanced climate change, Clark said the project makes sense in that context.
“Nonmotorized infrastructure that gets people out of their cars and enables them to access our natural areas by way of foot and bike, outside of a windshield and on your own power is what is going to help with climate change,” she said.
Critics of the plan say Good Harbor Trail, a relatively undeveloped road-ending access point to Lake Michigan, will require considerably
more development than where the trail segment ends now, Bohemian Road, which could provide parking, picnic areas and access to extensive shoreline of Good Harbor Point. Tucker said further access improvements at Bohemian Road will be considered — once Segment 9 is completed; not as an alternative to it.
“The northern end (Segment 9 project) is part of that holistic project that was scoped out 15 years ago, and the full public planning process that was done at that time as well,” he said.
The Michigan Department of Transportation is providing engineering work on the proposed Segment 9. That work is “about 70% completed,” Tucker said. Critical dunes and wetlands permits will also be required from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, but Tucker expressed confidence in the ability to obtain them.
“We have followed, and will follow, all applicable federal and state laws,” he said. “We are pretty meticulous on that, and on ensuring we are preserving, protecting and providing access to recreation.”
Tucker said construction on the trail segment could commence by this fall.
Verellen said he, and a growing number of concerned community members, will continue their fight.
“There are better ways to go about a connected trail than killing a bunch of trees,” he said.
Matheny: kmatheny@