High above Lake Michigan’s shoreline, at the foot of a maple forest, the wind from the lake ripples waves across the dune grass and shifts the pristine sand. The vast blue of the lake is just 400 feet below this distinctive ecosystem, which covers more than 250,000 acres in Michigan — the largest assemblage of fresh water dunes in the world. A natural resource of this magnitude provides vital ecosystem services, as well as economic benefits from jobs and tourism, but its fragility is often overlooked as humans dig away at a shoreline so susceptible to change.

“The coastal dunes along the lakeshore are world-class landforms,” said Alan Arbogast, a professor and geomorphologist at Michigan State University. “It would be great to go to New Zealand and see sand dunes, but [in Michigan] you can see them in your backyard.”

The dunes were formed more than 10,000 years ago from glacial moraines, or mounds of earth moved and left behind by advancing glaciers as they melted. But Michigan dunes are much more than sand embankments — they are complex ecosystems with diverse plant and animal life. As you move east from the water, the terrain shifts from beach, to dune, to dune grass and low vegetation, to forest. Each section of this landscape is a critical niche to the species that make Michigan dunes their home.

Each year in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, which encompasses approximately 71,000 acres on more than 64 acres of shores, more than 277 species of birds nest in the forest, wetlands and meadows of the park. One of them, the endangered piping plover, nests each spring on the beach, where its pebble-like eggs are overlooked easily and often get crushed by people and animals. In 2002, only 51 breeding pairs were sited in the Lake Michigan region. At the park, rangers “put an enclosure around the nest and do everything [they] can to keep the predators away,” interpreter Joanne DeJonge said.

Pitcher’s thistle is another threatened species native to the dune ecosystem. Towering up to 3 feet tall, the plant grows for five to eight years before flowering only once into buds of cream and pink. During the several months it blooms, it is visited by up to 30 different insect species.

“Pitcher’s thistle needs slightly shifting sand,” DeJonge explained. Baby’s breath, an invasive species, eliminates the thistle’s native habitat by securing the ground. Pitcher’s thistle is frequently confused for non-native thistles and is pulled out and discarded by area residents. As part of her work, DeJonge tells visitors to not pick or step on anything in the park.

Sand mining poses another threat to Michigan’s dunes. Mined to produce cores and molds predominately for auto parts, sand is taken from the dunes at high rates. Lake Michigan sand is ideal for molds because it is clean and requires little processing. All of the sand particles are roughly the same size, which helps produce smooth molds, and the sand can withstand temperatures up to 1,600 F.

The Walter Rohn Property in Benzie County has been an active mining facility since June 1991. It operates on four acres of land, but environmentalists are concerned it could expand. As of January 2002, more than 10,000 tons of sand had been taken from the site. While companies are required to reshape the land when mining is complete, the low dirty slopes that remain do not offer a comparable or appropriate landscape for the dune’s native plant and animal species.

Beyond the importance of native species preservation, the economic benefits of protecting the sand dunes increase the need for further protection. Since its establishment, Sleeping Bear National Park has created more than 1,000 new jobs. The National Park Service conducted a 1991 study that estimated the average visitor spent approximately $64 per day during a visit to the dunes, leading to a regional cash intake of about $128 million annually. But the dunes provide an additional economic benefit that often goes unnoticed: protecting Michigan shorelines from the threat of wind and storm erosion, saving taxpayers money on non-natural protective measures that are often less effective.

Sand dunes along the Lake Michigan shore are the most unrivalled Michigan landscape. “It’s a great place to see how geography, geology and human impacts converge in a major way,” Arbogast said. The landscape includes elements critical to Michigan’s identity — beaches, lakes, diverse wildlife and recreational and industrial activities — but most importantly it exudes the exceptional beauty of Great Lakes ecosystems. As former Michigan Governor Jim Blanchard said, “I love the Sleeping Bear Dunes and Glen Lake — to stand up there and look at them … It’s just like being the governor of Paradise.”

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Chelsea Wentworth McMellen is a MSU senior majoring in English and
environmental studies and applications. This is her first appearance in EJ. Reach Chelsea at mcmelle1@msu.edu.