Public Comment Requested:

The National Park Service (NPS) has begun the process of planning for improvements to the Lake Michigan Overlooks 9 and 10 on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive is a 7.4 mile self-guided auto tour that provides visitors insight into the history of the area, a sample of vegetative communities, and overlooks of Glen Lake, the Sleeping Bear Dunes, and Lake Michigan.  This highly-visited site attracts over 200,000 people each year.  These overlooks are situated in an area that allows visitor to view the fragile dune environment, Lake Michigan, and the Manitou Islands. 

The perched dune bluff at this location is roughly 450 feet above Lake Michigan.  The path from the parking area to the overlooks takes visitors directly across the top of the bluff face, and despite signs discouraging visitors from descending toward Lake Michigan, many do so.  Many of these visitors are injured either during the descent, due to missteps or falls, or during the ascent, from heat injuries or exhaustion.  The intense foot traffic in this location has caused considerable erosion of the dune face.  Finally, maintaining the current configuration of the path and overlooks is becoming prohibitively difficult and expensive because of the blowing and shifting sand.

The NPS will be preparing an environmental assessment (EA) that will identify and evaluate a range of alternatives for improvements to these overlooks. The goal is to implement a sustainable method of providing visitors with safer access to these spectacular vistas, while also reducing maintenance costs and impacts to the dunes.  We would like your ideas on how to best provide this important visitor opportunity and yet still preserve the natural resources of the area.  We also need your input on what impacts and issues we should to consider as we plan how to achieve these goals.  We request that you provide your comments to us by December 31, 2006.  The comments you submit during this “scoping” phase of planning will be incorporated into the range of alternatives and impact analyses in the EA.  The EA will be made available for further public review and comment, scheduled for release in summer 2007, when we will again solicit your input. Comments may be submitted by clicking here or mailed to the National Lakeshore at: Superintendent, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, 9922 Front Street, Empire, MI 49630.

Download the original letter in pdf format.

Additional Information:

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (Lakeshore) proposes to implement sustainable measures at the Lake Michigan Overlook (#9 and 10 overlooks) on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive in order to restore the site to more natural conditions, reduce or eliminate safety hazards, reduce maintenance costs, and provide for a quality visitor experience. The objectives of this project are:

• Visitors will be provided a panoramic view of the natural environment, with little visitor impact visible. 
• The site will be restored and future impacts from visitor use will be significantly reduced or eliminated.
• Injuries to visitors on the dune face will be significantly reduced or eliminated. Employee response costs will also be significantly reduced or eliminated.
• Maintenance costs will be significantly reduced and potential injuries to maintenance employees will be significantly reduced or eliminated.
• Visitors will be provided quality interpretation.

The conditions at this site have been a concern of the park for many years and numerous actions have been taken to help mitigate or eliminate these problems. To date, most of these actions have been unsuccessful. Specific issues that need to be addressed include:

• Heavy visitor use from hiking up and down the bluff face has resulted in severe erosion. The beauty of the area is so compelling, and the challenge so great, that when many visitors reach the boardwalk leading to the viewing platform, they are drawn off the boardwalk to begin a strenuous descent to Lake Michigan, 450 feet below. Decades of intense foot traffic have accelerated natural forces and formed a trough. Vegetation at the top of the perched dune has also been impacted from heavy, unregulated foot traffic.
  
• Every year, a number of visitors are injured on the bluff. Consistently, more visitors are injured at this site than anywhere else in the Lakeshore. Some visitors, unaware that the perched dune contains a variety of rocks, are injured while running down the bluff, receiving lacerations or broken bones. Older visitors often suffer heat injuries and exhaustion on the ascent. Park employees, and often the local fire and rescue departments, respond to these incidents, incurring considerable costs in time, money, and personal safety.
  
• Yearly maintenance costs at the site are high. Since this is a dynamic resource, each spring brings a new set of surprises. The paved walkway leading from the parking area and the viewing platform are fixed points. All other walkways are portable and are installed in the spring. A bulldozer is required to bring the surrounding dune down to a level so that the walkway can approach the platform at an acceptable slope. Due to high winds in the area, sand must be removed from the boardwalks frequently, by hand or bulldozer, sometimes daily. Due to the loose, rounded beach sand on the boardwalks and paved approached walks, they are sometimes very slippery. Maintenance workers have incurred injuries while shoveling and placing boardwalks.
  
• The existing situation does not provide an unimpacted natural setting for viewing one of the park’s premier natural attractions. The eroded slope, impacted vegetation, and high numbers of visitors descending and ascending the bluff detracts from the experience for many park visitors.

The Lakeshore proposes to prepare and Environmental Assessment (EA), under contract, to address the issues described above. The public will be invited to provide comments on the EA. A public scoping meeting is planned (to “scope” out issues relating to this site and project), at the beginning of the project. A public meeting is planned to coincide with the formal public review of the EA. Details and schedules have not yet been determined, but the public will be notified of these activities.