Discover / Feature Stories
Gears in the Sand
A few years back, researchers at Michigan State University pulled up old dunes photos from 40, 60, 100 years ago and took new photos from the very same spots. Some of the crests have since been covered with vegetation, a sign of a dune locked in. Others have been completely covered by roads.
We love our dunes. They have priceless social, communal and economic value to our state. But years of living dangerously alongside the dunes—mining their sand, inching closer and closer to the lake, and eroding their protection—have left this thing we love at serious risk. As climate change ramps up, that risk is even more heightened.
But balance is possible. We’re fighting to restore critical protections that ensure we are both enjoying AND protecting this globally-rare resource.
part I
Years of Living Dangerously
Michigan is home to 300,000 acres of freshwater dunes, the largest collection in the world. These dunes are living, evolving ecosystems that provide substantial protections to the built environment from the impacts of climate change.
In 2012, the Critical Dunes Act was gutted, placing the burden on governments to prove why a proposed development is bad for the dunes it will be built on... with little guidance.
Mining sands on our most fragile, unique dunes for commercial and industrial use is illegal, but the laws for residential use are murky at best.
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From a sand-covered ghost town, Michigan's dunes story rises
Ghost towns aren't just found in out-west deserts. Some are in the dunes of west Michigan, too.
When you think about your favorite destination’s on Lake Michigan’s coast, you probably don’t think “Singapore.” And yet, it was a bustling coastal town back in the 1800s. With Wild West-like characteristics, it was a place with flimsy rules and a booming lumber industry.
But years of cutting down the natural landscape has consequences. Foot by foot, Singapore found itself drowning in sand and eventually swallowed whole.
Fast forward many, many years. Have we heeded the lessons of Singapore’s story? The short answer: No.
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