EMPIRE -- Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is set to grow by $1 million, or by as much land as the government can purchase for that sum.
Money for the lakeshore emerged as part of a $400 million measure approved by Congress last week for Great Lakes watershed cleanup and restoration. Plans are to acquire private property throughout the park that hugs the Lake Michigan shoreline in western Leelanau and Benzie counties.
Sleeping Bear officials identified 15 properties within the park's boundaries whose owners are willing to sell. The federal money will help acquire some of that land, said Dusty Shultz, park superintendent.
One or two tracts are along Lake Michigan's shoreline, with others along Glen Lake or elsewhere within the park's 71,291-acre boundaries, she said.
"One million dollars will not cover all 15," Shultz said.
The land acquisition effort has been under way for years, with park officials working to buy private "in-holdings" within the park as money becomes available. The mission is to increase preservation and protection efforts on those lands, along with making the areas available for visitor use, Shultz said.
Government appraisals will be completed and the land will be purchased, she said, if property owners agree to the price.
The park previously received $2.2 million in federal money to repair deteriorating hiking trials, remove invasive plants in endangered piping plover habitat and improve buildings in the Glen Haven Village Historic District.
The park is home to immense sand dunes that stretch as much as 400 feet above Lake Michigan, along with rivers, lakes and wetlands. It also includes both North and South Manitou islands, about a dozen miles offshore and visible from the mainland.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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