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Meetings
Next Meeting
August 5, 2009
7 pm
Meeting to be held at the
Empire Township Hall
located on Front Street
in downtown Empire.
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Coming in June....

Sleeping Bear Dunes Boat Cruise
Explore the Sleeping Bear Dunes from the comfort of a
cruise boat.
More info. |
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Founded in 2002,
Citizens for Access to the Lakeshore (CAL)
monitors for, and
responds to any actions by the National Park Service (NPS) that may
result in a diminishment of public access in Sleeping Bear Dunes
National Lakeshore where it is not necessary to protect Lakeshore
resources. We support preservation of the Lakeshore’s natural, cultural
and historical features and the purpose of the Park as established in
the enabling legislation creating the Park. We oppose bureaucratic
attempts in any form to rewrite the Park’s “purpose”, as
expressed in the 1970 enabling legislation that put the Lakeshore
under federal jurisdiction as established in good faith with the
support of the citizens of the State of Michigan at the time. Members receive comprehensive
newsletters as news of significance occurs. CAL actively
participates in many National Park Service (NPS) citizen input
processes, including, and especially the NPS 2006-2008 General
Management Plan/Wilderness Study.
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SLEEPING BEAR
DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE
Located in Northwest
Michigan on the shore of Lake Michigan in Benzie and Leelanau Counties.
Sleeping Bear Dunes is
a
scenic
35 mile stretch of
Lake Michigan's coastline, plus North and South Manitou Islands
(The
Islands sit just off the mainland coast, appearing every bit as the cubs
in Native American legend who were lost to the deep waters while Mama
Bear on the mainland watched in desperation).
The area has
beautiful natural features, including miles and miles of
unpopulated sand beaches, woods and forests, and awe-inspiring sand
dunes created by glaciers and other geological processes unfolding yet
today. The Lakeshore’s history is replete with maritime and lumbering
adventure as
well as agricultural development. The natural harbors at
South and North Manitou Islands brought safe haven to many a ship, while
other ships that were not so fortunate shipwrecked, many still lying on
the lake bottom.
Historical features throughout the Park’s acreage on
the Islands and on the Mainland are many, including an 1871 lighthouse,
three former Life-Saving Service/Coast Guard Stations, Port Oneida (a
historically significant former farming community), Boekelodge
(an old, restored cabin deep in the woods of Benzie County), Glen
Haven (a tiny community removed from their homes by the establishment
of the Park), and many other features. The Lakeshore comprises
56,993 federal acres and 4,194 non-federal acres.
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| Press Release: Sleeping Bear Dunes
/ Citizens for Access to the Lakeshore
Harold K. Chase, Regional
Representative for Michigan’s US Senator Carl Levin, will be the
featured speaker during the educational outreach program of the
Annual Meeting/Get Together of Citizens for Access to the Lakeshore
(CAL). The meeting will be held at 7 pm on Wednesday, August 5, at
Empire Township Hall on Front Street in downtown Empire.
Refreshments will include cookies and lemonade or other liquids. CAL
members are encouraged to attend, and all interested members of the
public are invited.
Mr. Chase will give an update and hold a question/answer session on
the status of the federal legislation that is required in order for
the 1981 Wilderness Proposal (a flawed document, in CAL’s view) to
be replaced by the 2008 Wilderness Proposal that was endorsed by a
great majority of those who participated in the National Park
Service’s extensive 2006-2008 public input process regarding
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
Presenting news on happenings within the Park itself will be
Lakeshore Superintendent Dusty Shultz and/or Assistant
Superintendent Tom Ulrich.
A break for refreshments will follow the speakers. Afterward, CAL’s
business meeting will be conducted, during which CAL’s advocacy
efforts the past year will be discussed. CAL Board member Dr. Ron
Liesemer, who represents CAL in Washington, DC, will report on his
visits this past winter to all four offices in Washington DC of
Michigan’s two US Senators and the region’s two Congressmen.
Reservations are not required; anyone with an interest in Sleeping
Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is invited to attend, especially those
in Leelanau and Benzie Counties. For questions, call 231.352.6295.
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Now
available at the U.S. Post Office:
A new $.42 cent postage stamp commemorating the flora
and fauna of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore!
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