The Leelanau News Blog
leelanau county news • traverse city news • michigan news

We've created this spot to give Leelanau and Traverse City area businesses a spot to post brief notes of good news and new offerings from their business. This most definitely includes your "help wanted" and job openings!

Please post a note below and feel welcome to link to your web site. Entries that are too long will be edited, so keep it short and sweet!

Photo: The Silvertree Deli by John Levanen

Food For Thought will be hosting a celebration of local cuisine on Wednesday, July 18 at their facility on Oviatt Rd. in Honor that will feature many Leelanau-based businesses sampling their food, wine and beer products including Shady Lane Cellars, Black Star Farms, Ciccone Vineyard and Winery, L. Mawby, Higher Grounds Trading Company, Grocer's Daughter Chocolate, Stone House Bread, La Becasse and Cherry Republic.

The celebration runs from 5-8PM and is open to the public. For more information, please call 231-326-5444 or visit the Food for Thought web site.

The Glen Arbor Sun reminds us that the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will hold three public meetings this week to solicit public input regarding a new General Management Plan for the Lakeshore. The public meetings will be held on Tuesday, May 1 from 6-8:30 p.m. at Platte River Elementary School (11434 Main St.) in Honor; Wednesday, May 2 from 6-8:30 at the Glen Arbor Township Hall; and Thursday, May 3 from 5:30-8 at the Traverse Area District Library (610 Woodmere Ave.) in Traverse City.

The public is being asked to consider three Preferred Alternatives for management of the Lakeshore:

Alternative A calls for approximately 3,000 extra acres of the Park to be classified as wilderness, mostly in the Sleeping Bear Plateau west of the Dune Climb and Glen Haven; Alternative B calls for eliminating the wilderness designation everywhere except North Manitou Island, and highlights recreational opportunities; and Alternative C calls for "concentrating visitor use in selected areas" while promoting "more natural, primitive conditions" elsewhere in the Park.

Read Park considers public input on eve of new Management Plan from the Glen Arbor Sun and also Park releases new planning documents, seeks more input from the Leelanau Enterprise. You can view the proposed Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore General Management Plan in detail at the Park web site and also submit your comments.
Photo credit: Sleeping Bear Dunes, National Park by Kathy

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has a list of projects recommended for funding by the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund board. Included on the list of projects are a couple of area ones:

The DNR (Leelanau State Park) was recommended to receive $2 million to acquire a conservation and access easement of 42 acres and 640 feet of Lake Michigan shoreline to ensure the protection of essential bird migratory stopover habitat in Leelanau County. Empire was recommended to receive $356,600 to develop restrooms, an entrance road, parking area, beach wall, signage, boardwalks, fishing piers and other amenities at Lake Michigan Beach Park.

In the "nearby" category is a $2,675,000 acquisition of the CMS Arcadia/Green Point Dunes Conservation Easement (Benzie County) that will allow public access to 1,850 acres on Lake Michigan, 2.4 miles of coastline and 280 acres of critical dunes. This is the third phase of a three-phase project.

View the complete list from the DNR and learn more about the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund from the Red Tape blog at MSU. Also check out Celebrating the news in the Leelanau Enterprise.

Photo credit: Empire Beach by Heidi

I posted this photo on Michigan in Pictures today and liked it so much that I had to share it here as well!

Barn at the Eckhert Farm, Autumn View, photo by John Clement Howe.

John Clement Howe has some beautiful photos of the Barns of Sleeping Bear. You can view more of his work at the Eden Hill Gallery

The Eckhert Farm is located in the Port Oneida Rural Historic District in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Thanks to Jim Sorbie of Empire for pointing me to John's photos!

The Traverse City Record-Eagle reports that the League of Women Voters of the Grand Traverse Area will host a "State of Our Counties" forum at 4:30 p.m. March 22 at the Traverse Area District Library in Traverse City. Administrators from Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Antrim and Benzie counties will discuss services provided by local governments and the challenges their counties face.

Read forum to focus on local service in the TCRE
League of Women Voters of the Grand Traverse Area web site