Date: January 2, 2009
Contact: Mike Duwe, 231-326-5134
What:
Signing of the long-awaited Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore General Management Plan/Wilderness Study/Environmental Impact Statement
Who:
Dusty Shultz, Superintendent, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
When:
January 5, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. (EST)
Where:
Philip A. Hart Visitor Center, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Background:
The planning process for the General Management Plan/Wilderness Study (GMP/WS) began in early 2006. During the process, National Park Service staff members conducted an extensive public involvement and outreach program, meeting with over 2,600 people in 97 informational meetings. The GMP/WS was crafted from the valuable public comment received throughout the process. Support for the plan has been widespread, and is indicative of the way in which the National Park Service incorporated public input to successfully address park management issues.
The signing will take place in a brief ceremony in the Lakeshore’s Visitor Center. Because the Lakeshore was signed into law in 1970 by President Nixon, Superintendent Shultz has chosen to sign the Record of Decision with a Nixon campaign pen from 1968. Following the signing, she will overnight the Record of Decision to Omaha for the concurrence signature of Regional Director Ernie Quintana. With his signature, the GMP then becomes the official guiding document for Lakeshore managers. The Wilderness Study portion of the document will be forwarded to the U.S. Department of Interior as a proposal for consideration by Congress. It does not become official until Congress enacts a law designating wilderness at the Lakeshore.
