Sign Petition for National Lakeshore

The Friends of the Grand Traverse Islands recently announced the creation of a petition to make the Grand Traverse Islands a national lakeshore. The petition calls for Congress and the U.S. Department of the Interior to authorize the National Park Service to study the area for inclusion into the National Park System, give the islands wilderness status, make them safer to visit, preserve its maritime history, and ensure public access.

The island chain, stretching from northern Door County to Upper Michigan’s Garden Peninsula, consists of 17 islands, is part of the vast Niagara Escarpment, and is home to many threatened and endangered plants and animals, five lighthouses and a former U.S. Life Saving Station.

Identified for possible protection by the federal government as far back as 1967, the states of Wisconsin and Michigan made a joint effort to establish an interstate wilderness park there in the late 1970s, but the park plan fell apart in the early 1980s.

The Friends of the Grand Traverse Islands want a new end to the story. The group, whose efforts began early last year, has received written support from the Door County Visitor Bureau, Delta County Chamber of Commerce, Town of Washington Islands, Town of Liberty Grove, Village of Sister Bay, U.S. Lighthouse Society, Niagara Escarpment Resource Network, and Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership. Sign the petition at grandtraverseislands.com.