Michigan Specialty License Plate for Sleeping Bear Dunes - We are working with Michigan State Representative Dave Pelsrok of District 101 to introduce legislation to authorize a specialty license plate for Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. In order to proceed, we need to raise $15,000 to pay for start-up costs, so we are investigating various sources of grants and donations. In addition, we would have to guarantee 2000 plates to be sold the first year and an additional 500 each year for 5 year. A specialty license plate would enhance awareness of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and raise a significant amount of money for projects at the Lakeshore. Due to the depressed economy in Michigan at this time, the board felt it would be difficult to reach the sales targets at this time. As a result, we have decided to put this project on hold until the Michigan economy improves.

Tractor & Bush Hog - We have purchased a good used tractor and new Brush Hog to maintain the historic agricultural landscape in Port Oneida and other areas of the park. Once fields have been cleared by hand, mowing the fields will keep the woody plants from growing up in the old fields. We raised $15,000 for this project.

We have been working at the Dechow and Olsen farms in Port Oneida. The small trees that have started to grow in the fields have been pulled out using the loader on the tractor and we've made 5 passes along the perimeter of each of the fields to keep the brush from growing into the fields from the woods. Next spring and summer we will be pulling trees from other farms and in August and September we will be mowing whole fields. We will not mow during the bird nesting season from May through July. After September, the spotted knapweed has gone to seed and mowing spreads the seeds, so we minimize the amount of mowing we do in the late fall. If you are interested in helping us clear and mow fields next summer, contact Kerry Kelly.
 

The Art Place 2007 The Art Place Animation Project at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore   Sixteen members of TAP spent a week outside exploring the natural and cultural surroundings of the National Lakeshore, then spent just as many hours inside editing and creating the 10 ½ minute movie, which is a collection of five animated films. After spending a week in one of the Lakeshore’s historic farms, Kate, from Suttons Bay, remarked, “I loved being a park resident for a week. It was very different than being a day visitor.” Twelve year old Andrew liked exploring the dunes at night and going to North Bar Lake. Everyone went on trails they had never hiked, swam at beaches they didn’t know were part of the National Lakeshore, interacted with National Park Rangers, and worked on answering in a very creative way the 'Who, What, When, Where and Why' questions about this national park site. “This was the first time the Lakeshore had ever welcomed a group of artists to work together on a project,” said Superintendent Dusty Shultz. Some of the participants remarked on how much fun they had working together so intensively to complete an entire project in such a short period of time. The experience of living in the park, away from phones, television, and email, helped the students focus their creativity, and make lasting connections with each other and with this special place. Watch the Animation Video. Watch a video showing how the students created the animation. Watch a video of the students and their other activities while they were at Sleeping Bear Dunes in August, 2007. Click the link to learn more about The Art Place.

Spaghetti Dinner Fund-Raiser at Cherry Republic - We had a great time with all of our Friends at Cherry Republic on Wednesday, August 6, 2008. The food was great and so was the company. A big THANK YOU to Cherry Republic for running this event for us. We received over $600 from the event.

The Port Oneida Fair was a huge success again this year with over 100 demonstrators and nearly 4,000 visitors. Click the 2008 Fair page for photos.