The debate of the final 4.2-mile “Segment 9” of the Heritage within the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (SBDNL) continues as opposition questions the impact on the environment and cost of the major project that is slated for 2025.
Construction of the $14 million trail system extension is expected to commence in the fall from Bohemian Road to Good Harbor beach.
Opposition have been on an all-out blitz to quell the SBDNL project that has already finalized its plans.
Segment 9 is part of the efforts by the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (SBDNL) with fundraising partner Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation Trails (TART Trails) to extend the existing 22-mile existing trail from Bohemian Road to Good Harbor Bay, one of the most sought after areas of Leelanau County. This would bring the trail’s total to 27 miles.
The Little Traverse Lake Association hired Borealis Consulting for a study to measure the size-class, species, and number of trees along the route, providing an inventory of the potentially impacted area earlier this year. They found some 7,300 trees of various sizes will have a grim fate once construction is started. The study also found that there were no rare, threatened, or endangered species found within the trail route survey, according to the executive summary.
Enviormentalist and opposition have also hired Mansfield Engineering recently that did various reports on retaining walls and boardwalks that could impact the environment.
SBDNL has been eying this project since the beginning of the Heritage Trail in the early 2000s, and did a study that found “no significant impact” to the environment for the multi-use, non-motorized trail back in 2009.
Opponents have accused the park of doing this project in silence, but others count more than 100 public meetings discussing the Heritage Trail across several townships including Cleveland, Glen Arbor and Kasson Township, which Segment 9 passes through happened throughout the 2010s.
The last section of the Heritage Trail Port Oneida section was completed in 2016.
The Heritage Trail project is privately and grant funded through Tart Trails as the fundraising partner. MDOT is drawing up the construction plans.
Segment 9’s projected cost is 14.2 million, while the previous 22 miles of trail cost roughly $10 million.
SBDNL Superintendent Scott Tucker couldn’t be reached for comment as of press time.
