United States National Lakeshore

Indiana Dunes Bathouse and Pavilion in Chesterton, Indiana

A National Lakeshore is a protected area of lakeshore in the United States. National Lakeshores are similar to U.S. National Parks in that they are maintained and protected by the National Park Service.

In 2008 there were four National Lakeshore areas in the United States, all of them on Lakes Michigan and Superior in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin. The combined area of the four protected areas is 145,641 acres (589.3 km²) and includes:

• Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, near Munising, Michigan, on Lake Superior. Authorized in 1966, Pictured Rocks was the first National Lakeshore and largest by area.
• Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, in northwest Indiana, near Michigan City, on Lake Michigan. Authorized in 1966, soon after Pictured Rocks. By most estimates, this park is the most popular National Lakeshore, probably due to its proximity to Chicago and other large Midwestern cities.
• Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, in northern Wisconsin on Lake Superior. Authorized in September 1970.
• Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, in Leelanau County Michigan, on Lake Michigan. Authorized in October 1970.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Bridalveil Falls emptying into Lake Superior

Miners' Castle

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a U.S. National Lakeshore on the shore of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States. It extends for 42 miles (67 km) along the shore and covers 73,236 acres (114 sq mi/296 km²). The park offers spectacular scenery of the hilly shoreline between Munising, Michigan and Grand Marais, Michigan, with natural archways, waterfalls, and sand dunes.

Pictured Rocks derives its name from the 15 miles (24 km) of colorful sandstone cliffs northeast of Munising. The cliffs are up to 200 feet (60 m) above lake level. They have been naturally sculptured into shallow caves, arches, formations that resemble castle turrets, and human profiles, among others. Near Munising visitors also can view Grand Island, most of which is included in the Grand Island National Recreation Area and is preserved separately.

The U.S. Congress made Pictured Rocks the first officially-designated National Lakeshore in the United States in 1966. It is governed by the National Park Service (NPS), had 22 year-round NPS employees as of May 2006, and received 476,888 visitors in 2005.

History

Although the Pictured Rocks lie adjacent to sections of Lake Superior that are rich in fish, the sandstone cliffs are dangerous to canoes and other open boats skirting the coastline. Pierre Esprit Radisson, the fur trader, made this risky passage in 1658 and noted that his Native American companions offered some tobacco to the local spirit of the cliffs.

During the Romantic Era of the 1800s, a series of American writers described their feelings upon sight of the Pictured Rocks. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft paid a tribute in 1820 to "some of the most sublime and commanding views in nature." As long ago as 1850 developers platted a tourist resort, Grand Island City, adjacent to the Pictured Rocks near the current site of Munising.

After the lumbering era ended around 1910, many of the parcels of land making up the current Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore reverted to the state of Michigan for unpaid property taxes. Eager for federal help and recognition, the state cooperated with the federal government in the region's redevelopment. Congress enacted a law in 1966 to elevate the shoreline between Munising and Grand Marais to the status of a National Lakeshore.

In October 1966, Congress passed a bill authorizing the establishment of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, “... in order to preserve for the benefit, inspiration, education, recreational use, and enjoyment of the public, a significant portion of the diminishing shoreline of the United States and its related geographic and scientific features.” When President Lyndon Johnson signed the bill, Alger County became the home of America’s first National Lakeshore.

Grand Sable Dunes

The Grand Sable Dunes, at the eastern end of the Lakeshore, are a perched dune formation. Sand washed ashore by wave action was then blown upslope by northerly prevailing winds until it came to rest atop a glacial moraine. The Grand Sable Dunes today form a sand slope that rises from Lake Superior at a 35° angle. The summits of the tallest dunes are as high as 275 feet (85 m) above lake level.

Photo Gallery

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  Munising Falls

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  Looking down at the Miners' Castle. November 2004.

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  Miners' Castle.

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  Pictured Rocks in the distance.

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  Miners Falls

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  Miners Falls

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  Grand Sable Dunes

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  Grand Sable Dunes

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  Sable Falls

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is a U.S. national lakeshore located in northwest Indiana that was authorized by Congress in 1966. The national lakeshore runs for nearly 25 miles (40 km) along the southern shore of Lake Michigan, from Gary, Indiana, on the west to Michigan City, Indiana on the east. The park contains approximately 15,000 acres (61 km²). The National Lakeshore has development rights over the area within its boundaries, but has not purchased the full extent of the property. Its holdings are non-contiguous and do not include the Indiana Dunes State Park (1916), a separate, 2,182 acre (9 km²) parcel of protected dune land on the lakefront near Chesterton, Indiana.

Richard Lieber (front right) with NPS Director Stephen Mather at what would become Indiana Dunes State Park in 1916.

The park contains 15 miles (24 km) of beaches, as well as sand dunes, bogs, marshes, swamps, fens, prairies, rivers, oak savannas, and woodland forests. The park is also noted for its singing sands. More than 350 species of birds have been observed in the park. It has one of the most diverse plant communities of any unit in the U.S. National Park System with 1418 vascular plant species including 90 threatened or endangered ones. The Indiana Dunes area is unique in that it contains both Arctic and boreal plants (such as the bearberry) alongside desert plants (such as the prickly pear cactus).

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is full of wildlife, including whitetail deer, red fox, raccoons, oppossums, cottontail rabbits, Canada geese, seagulls, squirrels, hawks, turkey vultures, mallards, great blue herons, garter snakes, songbirds, and rodents.

Early 1900s

The Indiana Dunes area first came to prominence in 1899 when Henry Chandler Cowles did some of the pioneering work in American plant ecology there. Despite attempts to protect the area from threats such as the nearby Gary steel mills led by groups such as the Prairie Club of Chicago, the area continued to be exploited. The tallest dune in Indiana, the 200 foot (60 m) high Hoosier Slide, was hauled away and turned into glass by Pittsburgh Plate Glass and canning jars by Ball Brothers.

Founding of State Park

In 1916 there was talk of making the site the "Sand Dunes National Park". Indiana State Park's founder Richard Lieber toured the site with then NPS Director Stephen Mather on October 31, 1916 to gauge its worthiness. In 1926, part of the area became the Indiana Dunes State Park. A few years after, the Indiana Dunes Bathhouse and Pavilion was erected just north of the park entrance. The bathhouse continues to be widely used today and remains in its original form.

Conflict with Industry

Significant political controversy arose in the 1950s and 1960s due to conflicts between industrial expansion and recreational use of the lakefront, and is noted in the administrative history of the National Lakeshore. One event heavily protested was the removal of a sand dune to provide landfill for the expansion of Northwestern University's Evanston, IL campus, . Bethlehem Steel was additionally granted permits to build a plant at Burns Harbor, IN, displacing dunes and wildlife. A harbor, Burns Harbor, was also proposed for the area.

Creation of the National Lakeshore

Citizens united to form the Save the Dunes Council and gained political support to protect the remaining lakeshore. In 1963, the Kennedy Compromise linked the construction of the Port of Indiana to the development of a National Lakeshore. The Lakeshore was created in 1966 and expanded in 1976, 1980, 1986 and 1992.

Mt. Baldy, Michigan City - a sand dune constantly in motion

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is a U.S. national lakeshore consisting of 22 islands (Apostle Islands) and shoreline encompassing 69,372 acres (281 km²) on the northern tip of Wisconsin on the shore of Lake Superior. It is known for its collection of historic lighthouses (called "the nation's finest"), sandstone sea caves, a few old growth remnant forests, and natural animal habitats among many other things.

Introduction

The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore located on the top of Wisconsin’s Peninsula in Lake Superior the “largest, cleanest, and coldest of the Great Lakes.” The lakeshore, surrounded by beaches, cliffs and water, provide twenty one islands of entertainment, for Minnesotans, Wisconsinites, and other seasoned visitors.

History

The Apostle Islands are a result of the glaciers that once covered North America. “Geologically they are originally part of the main land at the edge of the great riff or fault which formed the depression to which the waters of Lake Superior collected.” When the glaciers melted there was a lot of water left over that begin to shape the islands. Over time, the waves from the waters of Lake Superior caused erosion that formed the islands. The reason the islands are composed of mostly red sand stone, is due to the glacial shift. It is widely assumed that Indian’s were the first to inhabit the island. “There is some evidence that they were seen and possibly visited sometime in the fourteenth century by Indian’s who were making their way to Isle Royale near the north shore of the land in search of copper.” Not long after, a French explorer by the name of Etinne Brule who like many French Canadian’s was trying to discover a new way to the East Indies. "The French are believed to have named the islands 'Apostle' meaning 12, because they believed in the practice of giving names of religious significance to Geographic locations." It is said that fur traders were the first explorers to settle. A village was built from the money that the fur traders brought in.

United States Senator Gaylord Nelson sponsored the federal legislation that established the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.

Lighthouses

For most of the century, the Apostle Islands Lighthouses have guided ships and boats through the rough waters of Lake Superior, and through the Apostle Islands.

Sand Island lighthouse has been thought to be the most beautiful light house to visit. This lighthouse is approximately 44 feet (13 m) tall and was one of the first lighthouses to be lit in 1921. Provided by the volunteers of the national park service, boats tour this island June through late August every year. Some of the other lighthouses to visit are: Michigan Island, LaPointe Light on Long Island, and Outer Island Lighthouse.

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  Sand Island Sea Caves

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  Some of the Squaw Bay Sea Caves, on the mainland near Cornucopia, Wisconsin.

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  Hokenson Fishery, a part of the Little Sand Bay Visitor Center on the mainland

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  A sandy beach at the Little Sand Bay Visitor Center

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  The headquarters of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, in Bayfield, Wisconsin. The building is made out of stone quarried from the Apostle Islands before they were turned into a national park.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Aerial View of Sleeping Bear Dunes

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is a United States National Lakeshore located along the northwest coast of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan in Leelanau County and Benzie County. The park covers a 35 mile (60 km) stretch of Lake Michigan's eastern coastline, as well as North and South Manitou Islands. The park was established primarily for its outstanding natural features, including forests, beaches, dune formations, and ancient glacial phenomena. The Lakeshore also contains many cultural features including the 1871 South Manitou Island Lighthouse, three former Life-Saving Service/Coast Guard Stations and an extensive rural historic farm district. The park was authorized on October 21, 1970.

Sleeping Bear Dunes and South Manitou Island from Empire Bluff

Historic D.H. Day Farm

The park is named after a Chippewa legend of the sleeping bear. According to the legend, an enormous forest fire on the western shore of Lake Michigan drove a mother bear and her two cubs into the lake for shelter, determined to reach the opposite shore. After many miles of swimming, the two cubs lagged behind. When the mother bear reached the shore, she waited on the top of a high bluff. The exhausted cubs drowned in the lake, but the mother bear stayed and waited in hopes that her cubs would finally appear. Impressed by the mother bear's determination and faith, the Great Spirit created two islands (North and South Manitou Island) to commemorate the cubs, and the winds buried the sleeping bear under the sands of the dunes where she waits to this day. The "bear" was a small tree-covered knoll at the top edge of the bluff that, from the water, had the appearance of a sleeping bear. Wind and erosion have caused the "bear" to be greatly reduced in size over the years. Today only a small remnant remains.

Looking south from Sleeping Bear Dunes toward Empire Bluffs and the southern portion of the National Lakeshore in Benzie County

The lakeshore during winter

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Franklin, Kay, and Norma Schaeffer. 1983. Duel for the dunes: land use conflict on the shores of Lake Michigan. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252010347
• Hill, Catherine L. 1991. Our changing landscape: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. US Geological Survey circular, 1085. Washington, DC: U.S. Gov. Print. Off. OCLC 257242912
• National Park Service. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Retrieved January 11, 2009.
• National Park Service. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Retrieved January 11, 2009.
• National Park Service. Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Retrieved January 11, 2009.
• National Park Service. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Retrieved January 11, 2009.
• United States. 1988. Apostle Islands: a guide to Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Wisconsin. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of the Interior. OCLC 16473846
• United States. 1992. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore: Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. [Washington, D.C.?]: National Park Service, Dept. of the Interior. OCLC 26366804

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