“One voice breaks the silence with a clear sound of reason. Many voices together reaches a crescendo that changes the world.”

Thanks to the heroes below who signed the petition and are willing for their voice to be heard.

Will you add your voice to the growing crescendo of more than 1,750 signers so far?

Ruthanne Tietsort - Not all "improvements" are worth the destruction they create. The investment is loss of natural habitat and a short but soon forgotten profit to those hired to do the project. It seems this is purely profit driven.

Tori Kurtzhals - Construction of any kind is a major threat to these fragile ecosystem and therefore, should not be permitted.

Michael Montague - Please stop this trail and leave nature alone!

Brandon Robbins - Keep it natural

Michele Talcott - It is so beautiful! Why would you want to pave paradise and put up an asphalt trail. We need to protect this land at all costs

Jason Carroll - Stop destroying land. You people are making this country look like crap

Daniel Walker - Disguising destruction of habitat as a way to “bring the joy to everyone” while literally taking it away is not okay

Sarah Smith- This is an absolute terrible idea. Just think about all the animal habitats that you will be destroying. We need to coexist with them. Humans need to be more considerate of how their actions affect animals. Would you like it if someone bulldozed your house down? I don't think so

Michele Stark- Please keep the wild, wild.

Zoe Melcher - I might not live near by, but Sleeping Bear is not only a place I travel to to share the magnificent view with friends, family, or loved ones. But ots also a bit part of my heart. My grandmother is a dance teacher, and for year would share the story of Sleeping Bear with the next generations. We would r eady from the book, we would dance out the story, and put on a big play for our families. What is trying to be done, is rip a part out of every ones heart that live there, have ever visited, want to visit, and the kids who read the story growing up. This project is not an advancement, its destruction.

Elizabeth Yelland - Beautiful nature should be left as is. Take only photos, leave only footprints.

Laura Pearson - Leave it as is!

Timothy Red - Don't do it.

Chris Anderson - I am a Heritage trail user. My children and I have enjoyed biking the trail. That said the extension in question has a far to great impact on a natural habitat and is wasteful. The extension would not be very useful and has many elements that are to negatively impactful. The project cost is absurd as it stands right now and likely to balloon further. The funds should be used for other highly important and effective projects. Namely invasive species elimination, protection of wetland and grasslands. Do not go forward with this wasteful project. FYI I live in Traverse City and this project has no direct negative impact on me.

Barbara Fishbeck - Leave it natural.

Josh Fisher -The amount of habitat destruction required to create this extension is not worth a new paved trail.

Catherine Thomas - There are plenty of trails…….use them! Please leave the rest of our beautiful land alone

David Warfield - Re-route the proposed trail extension if need be, but do not disturb the dunes.

Candace Clark -I am writing to express my deep disappointment regarding the proposed Segment 9 Heritage Trail within the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. As someone who cherishes the natural beauty of this area, I am appalled by the reckless disregard for our environment. Facts: 7,300 trees slated for removal. Critical Dunes sacrificed for asphalt. Massive retaining walls marring the landscape. Wetlands disrupted, endangering State Special Concern species. Globally rare wooded dunes paved over. Cost: $14.5 million for just over four miles—7.5 times more than existing trail costs. Alternatives: Cheaper, greener options exist. Consequences: If Segment 9 proceeds, I, and many many many others will rethink vacation plans. Our vacation dollars may find a more deserving home elsewhere, a place that values the natural beauty of their area. Action Needed: National Park Service: Reevaluate. Leelanau County Road Commission: Deny permits. Michigan’s EGLE: Prioritize preservation. State of Michigan: Hold off on funding. Local Communities: Unite for a win-win plan. Visit SleepingBearNaturally.com for details. Michigan’s unspoiled beauty is worth protecting—for all of us and generations to come.

Lila Anson - Such a heartless idea to clear part of such a beautiful area that’s home to so many animals. We rarely give them space as it is, why ruin more of their habitats and the places that are the most beautiful??

Emily Fisher - preserve natural areas.

Jeffrey Sleder - I am signing this petition to hopefully stop the proposed Segment 9 Heritage trail

Amy Andrews - Don’t let this happen! Protect our scenic beauty, do the right thing!

Robert Johnston - This ridiculous plan of destruction must be stopped!

Lesley Scanlon - Leave trail natural. Cut down no trees or minimal trees. No pavement please .

Carrie Dunn - This is needless destruction of a protected wildlife area

Elizabeth Thill - Leave nature as it is intended to be!

Megan Schildberg - As a biologist and natural resource professional, I think the irresponsible addition of trails through sensitive ecosystems is not the way to get the public engaged. And it does not demonstrate interacting with nature in a sustainable way. These habitats are already fragmented and carrying capacity is dwindling with each one of these types of publicity stunt projects- I think the dunes can be enjoyed fully with the existing trail system. So to put it in terms that even politicians and administration will understand- Leave it alone!

Ana Helmer - This is a horrible idea. Don’t go forward with this plans!!!

Linda Hickok - Other options need to be considered.

Jennifer Littlefield - There is plenty of trail in the park already. Please preserve the rest for the animals and plants! I’m really so against this addition.

Peter Wilkinson - We don’t need more recreation. We need more untouched wild places.

Lynn Fifer - Do not build it!

Janine Lehmann - unbelievable they would consider that. I couldn't even improve an old small ditch to keep our property from flooding. And they want to decimate these forests! Please! Just use Little Traverse Lake rd!

Ruth A Willison -This is the most absurd idea I’ve heard! Those dunes and the forest are precious to all of Northern Michigan. Please leave it alone!

Bruce Lehmann - the NPS should be ashamed of themselves. It is beyond common sense and comprehension that they would want to do this. So much for preserving our natural beauty. I guess "critical" isn't so critical.

Anne Bannister - Please protect natural features for future generations

Joni Robb - I am opposed to using man made materials to shore up a natural landscape. I know we can do better and come up with a natural design. Thank you.

Bonny Risbridger - I am in full agreement with this petition

Collin Simerson - Because traverse city doesn’t have enough bike trails that no one uses big waste of money every time I go out there people biking in traffic all around maybe do some sidewalks down Garfield and southairport there’s just random panches and stuff that doesn’t all connect

Amber Heardlsy - Cyclists can go elsewhere

Fawn Milliken -The motto leave no mark when using any national or state park should apply to those who are supposed to protect the parks. People visit those beautiful areas to experience a peaceful visit. Not to see the destruction of parks to cater a very few and ruin it for the majority.

Eduardo Aguirre - Jeremiah 2:7 And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination

Felicia Zermeno -Stop destroying animal shelters/ habitats! People don’t belong in their world. We have plenty. Stop cutting into more of the animals world!

Kirsten Erbskorn - This makes me so sad! This is so unnecessary to tear up all this wildlife to destroy the views and environment with a stupid retaining wall

Andrew Osborn - Nature does not need improvement.

Kara Sutton - Please keep this ecologically unique area of critical concern a place for all (humans, flora, and fauna) to enjoy for years to come!

Babetta Davids - Please don’t

Bryan Mellema - Stop ruining wilderness with man made trails, bathrooms, shelters, etc. Keeping the park natural and wild will only keep the great reputation it already has

Christine Strickland - This is not what we want. Leave it alone!

Judith Cole - No new trail

Heather Fewins - There has got to be a better option then destroying all of that natural beauty.

Stacey Shijka-Ottolini - Please keep the Dunes in there beautiful and natural state

Lisa Bible - Please don't proceed with segment 9 of the "heritage trail".

Andrea Steagall - Please leave things as they are. There is no need to destroy all of the trees and natural habitat.

Michelle Manley - I rarely sign petitions but this is a ridiculous plan that cannot be allowed to proceed. To destroy an important and beautiful landscape for a paved path in the name of enjoying that said landscape is unbelievable. Who wants to see a 25 ft tall wall when they come to experience this beautiful area...? Nature is the appeal: dunes and trees and all. Then consider the negative environmental impact of not only destroying this natural resource but also the carbon emissions that will occur constructing this. Knowing that there are less expensive and less destructive options available, it is incredibly irresponsible to move forward with this plan.

Madelin Prochaska - This is a National Park and this project directly opposes the intentions of National Parks.

Marie Hendrixon - A travesty

Sue Elliott - I am opposed to the heritage trail proposal which will disrupt the main purpose of the natural dunes.

Jenna Savage - Sleeping Bear Dunes is the largest freshwater dune system in the WORLD. Leave it alone.

Dale Elenteny - I would prefer the park to prioritize wilderness over paved road access.

Laurie Robinson - cmon.....common sense here, NO NO NO!

Patricia Sparks - Too much destruction to make this trail. It is an unnecessary addition.

Janice Hubbs - Ridiculous!! DO NOT DISTURB!!! There are plenty of trails -Leave the Natural Wilderness ALONE! I’ve gone up to our cottage since 1958 for the Natural get away from people and Look it’s going to be treeless & trampled on more than it already is and littered by vacationers that don’t pay taxes…This breaks my heart let alone all the animal and vegetation displacement!!

Carolyn Rossetto - Stop. This is a waste of money.

Darrin Hughes - Please don’t build this, no need for it.

Kimberly Lava - Please do not put up a retaining wall

Ellen O'Neill - Against!

McKenzie Magee - don't pave our wilderness. petrochemicals kill.

Curt Meine - There is a right way and place to do trails, and there's a wrong way and place. This is the wrong way and place.

Nancy Janulis - The NPS and TART Trails entered this cooperative endeavor over 12 years ago to build a trail to navigate a circuitous route by bike around Leelanau County on public National Park land. There were few public comments against because the public comment periods were not widely publicized and were held in off season. Since that time many changes have occurred to the Sleeping Bear Dunes area in part due to the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail. . It has become super crowded in Glen Arbor with many bike riders on the streets between cars in crowded conditions. The impact to the human and natural environment has been great. The Segment 9 prooosal to build in a fragile wetlands and dunes area will require enormous road building equipment at a huge cost and permanent change to the environment . The usage of this Segment 8 trail is unknown and suspect at best. The great majority of bike riders stay close to Glen Arbor, the Dunes and Glen Lake. Low ridership, lack of public comments for this Segment, catastrophic impact on the environment all make the Segment 9 building proposal a disastrous idea which needs to be stopped.

Chrissy Bettiga - Do not destroy our natural resources.

Korey Mack - Please don’t destroy the natural landscape for another path.

Lucy Dueck - This is a waste of money but more importantly, destruction of the environment in a wilderness area meant to be protected from such destruction. Don’t do it!

Amanda Popa - Horrible idea ! Completely unnecessary

Barron Burgermyer - Leave the dune as it is. It’s perfectly fine as is how god intended. Spend the money on more outhouses a d trash cans.

Kyle Seeger - You're choosing to destroy protected land for a trail that doesn't need to be there. It doesn't make sense to destroy the thing the trail would take you to see. It's pointless

Geri Bechtol - Leave it as it is. I came all the way from Iowa to admire and hike the dune trail! We have lost so many natural places.

Amelia Rista - Imagine tearing down trees in a PARK

Shane Olman - Why ruin this area and install an ugly concrete wall!???

Alexandria Hamilton - Keep it natural!

Wayne Swick - Preserve one of our States' most precious and beautiful resources!

Merrie Thompson - Stop paving paradise

Veronica Losey - Leave the land alone. There are enough roads and trails.

Jazmine Mui - Do not spoil nature

Mykelty Strode - Keep nature quiet. Carving a paved path through it will drive nature away as quickly as a suburb would.

Sera White -This is a disgusting idea (while it might have "good" intentions for bikers and hikers) this will destroy the natural ecosystem. Please don't allow this to happen

Katherine Henkel - Keep it natural! Don't ruin nature!

Terri Myers - I have always been against this last segment of the trail, as again, it leads to nowhere. The damage that would be done to this fragile area, not to mention the expense, are phenomenal. And the goal of our national parks is to protect “unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations”? I don’t understand the thinking.

Heather Foster - LEAVE THE DUNES NATURAL

Susan Wheadon -It is past time for us to do all we can to protect our wild places. Please

Melissa Gasser - Removing trees for a trail is a huge mistake that will further eliminate the habitat needed for area wildlife

Samara Slocombe - Keep nature, nature.

Sara Miller - Not environmentally responsible or necessary

Brad Morris - Leave nature alone

Margery Bruner - When there are other options available, digging into the dunes and cutting so many trees is unnecessary. Nobody is coming here to drive past a mile of retaining wall taller than their vehicle.

Nancy Schaner - It’s not necessary! Definitely not worth the destruction of trees.

Kim Koutny - Please do not disturb the natural beauty of the dunes.

Kalee Preston - Destroying native habitat for more development is the opposite of what we need!

Kameron Zimmerman - Putting it through critical dune area is a joke, even considering it is a joke. Really wish there was more I could do

Courtney Yaple - As a resident of Leelanau County and a nature-lover, I strongly oppose the proposal to destroy this protected dune area to make a paved path for recreation. There are plenty of spaces for recreation in our county, even within the dunes, we do not need to disturb the precious ecosystem and invade Mother Nature with more man-made materials. We are in a climate crisis- we must do our part to sustain and protect the earth- not destroy habitats and pour more asphalt over our natural resources. This is wrong and the area should be left alone. I would hate to see my tax dollars go to fund this unnecessary and foolish project. Rather, our tax dollars should help protect the land we have here. If the proposal is to clear out trees and change the structure of the land and build a huge wall, that is a waste of money. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

Michelle Sehl -Just no

Kate Evans - I feel like the park access is good and to go to this length (killing more trees and building the excessive wall) is too much. There are plenty of ways to access the natural areas in the park without taking this unnecessary step.

Jennifer Fischer - Leave it natural. I don’t go to Sleeping Bear to see “progress.”

Bryan Girty - I've been to Sleeping Bear Dunes multiple times. If this happens, I might never go again.

Thomas Morey - Stop destroying the planet for roads

Teresa Molano - This trail is not worth it if it destroys the natural beauty of the dunes!

Maxwell Oldaker - I feel that this is a disgusting use of funds and a misleading campaign to raise them that will hurt the local wildlife and our dunes. We can not keep trying to modernize our natural paths. If we want to make them accessible we need to be funding the all terrain wheelchairs, we need to protect our islands and our beaches. Sleeping bear dunes are sacred and natural place, which our world is killing more of every day. Don't change it.

Donita Stokes - We do not need this done to the dunes

Katie Downer -Opposed

Ian Bancroft -This destruction is needless and very short sighted.

Kathryn Anthony - Leave nature as God intended. There’s enough destruction in the world, Michigan doesn’t need to be a part of it.

Sue Huybensz - We must save as much of our planet as we can. There is no planet B.

Sheryl Lipke - I oppose this trail due to the habitat, the fact that it's a dune, and just because you feel you can, doesn't mean you need to.

William Carrington - Couldn't you just build a walking trail for 4 and a 1/2 miles Orso and not destroy everything?

Nancy Stewart - I object to the decimation of preserved and fragile areas of the county and to the exorbitant spending to accomplish same - particularly when other options are available!

Handy Dawn - Don't alter perfection.

Jaclyn Beaudoin - Leave it alone!!!

Michele Viger - Leave it alone! We do not need this obtrusive wall!

Toni Lichvar - NO!

Mimi Wheeler - the carbon footprint of creating this trail and building this retaining wall and the cost will be enormous and should not take place!

Andrew Graham - Please look at other options

Alexis Lehnigk — I don’t think it’s necessary to destroy a part of the ecosystem, or any nature that’s especially part of a protected area. We need to diminish the amount of concrete taking up our natural spaces. This is not “progress” it is destruction of nature solely for human convenience and nothing else.

Paul Damschroder - Why develop protected land for a retaining wall at all?

Paula Erickson -NO

Suzanne Bock - We don’t need anymore “trails”…

Stanette Amy - ABSOLUTELY NOT

Megan Raphael -There are other options…

Sara Richardson - Please leave nature natural!!

Katie Heuerman - Protect the feature worth visiting-nature

Madison Forman - ecosystems in this area do not need to be bothered, changed, nor destroyed. they should be protected by all costs. the park itself is not only a joy to us as people, but its a living place for many species of animals and plants. they rely on one another and they do not need any more human interference.

Rebecca Carey - Save the trees and wildlife

Brin Gurney - This is heartbreaking to see. I don't understand why this path is needed at all. The ONLY reason for something like this is for disabled people on wheelchairs. Which clearly isn't the motive here. Let nature be. Let us enjoy it in its NATURAL state. This is not where we should be spending our time, effort and money.

Christine Hale - The ecological price is far too high to justify this proposed project.

Kathleen Canfield - Just outrageous. My parents had to give up their cabin to the park system. Government bulldozed it the ground. Have to returned to natures and now they want to intrude with massive structures!!!

Andrew Emmons - Defemation to that land is unwanted, personally would rather see the area preserved in a better manner as someone who frequents the trails their I'm upset to see this initiative.

Rochelle Vaughan - The proposed heritage trail is very unattractive and unnatural looking. It is not an appealing addition to the landscape in the area and requires immense destruction to the natural landscape. I do not support the formation of this trail.

Darlyne Leete - Exception to the critical dunes act should not be granted. A retaining wall, as suggested, seems counter intuitive to preservation or “heritage”.

Theresa Phillips - How about NO. Just NO.

Marie Schatz - So sick of stupid ideas that get some sort of toehold and then become inevitable because of other stupid ideas. Stop the madness!!!

Ramona Rubin - Keep the trails simple and natural. I oppose grandiose "improvements" that damage sensitive habitats. Visitors want to know that they are part of a natural ecosystem, not manipulating and destroying one.

Douglas Jones - Please consider alternatives to Segment 9. The Mansfield report, commissioned by Sleeping Bear Naturally, has wonderful options that allow TART and the NPS to be true to their missions -- in fact some of them further their missions more so than Segment 9. To EGLE, please deny the Critical Dune Area permit specifically, and any other permits needed for the wetland construction. To LCRC, please deny the Little Travers Lake Trail road-right-of-way construction permit. To NPS, please do an Environmental Assessment that does it's own servey of the kind of detail

Kristina Shankel - Please don't destroy this beautiful natural area. This so called improvement is just too destructive.

Alexander Misra - Not many dunes exist globally especially with in the US. We should not be building 25’ retaining walls that impede dune movement.

Reina Mizell - I am not a Michiganier, but I am concerned about this loss of habitat and destruction of natural wilderness. Do not allow these companies to rape our wilderness for profit.

Jacob Shannon - Leave it how it is

Elijah Radford - Preserve the lands

Karen Succarde - Stop the insanity. We don’t need another trail. You are proposing destroying what you want to enjoy.

Michelle Abramson - Leave Mother Nature the way it is, it’s a beautiful place for people and animals to go. Don’t destroy it to have something more people to walk past

Anne Baker - Please don't do this retaining wall! Isn't part of the National Park Services mission to tread lightly? SBD has many trails already. We don't need this trail if it's at the expense of destruction to our Dunes!

Lori Eubanks - Drop the project and quit trying to fix what's not broke!

Mindy Thomas - Not in favor of the trail being built

Karen Bunker - Please don’t destroy the PROTECTED natural beauty. We already trample enough wilderness as it is.

Nanci Lubinski - They need to leave it alone!

Magnolia Coyle - We need to protect the land we have and destroying it by ripping down trees and paving asphalt is just greedy, needless destruction. Money won’t bring our precious landmarks back, and money certainly won’t earn anyone a seat in heaven.

Colleen McVeigh - This plan needs serious rethinking. It is an abomination. I cannot believe the Park Service developed such a plan. So do the right thing now and rethink it.

Ana Ramirez - STOP TEARING DOWN OUR PLANET, LEAVE NATURE ALONE

Julie Winkler - This addition of pavement and retaining walls is destructive and not needed. It is reducing critical habitat just to increase traffic and additional harm to the area. Leave it natural!

Catherine Howe - Multiple protections should be sufficient to protect this area. 'Somebodies' should still have some decent boundaries.

Courtney Ashley - i do not agree with the idea of the Heritage Trail expansion

Sarah Spainhour - I believe this is blatantly disrespectful to the park and the environment, a gross misuse of funds, and over engineering. Your planners should take into consideration the impact of this project on the environment, and realize that your plans are unnecessary. They need to be completely redone. Bring in outside knowledge and expertise. This will decimate the dunes and be an ugly eyesore.

Melissa Barr - Don’t do it!

Silvia Alvarez - Hope to walk the natural trail soon.

Madeleine Lutian -Humans acting as if we own this planet is what is destroying it, and ultimately that included us too! Every ‘small’ restraint to develop on natural land makes a huge impact

Veronica Zwierzchowski - Keep sleeping bear dunes natural.

Nick Bennett - Destroys nature, & destroying the dunes.

Bridget Murphy - Please don't pave paradise!

Brylan Glover - I think they should leave it more natural and make room for native fauna and wild life.

Jami Trivelpiece - Terrible idea! These dunes need our protection . Just because you can build it, does not mean you should.

Mark Polinko - As a practicing landscape architect and having done a number of project within Critical Dunes areas, rarely have I seen EGLE approve any project that is that destructive to a Critical Dune area without very restrictive limitations. As mentioned in the petition, once Critical Dune disturb that or . . . destroyed to that degree. No restoration measures can replace and or mimic the beauty of what “Mother Nature” created. I think we also can not forget why people are attracted to the scenic beauty of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park and Lakeshore and it absolutely is not because of 25 feet tall precast concrete retaining wall of any length. You can see that in any urban city USA. People come here for the winding scenic natural beauty within the Nation Lakeshore area not a massive concrete wall more reflective of a highway thru a urban jungle. We are called to be stewards of our natural resources and as much as I enjoy biking, the cost to our precious Critical Dunes figuratively and physically is to great a loss to justify the 4.5 mile bike path. The engineer even recommended less impactful hiking trails and/or walking paths as a more respectful recreational use of the Critical Dunes, and the fragile Wetlands than a bike path. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should! Find me one person that feel that 4.5 miles will be logged as memorable scenic bike ride when compared to the original scenic trail from Empire to Glen Arbor. I don’t believe you will. Case closed!

Kaylee Buse -the greed is getting out of hand

Shepard Diane - I oppose developing the proposed trail.

Pamela Hemmes - This critical area would be best left alone. Save it as it is. We don't need to tread upon every bit of nature.

Kacilee Legato -This trail needs to stay untouched. It is a natural phenomenon. I've walked this trail with my family many times and the nature is breathtaking. Don't ruin a beautiful thing.

Ray Danford - Do not destroy the dunes area this way. It's beautiful because it's natural. dont make it into a manmade joke

Victoria Hayes- Stop building this and leave nature alone.

Roxan Hessenaur - There has to be a better way!!

Mallorie Gonzalez - Stop with the non sense. Please do not destroy the land.

Ben Ewing - Please stop the development plans in Sleeping Bear Dunes. I hope future generations are able to enjoy the unique natural features of the area.

Sean Hendrickson - Why clear cut trees that are retaining the dune naturally? Why erect a 25' wall to block the view? What's wrong with the opposite side of the road? Why not a natural trail instead of paving?

Rebecca Vohs - Don’t cut down trees . Save our dunes.

Juan Zitara - This is a ridiculous plan!

Liam Reynolds - Is this how our tax dollars are spent? This benefits the companies that build the trail. That’s it. It’s ugly, unnecessary, and will require maintenance to keep nice.

Shantell Duffiney - This area needs to be left alone before we lose even more of our shorelines

Kristine Lee - Please stop the destruction

Jane Snider - Please don’t ruin this environmental treasure for TRAFFIC!! Seriously, what a disappointing use of nature!!

Lindsey Robert - I have visited Sleeping Bear several times and absolutely loved my time there. It's a perfect place, and I would be devastated if the environment were compromised.

Kimberly Augenstein - I enjoy the good harbor trail, the conservancy trail and the hiking connectors from Little Traverse lake. Would like to see additional low impact hiking or walking connectors/loops in the Shalda creek/good harbor area. Maybe additional gravel parking. No more asphalt

Marilyn Miller - With new information available from the Borealis Tree Survey and the Mansfield Engineering Report, it is clear that the Segment 9 route of the Heritage Trail was never properly evaluated when the project was approved by National Park Service higher-ups fifteen years ago. This project needs to be halted immediately. A new Environmental Assessment that accurately assesses the impacts to the State-regulated wetlands, globally rare dune and swale complex, and steep forested dunes needs to be done. The National Park Service needs to consider the proximity of the route to the Congressionally-designated Wilderness Area when evaluating impacts. When key park resources are likely to be impacted, NPS policy allows managers to err on the side of the resource even if the impact doesn't rise to the level of impairment. Surely dunes, in Sleeping Bear DUNES National Lakeshore, are a key resource. Surely dune/swale complexes, as an example of ancient glacial phenomena, are a key resource. We expect these rare, globally significant ecosystems to be protected by the National Park Service, not destroyed.

Mads Amaro - The park should stay as pristine as possible. By adding the trail it will take away from the protected environment.

Valocity St Germaine - I’m signing this petition because I want to help protect endangered or threatened land, species or anything of that matter. Our nature needs to be protected as much as possible!

William Mulligan - Don’t ruin something so unique and wonderful. These ecosystems are too dynamic and there is no reason for people to try and manipulate them to our wants.

Maria Seelos - Nature should be left as just that, nature. Not pulled down and torn apart for the profits. Putting my name down, I can only hope it puts a stop to the destruction of our natural environments.

Johnathan Rayburn - Stop wasting money building yuppie things for yuppie people. Still waiting for the damn roads to be fixed, flints water to be sorted, and the people associated with the damn to be prosecuted.

Conrad Carlson - This trail would be devastating to the ecosystem

Shari Lynch - This trail is unnecessary and damages the beauty of the park

Maegan Dover - STOP DESTROYING THINGS UNNECESSARILY

Jessica Stotler - This is not an appropriate space for such an invasive trail.

David Jeewek - Don't ruin the park. It's meant to be a natural area not a naturalized cityscape.

Brenna Kelley - Please let nature flourish- this park is not necessary

Caitlin Jerome - Protect the dunes for future generations

Adriana Ibarra - These habitats need to stay protected and respected.

Alex Bergel - There is no good reason to destroy these pristine natural areas in the name of tourism. Further altering these landscapes will only make them less recognizable for what they are; natural areas that should be left alone!

Trisha Bergel - Leave our dunes alone!

Jessica Binaei - Please do not let this proceed

Douglas Trevethan - It angers me that we have already spent taxpayer dollars on this study and proposal. Our wilderness is to be protected - not slashcut and paved over !

Janet Bogus - This a terrible idea. One wonders who is responsible for this proposal. Our TAX dollars pay for DNR responsible stewardship of the people’s natural resources. Please stop the insanity.

Paula Leach - Cutting down thousands of  trees in a pristine one of a kind environment is completely unacceptable. And shocking for a national park to even consider. Please stop this trail from happening. A pleasant wooded path would allow visitors to experience nature we do not need A wide paved trail!!!!

Debbie Thero - Leave the dunes alone.

Meredith Shafer - Horrific idea!!

Lisa Burton - Quit destroying biodiversity, habitat & ecosystems

Katie Harris - Leave nature as such- natural.

Amanda Urquhart - Terrible idea. Leave them be.

William Bieke - This disgusting encroachment on nature is not a “preserve,” or enhancement. The best way to preserve nature is to leave it alone.

Rayne Hrabcak - Protect the dunes! Keep natural hiking trail! Do not kill of natural ecosystems

Allison Sterritt - This is unacceptable

Olivia Steffler - Stop defacing our planet!! I love Sleeping Bear and I’ve been there many times. It’s a naturally beautiful place and we don’t need to do anything to it!

Grace Witkop - Leave it all alone!

Erin Glynn - Deconstructing the shores that protect the surrounding land is going to be detrimental to the surrounding environment

Victoria Santich - Leave the wilderness wild, there is no need for pavement in the forest

Aubrey Hart - Please consider the impact of this project on the environment and wildlife. Please make choices that reflect that you've thought about the long term consequences for your the next 7 generations, and thereafter. Please keep Sleeping Bear Dunes as natural as possible. Do not desecrate this environment. Protect it. It's your job to do so and make decisions that are in alignment with the wellbeing of the ecosystem.

Jacob Printz - Dumb. The road bicycle people will still use the road so it's really pointless

Joshua Fountain - Please keep it the way Mother Nature not humans intend it to be.

Cynthia Miner - This construction is certainly overkill and would be a huge step in destroying more of the natural beauty of the Dunes.

Jean Owens - This is very, very important to protect our natural areas as so many are lost now to new subdivisions and commercial areas.

Patricia Rule - People please pay attention and remember this is our world. If we don’t start changing our ways we are going to lose everything that god created for us.

Caryn Leighton - Not essential & not stewardship to this protected area!!

Hope Hartmann - We do not need more paved paths. It would be pointless damage. Preserve the dunes as they are for future generations.

Dave Morgan - The changes proposed are a scar on the landscape. There must prudent and feasible alternatives implemented.

Edward Schocker - I am 100% against it. Your job is to protect not to destroy.

Anthony Applegate - I am against the construction of the heritage trail and the destruction it will cause to the local ecosystem

Isaac Cotton - After hearing what will be going on, I cant even see this happening. For our, people have walked the dunes up and down the years. I've seen some older folks still walk the dunes without needing pavement. Plus, it will ruin natural ecosystems for many wild life. Instead of making these wooden and non wooded Nature ares pavement and brick, make them just cleaned up and beautiful.

Rachel Longton - As a frequent visitor to sleeping bear I would hate to see ecosystems effected when other options are available.

Tyson Miracle - I enjoying seeing Sleeping Bear Dunes every time I visit my family in Michigan. Please don't construct another segment of road through the dunes. Unfragmented nature is becoming increasingly rare. This would be yet another scar on the landscape and a sad ecological lose. Thank you for your consideration.

Emma Laskey - We do not need to alter our state parks to destroy them. Leave the natural area's natural

Judith Kay - Please don't remove the trees!

Camryn Roberts - Mother Earth #1 priority

Willa Hilton - No!!

Judy Brewer - Please let common sense prevail for a change by protecting this beautiful, amazing, fragile area. All parts of the earth are connected --when we destroy something so precious, we move one step closer to destroying humanity.

Sarah Zehnder - I may not permanently live there but we do own a home and spend much time in Leelanau County. The natural beauty is what calls us and wants to eventually move there permanently in 5 years. No one wants to see cement walls and sidewalks in the wooded areas

Bonnie Beckwith - Please don't pave paradise.

Deb Heller - Leave this area as is for all to enjoy!!!!

Kayla Packowski - Some things are best left alone

Brandon Deleon - They say the guy that opened play river to the bay destroyed habitat of potential nesting zone for piping plovers yet they're gonna destroy acres of habitat just so people can ride their bikes.

Ben Harrison - Please leave this place alone, nobody wants this project to happen so why waste people's money to do it

James Johnson - Leave the dunes alone, no additional trail.

Allison Elkins - Leave nature as it is!

Harley Overton - Haven’t we just done enough? Destroyed enough? Some things just aren’t ours.

Malisa Dowdle - Keep wilderness WILD!!! There are MORE than enough roads and concrete in the United States, the point of these protected areas is to protect the already threatened ecosystems!

Drake Parker - The trail should not be added due to environmental concern.

Kevin Spoelman - This would be a decimation of our natural resources. Our native ancestors would look down in disgrace over the alteration of this national landmark.

Emily Fox - Do not build!!!

Logan Leer- There is no reason to disrupt such a beautiful and essential area of wildlife.

Tracey Graves - Please preserve the natural beauty of the lakeshore.

Jacob Trujillo - We're going to destroy the most beautiful places we have left, out of reasons for convenience. These are protected lands and nature has a right to grow and flourish just as we do in a natural way.!!!

Shampine Jessica - LEAVE NATURE ALONE

Diane Stevens - There is no need to extend the trail through such a beautiful and fragile area. And removing so many trees is a horrible plan! Let the trail end stay as is. Save the trees and land, save your money.

Lynne Wale - Leave protected areas protected. There's no valid reason to decimate this beautiful area. There are plenty of other trails in this beautiful state.

Doreen Hill - Please find another way for the trail that protects the dunes. This plan is terrible and too costly

Kathy Schumacher - There are lesser-impact alternatives to what is proposed here to achieve the goal of opening up access to the wonder of Sleeping Bear.

Jaema Stilley - Please do not build a retaining wall!

Kimberly Moran - Stop ruining nature for human enjoyment

Rae Butala - Please leave the beautiful dunes alone

Judy Amon - The reason we all love the Dune area so much is because it is “untouched”. We have enough concrete…please leave this “natural”.

William Rock - I am fully against building the Heritage Trail through Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Cameron Kelso - Leave Nature as Nature.

ErinKay Ward - The fact that fundraising for the development of wilderness is more important than fundraising for the preservation of it is mindblowing.

Kelly Castillo - This plan is sickening. This land is PROTECTED! The transformation brings more concrete and urban sprawl that is not needed or wanted in an area where people wanted the protected lands PROTECTED. Stop trying to develop areas that don’t need to be developed.

Lila Taylor - Leave it alone!!!! Nobody needs this! Leave it as is!!

Janice Wilburn - Ruining natural beauty should never be allowed. We are running out of undisturbed rare places

Renee Conner - I love northern michigan ! Keep it natural.

Elizabeth Fay - Please don’t.

Rebecca Leach - Do not do it!!!

Jess Marks - Totally not a good idea. We need to protect these areas not build them up

Brynn Donelson - Michigan is my home and I would hate for its natural beauty to be ruined like it is everywhere else

Matt Prusak - This is the dumbest thing I've seen in a long time, please stop this horrible idea

Briena Bamford - Please stop prioritizing man over nature as if they are not connected. It’s hypocrisy to suggest so much change and interference to a protected natural landscape. People have other places to bike.

Alana Barshney - Why do NPS and TART Trails think they can destroy the scenic beauty of this protected area by paving an asphalt path through it?

Gabrielle Ansorge - NOOOO

Catherine Howe - The NPS was designed to preserve land that would be otherwise developed. Destroying the landscape for a bike trail is frivolous. Common sense, not emotion would dictate this area be preserved.

Emily Taphouse - The proposed trail should be moved to the shoulder of M-22. Let’s not destroy sensitive vegetation and trees along with wildlife.

Tekla Derks - How can you take all those trees out and replace parts with asphalt?? How is this environmentally friendly ? You will be changing that whole ecosystem! Not good!!

Robert DeKorne - Please consider a narrower gravel windy-type trail for this end segment. Costs less - so you can plant 2 trees for every one cut down!

Barbara Barton - Do the EA. It's generation chips away at our last semi wild places someday there won't be anything left. Do the right thing. And it's the law.

Larry Danner - Do the new, requested EA

Brandi Sweet - Very concerned knowing the lack of environmental studies.

Michael Trier - Protect our dunes

Loretta McCarthy - Please do not alter vulnerable ecosystems!

James Wright - The Park Adm. needs to consider an alternate route plan that isn't environmentally damaging. The currently designed trail will have a negative impact on water. forest, dunes. The Park has a major role in protecting the lakeshore ecology against the increasing developmental pressure that's occurring on the nature of Leelanau county. Reconsider this inappropriate plan.

Jean Martin - I’m a Michigander and I enjoy keeping it as natural as possible. I’m sick of catering to tourist. Specifically wealthy Chicago people trying to make Michigan theirs without paying the taxes or living here full time. OUTSIDE INFLUENCE HAS JO PLACE HERE! It’s ruined our coast of Lake Michigan already. Giant mansions and paved trails just ruining our Great Lake Michigan coast. We will protest!!!

Marilyn Vance - i would have to look at a concrete retaining wall across the road instead of a soaring beautiful protected dune. what an atrocity.

Barbara Eyre - This destruction of wet lands & extreme width of trail are NOT necessary to enjoy this pristine native area. Not every thing needs to be ADA.

Janice Sohn - Please don't destroy the environment by building segment 9.

Sarah Fewell - A full environmental assessment needs to be done according to NEPA before completing the segment 9 Heritage Trail. Current assessments are NOT complete or using current data. Stop cutting corners and do a proper assessment.

Pamela Hiltunen Hall - The wall looks like it will trap wildlife on the road. It’s not appealing to visitors. When I visit relatives in Michigan, I’d rather visit the forest looking as untouched as possible.

Rachael Tarlo - Please get a new EA

Thomas TaylorBrown - Please don't encroach on this beautiful landscape anymore.

Beverly Green - What a mistake for a pristeen area. It's not conducive to keeping our Federal lands protected.

Thomas Fouts - Do the right thing! Do not destroy the beautiful nature or cut the trees. What is wrong with you?

Kendall Witherspoon - Please rethink this entire project before moving forward.

Daniel Rozanski - Leave no trace.

Adam Traykovich - We need to persevere our natural resources and beauty of the state for generations to come, building this trail will eventually erode both!!

Linda James - Follow the regulations

Kaylee Stressman - 18 cars maximum utilize this road during peak traffic hours; this is unnecessary and a blatant show of negligence, incompetence and lack of experience on Tucker’s part.

Cheyenne Caudill - The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires an Environmental Assessment (EA) be accurately based on scientific studies, to consider all available alternatives, and to make sure impacts are avoided. In a recent IPR News article, Park Supertindent Scott Tucker said: "the big picture is, the decisions the National Park Service makes, we do not make them on an emotional line, we make them based on federal policy, federal regulation and federal law." Yet no botanical survey or detailed engineering analysis of Segment 9 was done for the EA. The proposed route is building retaining walls as high as 25' through State protected Critical Dune Area - not mentioned in the EA. It requires boardwalks and asphalt paths through globally rare wooded dune and swale comples ranked of State Concern - not mentioned in the EA. The 2009 EA for an off-road trail along Traverse Lake Road is identical in wording with same design and cost descriptions as the 2008 EA for on-road trail using Traverse Lake Road. How can impacts from an off-road trail, which will remove 7,300 trees, be the same for a shared on-road trail? NPS did not explore all the alternatives in the Good Harbor Region as required by law. Options which have little to no environmental impact in comparison. Little Traverse Lake Association has asked for a new EA. The National Parks Conservation Association has asked for a new EA. Sleeping Bear Naturally has asked for a new EA. The botantist who did the recent botanical survey recommended a new EA. The firm who completed the recent engineering analysis of Segment 9 and alternatives recommended a new EA. Superintendent Tucker: You can complete a new EA for Segment 9. You can decide building asphalt trails and massive retaining walls through sensitive ecosystems is not the best fit with your mission of preserving "America's Most Beautiful Place." This is a 15 year old ill-planned trail concept of Segment 9.

Allen Ammons - Follow the law, you can do better than this travesty.

Walter Budweil - Keep the dunes as natural as possible.

Kira Yost - I think that the right things needs to be done regarding checking everything out, not just the things that they deem necessary.

Constance Doherty - You can't hold sand back with a wall. Just ask the park rangers at Petoskey State Park. Not that that fact is uppermost but it is another big reason that this trail is such a bad idea. Please note that I love trails and use them all of the time but I love nature more.

Marshall Stange - The Mansfield Land Use Consultants have done a wonderful job on this whole debacle of a plan. My Grandfather who built a cabin on Little Traverse Lake Rd. in 1940 is rolling over in his grave! we love the unpaved paths throughout the lakeshore.

Kirstin Draba - I’m shocked at this terrible plan. It seems ‘someone’ wants to keep logging and building when it’s simply a BAD PLAN and should be stopped. You have enough paved paths and bike trails! Keep things beautiful and more natural. Stop logging trees!

Scott Udell - Leave the dunes as they are. We don't need or want a trail there.

Susan Lybolt - Segment 9 Heritage Trail plan will harm the natural beauty of plants, trees and shoreline that are better off left untouched. What you are planning is unnecessary but the natural beauty of the landscape & it's historic significance needs to be protected, not destroyed. Please do not proceed with this planned destruction.

Kathryn Bly - My family has had a cabin I this road for generations. There is no need for a trail when there is a road already established. These parks are protected spaces. There will be a detrimental impact to the environment and a need for ongoing environmentally harmful and expensive maintenance. No one wants this trip or needs it. It does not need to go down this road.

Elena Berry - Unfortunately as I continue to age every year, the beauty of nature in my life is slowly diminishing due to destruction at the hands of people. The proposition of construction in such a beautiful place is appalling, it is my belief that these plans are not needed what so ever. Concrete walkways would take away from the beauty of exploring nature. Not to walk a paved path as you would a city park. The wild is just that; wild. As more and more development continues in these beautiful places, my will to continue to live slips away. What is the beauty of life without the beauty of the natural world of which we reside? Please, do not allow the destruction of these beautiful lands further.

Sue Jennings - Protect the fundamental resource of the park- the dunes and associated wetlands. That EA is 15 years old, knowledge about the environmental conditions, trail design, and attitudes have changed. Time to reinitiate the process. Nothing to lose and the everything to gain. This segment is one of the many thousand cuts that leads to the destruction of this resource integrity. The present trail fulfilled the original purpose and beed- providing multiuse trail on the park.

William Leahy - This trail does not strike me to be in the spirit of national parks and why they were created. We need to preserve what’s left of the natural world, not cut down trees and pave it for the interests of a few.

Muzette O'Connell - That entire area is going to sink if they keep destroying it, all those species will go extinct

Shayla Leonard - This trail is not for locals or encouraging people to experience nature. People who live near this area have spoken against the trail and to me it seems tourists are the only ones who would enjoy it, but there are already over 13,000 miles of trails in this state for tourists and Michiganders to enjoy. There's no need to spend millions of dollars, cut over 7,000 trees, and burn 60+ gallons of diesel per piece of equipment per day on adding another four miles of trail in protected lands.

Sue Wagner - Think about your mission statement. Think about preserving this national park rather than putting an asphalt bike path and retaining wall in an area that will have both present day and future ecological impact! There already is a paved bike path that should be sufficient for anyone. Please do the right thing for future generations!

Stacie Sherman - Trails are wonderful but they need to be built with the least impact to nature in National Parks. Huge retaining wall and paved paths are not the right infrastructure in a rare habitat. My guess is that whoever proposed this project with a huge retaining wall and a paved trail that will required hundreds of trees to be cut down is making money on this project.

Diane Kelly - There are alternatives that would have less environmental impact and significantly lower cost. This proposal goes against the initial purpose/principle of the Heritage trail.

Wendy Pountney - Leave the Dunes alone!

Matthew O'Donnell - Please reconsider the EA for this trail!

Larry Renew - Leave nature the way it was intended. You can still enjoy it without encroachment.

Mary Goodman - Although I no longer live in Leelanau County it was my home for over half my life, approximately 35 plus years. 26 years spent in Maple City. Please stop developing what natural area is left.

Iris Potter - This area is a national as well as a personal treasure for us. To clearcut trees in our national forest for this unnecessary project is horrific during this climate crisis. It would forever alter this park beyond…No to trail.

Susan Sunderman - Sleeping Bear is an amazing gift, one that cannot be "fixed" after the fact. Please leave well enough alone.

Michael Denny - As an avid mountain biker and road biker, I've always entrusted the trail makers to get the necessary studies completed before building their trails. We've waiting many years at StandingBoy in Columbus Georgia to have those studies completed. After receiving approval we finally have a great place to ride and always improving. If you can't do the assessment necessary to provide an accurate impact, you are doing those who care about their environment a great disservice and all you must care about is money.

Carey Dettman -Everything at Sleeping Bear should be maintained in its natural condition, not to make it “user friendly” for humans.

Dave Morley - It needs a lot more studies before what canted be undone is done

Stephanie John - It would break our hearts to see this project go thru.

Daria Duray - I have been there with relatives who lived close by to it and a cousin Dave who was a Dunes park ranger; it's beautiful and wild. For heaven's sake follow national Park guidelines to protect our wild America !! Macadam trails and cement walls go against that creed .

Maggie Cole - I grew up close to the dunes... Please don't destroy it's natural beauty for future generations! Let the trails remain untouched ... Protect natural beauty at any cost... Walls and pavement are NOT natural!

Koren Hurley - Asphalt is an unnatural, expensive,& maintenance intensive investment. Weave the trail naturally through tree and skip sensitive dune areas completely. Avoid ugly walls that interfere with natural dune movement.

Steph Singleton - There is only one reason why you shouldn’t pave this area. It’s nature which is natural and humans are an invasive species to Nature.

Karl Newkirk - Very poor usage of millions of dollars

Stan Clark - I grew up at family cabin on Little Traverse Lake..it should stay the same as nature created it...so stated when Government decided to condemn property of many in order to advance preservation of natural and unique area....

Cayce Leithauser - What an absolutely terrible idea for a sensitive dune ecosystem.

Mark Wilson - Absolutely no development or construction should be allowed near or through our national parks.

Shane Adams - Do what NEPA requires, and ensure the environment is cared for too

Stevie Kremer - Removing thousands of trees and paving areas of Sleeping Bear is in direct opposition to preserving our natural environment, resources, and wildlife habitat.

Timmy Pivonka - The beauty of nature needs to be preserved, we humans must strive to protect what remains of what we have already destroyed. We must learn from our past. We must strive to observe with little to no foot print left behind.

Sharon Crawford - Please don’t cut any trees, save the wilderness.

David Kadlec - Leave the park alone!

William Lomaka - The mission is to preserve and protect. What part of this do we not understand?

Darlene Stanley - The environmental cost of this small portion of the trail is too much.

Gloria Lomaka - No changes needed. Beautiful as is.

Sarah Porteous - Let’s leave nature as it is, we have plenty of outdoor recreation areas for people to bike and walk without aprons so much money to build a new pathway.

Sam Bromm - Please just leave nature alone.

Amanda Wieske - Segment 9 as it currently is planned is a bad idea. A new environmental impact study should be done before the trail is pushed forward.

Laura Dillivan - I am applalled at the lack of scientific research that is influencing the decisions being made by the NPS in regard to Segment 9 of this trail. Experts from the local area, who KNOW how fragile the ecosystem is, have clearly stated the detriments of this plan. The EA study, as recommended by numerous agencies, needs to be performed before this trail is created.

Carla Brewer - You actually think this petition will help? Haven't we learned our wishes are consigned to the crapper as these government agencies just look for whatever wil make the most $$$$?

Amanda Kuhn - I do not agree with the proposed Segment 9 Heritage Trail and that is why I am signing this petition.

Jody Qualls - Save the trees. Keep nature natural. Nobody needs more asphalt.

Frank Witt - I think it’s a waste of time money and material. The sleeping bear dunes need to be left as they are. Nobody wants a blacktop path.

Bobbe Sharp - Doesn’t seem to fit with the natural beauty of the area. Plus we need trees to counterbalance climate change.

Beckton Arlene - Please don't do this

Carol Price - Follow the environmental laws. Protect our wilds.

Chad Rubenow - We have a cottage in the south side of LTL. While the extension of the Heritage Trail won’t affect our property, we are opposed to it in its current plan. Disrupting dunes, taking down trees, and building retaining walls in a pristine wooded environment is not needed. In fact, in the additional renderings suggested by Borealis, I would welcome the path along M22. This would disrupt less natural area, and also provide a recreational pathway for us on the south side of the lake.

Lori Korson - I do not want our ecosystems disturbed!

Barbara Stamiris - The National Park mission is to preserve nature!

Joshua Toms - I am willing to discuss my views in person with any party/parties that wish to.

Sandra Evely - Leave the trail and trees, habitat alone. A retaining wall will take away all the beautiful trees, flowers, habitat.

Trish Marie - I'm an avid bicyclist (but also an avid hiker) but I do NOT support the current Heritage trail plan. Once pavement is down, the landscape is altered irreparably. The environment of the Sleeping Bear area is unique; bike trails are not. Surely in an area as rich with bicycling opportunities as the Traverse region is, there are alternatives that don't require destroying unique dune swale landscapes.

Jean Martin - Leave Michigan wild and outsiders who can’t respect that; stay out!!!!

Lucy Dueck - You cannot replace what you destroy. Ever. It takes millennia to establish mature ecosystems.  Segmenting them by a path for humans destroys the crucial connections.

Marjorie Tursak - Other options should definitely be considered. This is a beautiful area and all possible efforts to protect sensitive places are imperative.

Terri Moore - I enjoyed the dunes while visiting and part of the enjoyment was the natural beauty. There is no reason to ruin it.

Thomas Gilpin - We do not need to destroy so much ecosystem to build "nature" trails.

Aaron Anderson - This proposed section 9 would be a disaster, and it would be a disservice to the very people it claims to serve by destroying the natural beauty they're supposedly being given access too. Alternatives need to be used to avoid the damage that would be created by the construction of segment 9. Don't let it the destruction happen!

Daniel Simpson - Natural trails that are already in existence or just need minor work should not be removed for any reason to create man made asphalt trails. The impact to this regions sand dunes have already caused major irreparable damage to a very rare environment. Keep nature the way it was. For even if we add onto it and throw our touches to it. Once we're gone the earth will take it back like it never existed. So let's not waste money on what the earth will just take back eventually.

Caliann Brown - Destroying nature to conserve nature is a contradiction and should have never been a plan. Nature Conservancy should be that, conserving nature not destroying it and ripping it apart for human gain. It’s disgusted, distasteful, and the people who made the plan should take classes in nature conservancy.

Nancy Tompkins - My family and I have been going up to Sleeping Bear area for decades, especially to camp. With all the changes and the influx of people, we have been hesitant to continue to do so. Please keep the area as wild as possible, for generations to come, especially wildlife! Thanks!

Brian Snyder - After seeing and living through TARTs trail plans in Traverse City, you should think twice about partnering with them. They have turned into road builders not trails.

Caleb Brown - While the goal of “access for more” has some merit, wild areas by definition can only remain so if access does not alter the landscape into unwildness. This trail extension is clearly unwilding a fragile ecosystem we are meant to be protecting from development.

Daniel Rogers - Saving money and protecting the existing ecosystem is far more important than paying companies to cut down trees and pave areas

Lynne Proimos - Please use the Mansfield option We must keep our natural areas,natural.

Molly McCool -Signing this petition to do my duty as a custodian of the environment

Josh Moncion - Don't pave the forest

Sherilyn Butler - Don't destroy nature for the sake of a bike trail! Use those millions for better purposes

Susan Brown- Leave it alone. Half the earths trees are already gone thanks to idiots !!!

Carrie Moon - Please do not destroy such a naturally beautiful area just because you feel that it would be a good idea. Think about how it will affect future generations.

Daron Anderson - Keep it low cost and natural as possible

Chad Gyde - Please don't destroy such a beautiful place by building a massive wall around it. Nobody wants to look at that!

Mark Kowald - Don’t ruin our ecosystem. How about that?

Brooke Franko - Please keep things as natural as possible.

Melissa Henk - Keep nature natural.

Joann Smith - Dune ecosystems must be protected for future generations and wildlife habitat. Modify the plans to be less destructive

Cass Haizlip - Save the forest!!

Candace Weller - The natural beauty of this place should be preserved! Leave the place alone. Leave no footprint n take nothing.

Nancy Ramadan - Sleeping bear should be kept as natural as possible

Kimber Keifer - We need to save and preserve our planet.

Brandy Mulvaine - Don’t spend money to destroy the trees!

Bill Rosemurgy - Completing this final section of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Heritage Trail, as proposed by the NPS, would be a travesty on at least two levels: (1) The adverse impact on this particularly sensitive ecosystem, for the sole purpose of allowing visitors to bicycle on a paved trail, is, in a word, repugnant. (2) The amount of money estimated to complete this section is, in another word, obscene. Spending $14 million on a bike trail??? Seriously!!! With all the deferred maintenance on structures at Sleeping Bear Dunes and throughout the entire National Park System, I am absolutely certain there are more immediate needs.

Kellie Parks - Please consider the viable options presented by Mansfield. Your proposed project is too destructive and expensive.

Terri Blaser - This property was taken by eminent domain from my family (Westcott at that time) with the promise that it would not ever be developed. Keep that promise and stop damaging / destroying ecosystems. The $$$ you're chasing will not replenish our natural resources.

Brooke Nugent - Please don't destroy this land! We are losing natural areas all over the state, thanks to urban sprawl. Don't destroy our National Park!

Felicity Tucker - There’s no reason to alter nature that’s preserved, all the damage to the animal’s natural habitat would be catastrophic for the animals and natural trees and plants that have been there for many many years. I recommend the natural nature trail. Not to mention paving a road is going to create more heat and pollution from the vehicles moving through. That is all. Thank you.

Sarah Parish - Enough with the asphalt and manicuring of nature!!!

Amanda Carpenter - Keep nature wild.

Kathy Dideriksen - How does destroying nature make sense? Sounds like someone is lining their pockets with that terrible plan!

Vicki Seltz Barnes - Advice: Never poke a Sleeping Bear!!! Ridiculous to spend (waste) taxpayer dollars, time to actually ruin the Native forests God gave us and the wild nature to enjoy and live in. Where will all those animals and birds, etc. exist after we ruin their forests with garbage, litter, graffiti and more....

Lisa Daniels - Leave it alone!! Stop destroying everything!!

Douglas Verellen - Knowing and feeling the reality of climate change while understanding nature accommodates our human survival, TART's plan with NPS permission is to cut out 7300 trees, excavate shifting dunes, plus disturb and dry out lake-purifying wetlands for a 4 mile bike road without demand, all for just $15 million ($9 million of which is our tax dollars), shows a complete loss of perspective, reason, vision and wisdom. Connectivity at any cost for TART--I think NOT!!

Lindsay Bibler - I am very concerned about the effects on the trees and the wetlands on the dune side.

Penny Barstow - I am a property owner on Traverse Lake Road and am opposed to the extension of the trail along the road when there are better alternatives.

Chelsea Duronio - The proposed trail is 100% UNNESSECARY and a grave danger to the environment. It will cause destruction for no reason at all. Bikers/walkers/exercisers can continue to use the existing roads respectfully without the need for completely destroying this area.

Sherri Moore - The Mansfield Engineering and Borealis Reports are far too compelling to ignore. Segment 9’s current proposal is far too destructive. Let’s stop this and consider common sense alternatives before trees are cut, critical dunes decimated and the vulnerable wooded dune and swale complex irrevocably destroyed.

Heather Granite - So much more can be done than just tearing down more trees and wildlife.

Janmarie Witkowski - Do not. Leave it alone.

Dianne Wakefield - When President Barrack Obama and Senator Carl Levin were here many years ago and changed the designation of the park to “wilderness” area, he said, this is a good thing, because it will prevent anyone in the future from building anything in this pristine landscape. Like a parking lot”, he said. I am against the trail. We have always had a trail along our road for everyone. We do not have to rip out our forests to provide what we do not need.

Chris Bowley - Considering the tremendous negative impacts to the proposed trail, the alternatives present significantly lower impacts with dramatically lower costs. This decision seems like a no brainer to reconsider the plan, or at least review and update the assessment before continuing.

Bonnie Dankert - I oppose any additional human interference or destruction of habitat in this area. The purpose of the national park system is to preserve and protect nature's unique and diverse landscapes, as well as the ecosystems they house. As climate change worsens, future funding will be essential in addressing the upfolding crisis.

Neil Hanna - Unnecessary. Way too much destruction of dunes, trees, landscape, etc. The retaining wall & barrier they propose is a complete eyesore! Way too expensive, totally unnecessary, unwanted, and extremely intrusive. The National Park Service stole our cottage on Good Harbor Bay. Now they want to destroy the very land they took away from us and many many other innocent property owners. They lied straight faced to all of us, never paid us the true value of our property, are destroying the land they stole, and are using my tax dollars to move houses in order to accommodate their grand plan. This was always a very poorly planed trail that should have been done along the lake for a much better end

Dawn Almy - I feel we should keep our National and State parks as natural as possible. Reasonably level surfaces and the occasional boardwalk across particularly rough or wet terrain is fine, and allows access for handicap usage. Spending tax dollars on unsightly and damaging improvements doesn't make sense.

Janice Huson - My family and I have visited family on Traverse Lake for over 40 years! The very thought of that gorgeous area being chopped up and paved over is disgusting & unimaginable! There are miles of biking trails already available, are they being used to the maximum ? Please reconsider this costly and dangerous plan! Someone needs to stand up for the wildlife and biological ecosystems of the area. I thought that was the job of the Dept of Natural Resources, some day there won't b any of these areas left to ruin!

Kathleen Hanna - Way too invasive and unnecessary

Katherine Thompson - There are examples of other places where roads were paved instead of walking trails, and they all ended up noisy with bikers speeding through. PLEASE leave something for people who want to enjoy a quiet walk, there's hardly anywhere to do that anymore with the amount of urbanization happening in this country.

Cynthia Bowley - This is unbelievable that there is any question of destruction of the land for very little if any gain/useage by those not even living there. There are enough trials. Make do with what you already have established as there is NO NEED for this extension or destruction.

Barbara Rubenow - I am opposed to the destruction of trees and building a restraining wall, when there are other routes that are along already existing roads that would not harm the land.

Jim Massaroni - Revaluate current trails route and environmental impact with recent data vs. aged environmental study used to support an old trail route.

Leslie Connally - Finding lower cost, lower impact alternatives is common sense.

Mary Barrett - Keep NATURAL & PROTECTED !

Thomas Verellen - I am a biker who have supported and used the Tart Trails during summer months in northern Michigan, everywhere that there is Tart Trails. I look forward to having a new trail from Acme to Charlevoix at a reasonable cost, but I cannot understand why they would want to use this amount of money and damage the environment by cutting 7300 trees and damaging sensitive dune's for 4.25 miles there has got to be a much better way?

MPhyllis Wetters - Please keep this area natural.

Bari Dilworth - Please look at alternatives that will be more protective and less damaging to the area when building the Heritage Trail.

Jack Mannon - SAVE THE TRAIL AS IT IS

Autum Esterline - I live in marshall Michigan but I do travel to the dunes. This would ruin the area and the nature.. this would displaced animals.. do not build a trail leave it alone.

Constance Koch - Please all you can to protect the delicate balance of the ecosystem.

Larry Walt - Please consider the other alternatives available to the segment 9 Heritage Trail. Segment 9 is a bad design and layout.

Audra Collins - There is plenty of room for sustainable development, this is unnecessary.

Alex Karnehm - Children don't need to see more roads and walls they need to see more trees and the wildlife that lives within them, the beauty of the world is becoming scarce because of infostructure such as this. I for one don't want to grow old driving between brick walls and prefab houses and today's Children shouldn't have to either.

Ann Krieger - This project needs much more research and eco friendly planning!!!

Catherine Moore - Please keep it natural. Don’t destroy what nature has created.

Lydia Nicholas - As an environmental scientist it appalls me that "recreation" is trumping conservation. There will not be the draw for recreation if you destroy the beauty people come from all over to see.

Sue McGeorge - Save the money. Keep trails natural. People don't need paved paths, that will need maintenance . The northwest trail up here has mowers and tree trimming, blowers to clean twigs a natural path will make most unnecessary

Julie Mor - It’s destroying the ecosystem out there. That is those animals homes not ours so leave it be. Our human foot print already destroys enough, so cutting down ecosystems is just multiplying that by 200x

Susan Metzger - I'm a Michigander retired in AZ. We visit MI often. Natural trails are the best. 7,500 trees ???? Might as well hike down town Lansing.

Claudia Devary - I don't like the thought of of people destroying nature and then claiming to care about the land they just wrecked through.

Natalie Sturm - Cutting 7,000 trees at a time when climate change is threatening forests and they are also one of our most important defenses is not an appropriate move.

David Thomas - Please preserve our ecosystems and find a more natural alternative!

Owen Anderson - Will ruin the tranquility

Daniel Meyer - Less concrete, more trees! If you want to smooth over nature’s beauty, go visit a mall.

Orion Thrower - Stop trying to pave and concrete trails and then claim you are trying to preserve nature. Just put in dirt trails and leave the area alone and let nature take hold. Stop trying to "manage" nature.

Sydney Walker - I would prefer the land be as untouched as possible

Nadine S Conrady - It kills me to see them tear down the natural invirament. Thus is what people want. If they wanted all that Concrete they can move to the Big City!!

Amanda Cox - Consider less disruptive alternatives so as not to disrupt the nature

Patrick Harrington - Conserve the dunes

Mark Stange - I don't understand why the NPS won't look at safer, quicker and cheaper alternatives with similar or better user experiences.

Eileen Fauver - Leave it natural

Zachary Fernandez - I hiked the Appalachian trail and nothing aggravated me more than walking though a Pipeline and power line cleaning. Keep nature natural

Sharon Clark - I am definitely against any paving of the trail. That totally defeats the purpose of a trail...it's not a road, nor should it be.

April Fennell - Saving trees and protecting the ecosystem is the only option that makes sense.

Austin Sanders - The trail has a nice walking space already. You walk to trail to be close to nature. Why destroy it?

Mark Bibler - There are multiple alternative options to extend the bike trail that will not necessitate the compromise extensive swaths of protected, unique wetlands.

Cerease Martin - Leave the dunes alone. It's a beautiful place to be why destroy a naturally occurring place of Peace. Wasted of funding killer of habitats. LEAVE THE DUNES ALONE

Ken Wells - Bringing people, doesn't help save the environment for generations to come.

Susan Fawcett - As a PhD botanist who teaches and conducts research in northern Michigan, the proposed plan to pave a swath of critical dune habitat is totally unacceptable. I support TART and bicycle accessibility, but it can’t come at the expense, destruction or degradation of this globally unique ecosystem that defines our region and economy.

Makayla Powell - Sometimes less is more.

Elizabeth Rose - Please halt the Segment 9 planning until a new, complete, accurate Environmental Assessment is done. It is crucial to consider sensible alternatives which will save habitat including wetlands, and not introduce high retaining walls to hold back razed dunes. Please DO NOT bulldoze through globally rare dune and swale areas. We already have such little left. Focus energy on protecting native habitat.

Terri Karasch - Please protect and preserve the unique ecosystems within Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Wendy Snow-Mitchell - The Sleeping Bear area is my favorite place in Michigan. Let's keep it's natural beauty.

Michael LaBo - Please act to preserve this beautiful area instead of turning it into another suburban greenway. Sleeping Bear Dunes are a treasure and deserve to be kept as such rather than reduced or harmed.

Darline Hodyna - Leave it alone!

Leon Hall - This trail needs to be more sensitive to the environment. The proposed route isn’t a good fit.

Adrian Gillissen - Don’t pave paradise to put up a parking lot. Credit Joni Mitchell

Janet Krajewski - I don’t think this section of the trail is beneficial to the community and to destructive to to much natural beauty.

Jamie Cunningham - Causing the least damage to the local wildlife and wilderness. Should always be people's first priority when going through the home of creatures that were living there first. And call the area home

Noah Sorensen - This is an unnecessary environmental disaster that can easily be avoided. I’m tired of the park destroying more than preserving. Please stop and consider better alternatives for everyone.

Dan Rahe - Stop the trail

Jason Kohler - Please stop paving the park. It’s supposed to be a “Natural” area.

James Montroy - Stop

Barbara McDonald - Please don’t put a road through natural habitat!

Carrie Ballou - Just because you can doesn't mean you should. The Park closed down the dune buggy rides to preserve fragile dune, but now you want to pave it? Granted, it's not Sleeping Bear Point, but these dunes and wetlands in question are also protected. And please don't use the excuse (again) that this trail opens opportunities for visitors. The Park has blocked visitors annually from many beaches and views because of Piping Plovers. This just feels like you (the park) are digging your heals in and aren't looking for better alternatives. Get back on mission, people. This small portion of the Heritage Trail does NOT need to be constructed as proposed.

Kate Jackson - NPS needs to protect the National Lakeshore, not pave it.

Mark Cavender - Do it without any environmental damage to natural areas!

Susan VandeWalle - I oppose the Segment 9 section of the Heritage Trail designed to cut into the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. I believe the trail should be enjoyed in it's natural state and not altered with the removal of thousands of trees, interrupted with a 25 foot wide asphalt road and intruded upon with massive retaining walls.

Victor Evans - Stop it. We need to stop destroying nature for short sighted reasons

Todd Reigle - Please reconsider the proposed development.

Sean Callahan - Dune and swale habitats and lakeshore dunes are globally rare and should be left undisturbed.

Janette Singley - We need to look at alternative solutions instead of destroying our natural areas for short sighted solutions.

Susan Verellen - We loved to bike and walk on trails throughout Michigan but are opposed to the dangers developing this portion of the trail has on that beautiful dune area and forest.

Will Kern - Save the trees!

Bradley McGovern - Follow the money

Megan Vasich - Please consider more careful planning to better preserve critical habitats.

Alan Feingold - Destroying the forest and dunes for a scenic trail to nowhere is absurd and a complete waste of tax dollars. Parks need all the help we can give them. Use our dollars wisely. Don’t destroy.

Jerry Phillippo jr - The proposed trail should have been routed by the people that live there and not by someone that has money ..they should flag areas of the path and have several paths flagged so people can walk them to decide the best route of the trail

Maya Littlefield - This would destroy our already fragile dune ecosystems and make them more susceptible to damage.

Lance Jack - I visit the park regularly and this type of development seems reckless, overly destructive, and poorly conceived. The current plan should be abandoned and a new one, with better input and planning, developed in its place.

Terry Beltemacchi - Leave no trace means something...something profound. Wake up folks!! That is one of the most beautiful parts of the US I have ever seen. To cut down that many trees leaves a huge trace. Please leave it alone!!!!

Michael Schrank - It is infuriating that I keep hearing these stories about land destruction for personal or commercial use.

MaryLou Timmons - Please don’t destroy our natural habitat

Pat Major - We need to make better decisions about this precious habitat!

Eli Prior - The modern trail will destroy the ecosystems of the park.

Nilza Soto - Stop it!! Leave it alone pls!! I wanna go visit the sleeping Bear park with tress in them naturally no disturbances and no tree cutting, nothing. Please, just let it be Nature. Thank you.

Keyes Brittany - Please do not destroy and pave priceless park and natural habit. Even though well intentioned, this destruction could do more harm than good. Please rework the plan to minimize environmental impact and destruction.

Tabitha G - Please reconsider

Mary Kirt - The Sleeping Bear Dunes is a natural treasure, one worth protecting. Please stop trying to make every square inch accessible to the detriment of this priceless monument.

Catrina Kiley - do NOT pave the trail, it is NOT needed and yall keep ruining our beautiful wilderness, STOP with that!!!! Let things be!!!! DONT try to fix what DOESNT NEED to be "fixed"!!!!

Mary Raymer - This is such an unnecessary extension of the trail. The trail from 669 west to Glen Arbor is rarely used in the winter and in the summer very little. It is shameful, heartbreaking and ultimately ridiculous to destroy our environment for some human desire to say " I did that". Also, I find it quite interesting that the NPS moved the barn on Narada Lake because the of the beavers den. If the NPS is so interested in not disturbing the beavers why to they want to destroy trees, wetlands etc. for the trail.

Susan Bullock - I left Leelanau over 10 years ago because I could no longer watch the area being ruined by over development., please stop this destruction of nature.

Patience Miller - Why are you destroying what this place was meant to SAVE? Aren't there alternatives? You folks are paid to be clever and find solutions that do as little harm as possible. I am very disappointed in the direction this is going. Sometimes wild is meant to be wild without humans.

Jeannie Bohley - I care

Marla Tyler - There is not a valid reason to alter the trail, it will harm the environment and all that need it to survive.

Toni Jensen - Leave it natural.

Kristi Robbins - As a long-time resident of Little Traverse Lake, I am deeply concerned about the proposed extension of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail through our community. While I appreciate the intention behind promoting outdoor recreation and sustainable tourism, the potential negative impacts on our local environment, privacy, and quality of life cannot be ignored. Our lake and its surroundings are a sanctuary for diverse wildlife and a haven of tranquility for residents and visitors alike. Introducing a high-traffic trail through this area threatens to disrupt delicate ecosystems, disturb local wildlife, and degrade the natural beauty we cherish. Moreover, the increased foot and bicycle traffic poses serious concerns regarding privacy and security for those of us living near the proposed trail route. Our community values the peace and seclusion that Little Traverse Lake offers, and this project would significantly alter that cherished way of life. Additionally, the potential for noise, congestion, and the need for increased maintenance and infrastructure cannot be overlooked. These changes would impose a burden on our community, both financially and in terms of quality of life. For these reasons, I urge decision-makers to reconsider the route of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail and seek alternative solutions that do not compromise the unique and fragile environment of Little Traverse Lake. Let us work together to find a balance that promotes outdoor recreation while preserving the tranquility and natural beauty of our community.

Kim Davidson - Save our critical dunes, our trees and halt segment 9 as it will ruin far more and add NOTHING of necessary value.

Angela Schoeberle - Save Sleeping Bear dunes

Emily Melcher - I’ve been visiting the dunes since I was a kid, and the thought of them being pretty much destroyed for a paved path makes me furious. Leave nature alone, we’re already ruining so much, why can’t we just stop. Not everything needs to be cement and concrete.

Michael Delp - Leave the trees alone. We stewards not masters.

Grace Williams - A very unnecessary and destructive project. It's hard to believe that someone actually thought of it!

Gail Juett - Please don't spoil our treasure!

Peggy Pierson - Thank you for your efforts.

Mary Howard - I will stop visiting Tac area if you ruin the dunes.

Erica Canfield - Please work to keep critical natural ecosystems in place

Cynthia Johnson - Please stop paving trails. . Stop the removal of trees. Thank you.

Rachael Overweg - Be sure to not disrupt nature

Ken Hawkins - Thank you

William Porter - No!

Mark Greening - I am a cyclist and enjoy the trail when cycling with other family members. However it is long enough. No more paved trail. .

William Scharf - The present plan destroys parts of the Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Jack Gescheidt - Stop with the “development” projects already! Man hands off Mother Nature. Build less! And zero cattle on public lands!

Emma Beauchamp - Keep the dunes natural!

Susan Jones - I prefer my wilderness experiences to be unpaved and the sand dunes protected.

James D'Amour - Unnecessary, unacceptable and destructive. 7300 trees and removal of steep slopes in a wilderness area too high a price to pay in the era of climate change.

John and Ann Davey - Too much desecration, to say nothing of the cost, for an unneeded 4 miles.

Michele Leanderson - It is not in the best interest of the our environment. The mission of the National Park Service “is dedicated to conserving unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System…..”. Cutting down 7300 trees, bulldozing through critical dunes and erecting a 25 foot high concrete retaining wall doesn’t seem to fit the NPS mission statement.

Peggy Finnegan - I do not support this trail through the beloved Sleeping Bear Dunes habitat! Preserve the park as is and find an alternate route. Thank you

Jami Ross- These proposed ‘improvements’ simply aren’t necessary, and will destroy valuable resources already in place-and have been in place for more years than any of us can remember. It is honestly, not needed. A waste if money and more importantly, a waste of wonderful, beautiful, natural resources already in place. Just doesn’t seem to be a wise decision.

Levi Box - Please leave the little wild we have left, wild.

Gretchen Kronk - Construction of Segment 9, as currently proposed, would require the needless destruction of pristine land that the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was created to preserve and protect. The proposed destruction of more than 7,000 trees and construction of a two-story retaining wall is unconscionable. PRESERVE and PROTECT, please. A new Environmental Assessment must be conducted to redress the outdated, less-than-accurate 2009 EA. PRESERVE and PROTECT, please. Surely M-22 could be redesigned to accommodate the Heritage Trail for those 4+ miles.

Brett Bilak - Please stop developing the forests

Jon Bush - Trees are more important!

Christine Koubek - We need to preserve what is there now and consider alternatives to the proposed ideas for the Heritage Trail.

Luann McLeod - Since there are already paved trails, I feel that they are enough. Cutting trees for more will mar the area's beauty.

Deborah Turner - Please don't pave it!

Dennis Ingham - 22 miles is enough

Arthur Beaudoin - We should be planting trees and preserving wetlands not destroying ecosystems that are so beneficial.

Naomi Ojala - Please do not pave.

Sheila Thomas - I lived in Michigan when I was young (1960s-1970s) and had family summer vacations in the Sleeping Bear Dunes and Crystal Lake area. As an adult I have returned there with my own children and my brothers’ families as well. The scenic roads and the nature settings are what bring us back. State and National Parks are there to preserve something special and unique. Once it is destroyed, there is no redo, no restoration that will ever bring it back to what it had once been. Take it from a now Floridian who has seen pristine beaches destroyed by beach construction to bring in more tourists. Beach hotels have massive retaining walls, and the beach is completely underwater now for high tide. Coastal counties are continually paying for beach replenishment, which is dredging up sand from further out in the ocean and bringing it back to the beach. The beautiful natural dunes that nature created no longer exist in many parts of Florida. And tourists complain about the beaches being closed while they are being replenished, or they complain that the beach is not available during high tide. So, they look for more pristine locations. Those locations don’t have enough hotels. So, the county tries to put up more with the ever important beach view and access. It never stops. They just say, well so-and-so county did it, and they make enough money from tourism to pay for the beach replenishment that they know will be needed before they even start! Don’t let your dunes be manipulated in anyway. Nature knows what she is doing, and it is a very delicate balance. Save your national treasure! Florida is now fighting to try and replenish our beaches, save our wetlands, rebuild our coral reefs, and restore the Everglades. Stop it before it starts! If this is allowed to happen, it will be only the beginning. It will set a precedent that taking “just a little” is okay. They will continue to take “just a little” here and there until it gets to the tipping point, and then it is too late. We see your Pure Michigan advertising and we love going to see PURE Michigan. Not a paved bike trail, and massive retaining walls blocking the scenic view. We have that here in Florida already.

Diane Gordon - Please use common sense and reject this proposed plan to further develop Sleeping Bear National Lake Shore. Enough is enough. The original intent was to preserve the wildness of this beautiful land. This plan is unnecessary and is a total antithesis to the original concept of preservation of natural habitat. I am totally against this project and reject it 100%. So should the powers that be.

Janet Wears - Please allow the natural landscape to remain so wildlife and plant life can still thrive as they do currently. Don't destroy what cannot be replaced.

Dennis Teusch - Do not destroy Sleeping Bear Dunes. Protect the Dunes

Charles Carr - Go north on 669 and use the existing trail to reach Good Harbor Beach.

Amy Coble - Keep sleeping bear dunes area !

Anneke Wegman - I walked the proposed trail earlier this year and was stunned by its serene beauty, it was a calm peaceful hike that surprised me. I was delighted buy very sad knowing that it would all be demolished and destroyed. Please consider an alternative path that would preserve what I love about Sleeping Bear dunes National Lake shore.

Guy Plamondon - we love sleeping bear dunes as it is in that section, we don't need a trail through there to satisfy Tart. please reconsider an alternative approach.

Nola Dillard - Do not mess with nature, humans are ruining too much of the planet already.

Tim Miller - I'm signing this petition to try to save the trees and wetlands.

Maria Williams-Recinos - Leave nature as it the more you take away the more we will never get back.

Jackie Malinowska - We see the lack of planning and habitat connection in Florida now. So sad so many creatures have been displaced

Auden Irelan - This will cause too much unnecessary damage to the area.

Tabitha Coleman - No more roads!

Elizabeth Beaudoin - We humans have to recognize and speak up for the beings who do not have a voice (trees, wildlife, flora etc.) This segment 9 annihilates these beings, the landscape etc for what, a path for humans at the expense of nature. Please, please do the right thing and bring this segment 9 on the course that has been suggested as an alternative.

Michelle Irwin - A lot more and thoughtful work needs to be done here. This place is too beautiful to not do proper planning.

Rebecca Stockman - I am in full agreement with the following demands! I demand that Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore halt the Segment 9 planning until a new, complete, accurate Environmental Assessment is done that - considers real, sensible alternatives, - saves 7300 trees, - leaves wetlands undisturbed, - doesn't require high retaining walls to hold back razed dunes, - doesn't bulldoze through globally rare dune and swale areas. - keeps wildlife habitat unfragmented and undisturbed.

Deb Lott - Save what we can!

Cynthia Casillas - Keep safe what is good. First things first. Better to be intentional for planning.

Marcia Dougan - Please keep any trail as natural as possible, preserving trees, dunes, wetlands, etc. As an NCT hiker I have come to appreciate Michigan’s wonderful habitats.

Toni Slater - Come up with a better plan.

Janice Hubbs - Please do not disturb the forest and wetlands & dunes . Rework the plan to reach Good Harbor.

Elizabeth Hunt - Preserve this national treasure!

Mary Britten - It's sad to think that the northern parts of Michigan have politicians and planners that want their areas to look as junky as those in the southern part of the state. Down here in craphole Jackson County they're repaving the Falling Waters Trail, destroying trees along the way and displacing the wildlife. It's so stupid hot on the trail now it's not worth using. In the winter, the wind, due to a lack of trees, will be so biting and cold. Paved trails are an abortion to natural areas, they really are. They make the areas too hot or too cold, lead to an excessive amount of rude asf bicyclists and e-bikers, and lead to bad wildlife encounters where the wildlife ends up dead or forced into yards and roads. This county also did away with the trees in numerous city parks and sold one park to a developer despite it being well used and loved by the neighborhood. Don't be like crappy ol Jackson County, do better. Don't destroy the ecosystems and natural beauty in favor of more tourism. As it is our state has too many people marching in and wrecking the places that used to be pleasantly secluded and quiet.

Jenavieve McMurray - As someone who spends time within Sleeping Bear, I do not agree with the current proposed trail. It will drastically effect and destroy rare and sensitive habitats. We should look at alternative routes that won't require bulldozing through dunes or other sensitive habitats.

Jennifer Merrill - Keep our natural areas

Tammy ki Brotherton - I would like the dunes to stay undisturbed and to vote segment nine down

Julia Trevino - Nature is molested too much already. This is an essential naturally shifting area that needs to be left natural. Thank you.

Patricia Stange - Please do not disturb the beauty of the Traverse Lake area by extending the bike trail.

Kathy Thompson - Leave the dunes alone

Patricia Davies - The proposed trail extension must be stopped!

Katherine Irick - This is an environmentally important area, especially with the dunes.

John Shelters - Don't ruin the area for ease of access.

Michelle Malbouef - Save the wildlife

Carole Underwood - Totally unnecessary--there are more than enough trails in this area. How can you advocate destroying nature in order to preserve nature? Use the money somewhere else in the Dunes.

Kay Bittell - yes go for the alternatives

Marnie Heyn - Your suggestions on alternatives are practical and correct.

Ricardo Nouel Paul - keep up the conservation efforts

Marilyn Raffaele - Please realize that these natural areas are already something wonderful and don't need asphalt and chainsaws to make them better. Let the nature be what it is- perfect. No more man made trails to accommodate those too lazy or unable to actually hike.

Kristen Abrams - Would love to see the path go down M22 so there is safer walking and biking for families.

Ben Abrams - Please put the trail down M-22

William Mckinley - Most expensive habitat destruction imaginable. The trail could end easily at a Good Harbor Beach on Bohemian Rd. Why on earth go to all this trouble to end the trail at another Good Harbor Beach?

Maxwell Verellen - It's important to note that the initial proposal for this trail referenced an environmental impact survey that is not only outdated, it was also incorrect and unethical at the time.

John Goulette - Please he'd the will of the people & cease the unnecessary construction of segment 9 of the Heritage Trail, preserve the dunes.

Pat Harrington - The project is destructive to the environment

Ken Jackson - I am not in favor of cutting 7300 +- trees and building a 25 foot retaining wall to to give trail users a more natural way through the National Lakeshore.

Kathleen Snedeker - This plan is destructive to what a National Park is supposed to be. This plan makes my heart ache.

Kristen Race - The NPS should be protecting the wilderness not destroying it. Especially since many bikers will continue to use the existing road even with a bike trail right next to the road as they do on M22. It's also dishonest for the NPS to say there is no environmental impact. That was true when the plan was to have the trail on the roadway. To say that the new plan, with an asphalt trail, boardwalks, and huge retaining walls, has no environmental impact is absurd. I'm shocked and dismayed that even though the State of Michigan has a Critical Dunes Protection Act, the NPS and TART can just apply for a waiver and destroy these supposedly protected dunes. What's the point of the Act if not to prevent exactly this kind of construction?

Kevin Canfield - Just leave it alone !

Cheri Buchbinder - Please use consultation skills and find the solution that protects nature. Love and peace.

Blake Ratcliffe - I live on East Traverse Lake Road. I'm a longtime supporter of Tart/Heritage Trails. I support more trails. I want more inclusive access. I do NOT want the poorly-planned, unnecessary destruction of the current Segment 9 design. Please revise this current design plan to be: 1) a shared roadway along Traverse Lake Road (NO walls, NO cutting into critical dunes), and 2) re-route the forest trails away from unique dune/swales (move the trail closer to M-22 to avoid disturbing/destroying this world-class natural habitate).

Peggy Ferguson - I am a member of the LTLA. Our family has been a resident on the north shore of Little Traverse Lake for over 80 years. We have a strong connection to this precious natural environment and wish to protect it at all costs. Surely a different route for Section 9 of the Heritage Trail should be considered before thousands of helpless trees are destroyed and millions of extra dollars are spent.

Ruth Winter - Who wants this segment in light of 14 years of new information since public hearings??? Segment 9 is an unnecessary assault on a fragile dune/ swale complex. I love bicycling the trails of Leelanau but we don’t need this fragile segment.

Ellen Baird - I have enjoyed the current Heritage Trail route but oppose any extension that cuts more trees, disturbs wetlands, and changes the natural beauty of the landscape. The love for this natural area is contributing to its death.

Thomas Mead - Please stop bulldozing the Park and adding more pavement. The more natural and wild the Park is, the better it will serve society. A highly engineered paved extension of the trail through sensitive forested dune areas is a bad idea from every viewpoint.

Mary Eschbach - Let’s stop this !

Carol Smith - New environmental studies should be conducted, and current plans to build new section of the trail should be put on pause.

Timothy Wade - The proposed trail needs to be reconsidered. I support an alternative plan that would be less damaging to the natural environment.

Carla Bloom - I am grateful for the Heritage Trail as it offers me--and many others--opportunities to enjoy the natural beauty of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore area while walking and biking. In light of our current understanding of the essential services provided by sensitive natural areas, I am dismayed by the proposed harms to them. It makes no sense to further destroy nature in order to enjoy it. We must carefully consider whether extensions to the trail are actually necessary. If so, they should be constructed in the most environmentally-sensitive means possible.

Bette Donahue - Save this from the proposed destruction!

Joane Mitchell - An updated environmental assessment is needed and possible alternatives considered.

Diane Rehak - I agree that the trail so far has made access to the amazing area we live in much easier for all. But I am finding it harder to believe that paving another 4 miles of woodland, chopping down 7000 trees & building huge retaining walls to support this new section of trail is wise or warranted. Access along the shoreline between Bohemian Road & Good Harbor Bay Road is there foe all to walk as is the meandering trail through wooded & dune area. Do we really need to pave everything for bike access? What folks love about this area may soon be gone if we continue what we are doing. The County has changed so much in last 25 years. Growth is great but are we willing to decimate wetlands & forest, homes for animals & many trees & flora to attract more tourists who supposedly come for all this. Lets step back & think about this with a bit more before we start the chopping.

Mary Ann Krebs - Protect the environment. Protect the trees. Protect the people.

Mary Haley - Preserve the Dunes.

Judy Dunmire - Cyclists can use existing trails, we need to preserve this untouched area. Period. I would be in favor of hiking only trails or sharing existing roads/ right of ways for much less impact.

Linda Cervenan - The area needs to stay as is. No need for cutting down thousands of trees just to put in a bike trail. Let the bikers ride elsewhere. Time to study the plan put in place years ago. Lots has changed since then.

Lauriann Mannion - I am so upset and deeply saddened about the possibility of Segment 9. The National Park System and TART need to stop the plan for 4 miles of the Heritage Trail. They need to think about the importance of nature and the environment and not fluffing up their nests. Nature needs to be left as it is....we do NOT need more cement, more retaining walls and more tree cutting...shame on them!! LEAVE NATURE ALONE! After all, isn't that what we all truly desire in the long run...let's have a little more insight and vision of our natural environment

Judith Ann Elzinga - Lost natural habitat can never be replaced. I can just imagine the "before" and "after" photos. Please end this idiotic plan.

Susan Ross - Please lets take the time to rethink what this route could do. This beautiful unspoiled area needs to be protected. Preserve what is perfect just as it is.

John Ingwersen - Heritage train section 9 as proposed is harmful to the environment and unnecessary for public access to park features.

Annie Floeter - That retaining wall will be hideous!!!

Jean Shoenberger - It's not always necessary to disrupt nature

Chris Johnson - Please find a more sensible alternate route, such as along the right-of-way of M-22.

Linda Egeler - Please do not proceed forward with cutting any trees in order to extend the Heritage Trail. With the current climate crisis we are experiencing, we must do all we can to preserve natural areas and trees. A 4 mile bike path extension in no way is worth cutting over 4,000 trees. If the bike path is critical, surely an alternate route can be found that wouldn't be so devastating to the environment.

Fay Engel - Come on people! Can't we just use some common sense for a change. You can't replace an area like this. Put some thought into it and do it right!

Ron Healy - Sleeping Bear Naturally's research and arguments are impressive and thorough. There is no reason for this project to go forward when there are simple and non-destructive alternatives.

Sandra John - LET THE BEAUTIFUL TREES STAND!

Mike Kearney - do not cut down the trees.

Robin Silva-Wilkinson - I understand that much time, money and effort was expended to plan Segment 9 of the Heritage Trail. However, I implore you to conduct a new environmental assessment to determine the impact the Segment will have on the environment, or explore alternative routes to avoid having to cut so many (i.e., thousands of) trees and build 950 feet of retaining walls.

Ruth Quinn - Reroute trail so thousands of trees, wet lands and wildlife habitat be saved.

Laura Montie - Let it be.

Kelly Zweifel - I agree that this 4 miles of construction will destroy many ecosystems that are crucial in this time of climate change.

Cal Lambert - Let’s honor the 1916 National Park Service Organic Act by adhering to its mandate: "Conserve the scenery, natural and cultural resources, and other values of parks in a way that will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Safeguard Sleeping Bear Dunes and keep it natural!

Connie Thompson - Please reconsider the route for segment 9 of the Heritage Trail. Consider an alternate route and work together to protect this beautiful ecosystem, and priceless asset.

Sally Casey - I sent a letter to the NPS stating my deep concerns about the proposed Heritage Trail, due to its huge negative impact on the environment. They must review this decision from 2009! It is 2024, and the forest and wetlands must be protected more than ever!

John Wunsch - The 2009 proposed Trail must not occur, Bohemian Road alternative makes complete sense.

Laura Wigfield - We need to choose a low impact solution!

Peggy McNamara - Keep the trail alongside the road, save money and mostly preserve the fragile dunes.

Tracey Bos - Please consider the proposed alternatives that would leave a nature-friendly footprint. Let’s PLEASE preserve this beautiful area and not buckle to the demands of tourism.

Dianne Cavitt - No more clear cutting. Our environment and wildlife depend on us to do better than this destruction.

Sherry Sienkiewicz - I am totally against adding this proposed extention to the existing trail. In my opinion it will cause a lot of destruction of natural land that we will never get back. Please consider another route. As a citizen of Leelanau County I don't want to see the county paved for the pleasure of a few people. Can't we leave nature alone. Please! Please!.

Jackie Baase - When there’s an alternate biking route available via Bohemian Road, why would the SBNPS consider damaging the ecosystem, the flora/fauna, and cutting invaluable trees for the sake of a bike trail…it’s unconscionable!!

Ruth Chesnut - This will absolutely ruin the trail .Let’s do the right thing 👍💪 If you are concerned about ADA access , certainly it would be cheaper to buy a few more Track chairs

Margo Behler - The cost is ridiculous-....how about putting this money towards people that are hungry and need homes. Build it along M-22

Morgan Fisher - There is absolutely no justification for the development for the Segment 9 Heritage Trail. The National Park has a duty to protect the land vs meet the selfish agenda for those in favor of 4 plus more miles of an overkill, unnecessary bike trail. This is a proposal of massive destruction to the land, animals, water, birds,.. flora, and fauna. This destruction and construction and the increase in traffic to the lake area, surrounding habitat, wetland will have irreversible impact. This is a horrible selfish and irresponsible proposal and project that has no concept of what protection of land/water is nor what being a 'steward of the land' means. This is coming from one who grew up riding the roads of Leelanau County and on her bike for years in the 80's and racing bikes for years out west. I am a local and have lived in several states. I have watched and fought irresponsible projects such as this. Shame on anyone proposing and supporting such irresponsible planning to the park and local area. Do those in favor of this realize the increase in traffic to the road and homes back there as well? 4 miles of a bike trail can be rerouted just fine along other proposed areas; or how about there is plenty of road and paved land to ride already? Let's improve bike paths along the road and leave what was meant to be protected by the park : PROTECTED.

Molly Phinny - Environmentally disastrous Unnecessary Other options are available

John Crawford - No further trails or roads or new parking lots should be made in our national park. thank you

Anna Jackson - This land needs to be protected not developed

Ryan Kiefer - I think it's absurd that an organization that claims to support SUSTAINABILITY and PRESERVATION of our state's wildlife and ecosystems supports the destroyal of one of the last large habitats in the state! If any forest technician agrees with the plan, we need a new forestry team.

Laura Paine - This destruction of the natural beauty alongside Little Traverse Lake is uncalled for! Work with MDOt and utilize road right away!

Carey Grant - As an avid biker I love our trails but not at the expense of the beauty that will be destroyed. Finishing this trail sounds lovely. But let’s protect the trees as this is the foundation of why we live here. I will enjoy all the miles of trails we have now.

Logan Grant - Please keep our wetlands safe.

Casey Grant - I like biking on our trails, but please find an alternate route that both keeps us away from the roads but does not destroy our natural landscapes.

Ian Olmsted - My family owns a 3rd generation house on little traverse lake across from the proposed development. The existing trails I utilize most days for long runs. There is no reason for this sort of extremely invasive development in those pristine cedar forests. It only benefits new tourism and I can’t possibly see how it’s worth the cost or impact on the ecology. There are also Native American burial plots on that land that may be affected by this trail development.

Julie Saile - Use little traverse lake road. Period.

Kirsten Bailey - This is destruction, not improvement.

Kathryn Pastotnik - No need to cut these trees! In fact they are crucial to our delicate ecosystem! Reroute and preserve please !

Jane Rodgers - Thoughtful development is much better in the long run than what seems easiest and fastest. Too much is being lost in our world. Preserve what is of great value, don't destroy it.

Arielle Schwartz - It is sad that we have to continuously fight for the rights of other living beings in the face of capitalists ever growing agenda to remove all greenery and plunge us into a fiery hellscape of global warming. Stop destroying forests for shitty housing while millions of empty houses rot

Robert Aguirre - There is absolutely no need for this destruction. STOP PLEASE

Eric Curtiss- Keep Sleeping Bear Dunes natural!

Cindy Stuewe - Please find a less destructive way!

Nyssa Navarro - I value the protection of old growth forests and wet lands. With developments happening everyday that harm these ecosystems; I believe that finding alternatives to development of this area would benefit the community.

Darwin Carlson - Stop the destruction for profits

Marc Heuser - Please do what you can to have minimal impact on our trees, wildlife and environment.

Elvin Stewart - It is imperative to protect 'Nature' from mindless destruction. We all LIVE HERE!

Brenda Lewis - Once trees are cut, walls are built, delicate areas disturbed they most likely can never be returned. If there is a less invasive/destructive route that should be explored so that nature can prevail so bikers, hikers and walkers can enjoy it vs destroying it. For example Stocking drive is NOT the same authentic experience vs when I was a kid on a tree lined tunnel of mystery to the beautiful vista that emerged. It’s nice now but not mystical and it is forever changed/industrialized.

Thomas Steele - No reason to destroy a one in the world beautiful natural wonder.

Dawn Horvath - I feel this needs more discussion! You can never regain what is lost from this destruction!!!

Jordan Tassos - Destroying nature for roads and easy access is a disgrace. Leave the lands they way they are and put in trails that dont require so much destruction to be built

Daryl Britton - Please save the trees!

Deborah Crowell - This destruction is utterly rediculous. This day and age you should do better, when a better way is available and an obvious answer to all concerned.

Linda Foster - It is such a shame to destroy so many trees and dunes for this project. There should be a different way to accomplish it without destroying what nature has given us.

Julia Trevino - Leave old growth This is a special area a rare treat. Environment needed.

Mary Eckel - There has to be a better way to do this

Jan Look - The proposed trail is simply wrong.

Cynthia Caudle - Haven't humans learned yet that trees are essential to our lives & the planet? There is always better ways to do things without destroying nature.

Leanne Primrose-Brown - I believe any option that helps save mature trees should be explored.

Justin Weber - Leave it the way it is!

Mark Carroll - These plans are RIDICULOUS!! Protect the native habitats and biodiversity at all cost!!

S Williams - Isn’t Michigan having enough storms that the people in charge would want to keep the few natural defenses you have? How stupid to cut down mature trees for a bike trail when alternatives are available.

Christopher Kuchmuk - Low impact is key here. The beauty there at sleeping bear is unmatched and if this path is built will soon no longer resemble an area that you would even want a terrible path like this at because that proposed project will destroy the very reason for your desire to have this here

Ellen Grey Catto Bunday - Save our wilderness. This much destruction is insane

Carol Kleinert - Stop cutting down trees …you are destroying our air, our climate and our future! Find a way to save the trees.

Merry Ossenheimer - Save the trees. Alternate plan please.

Susan Allington - Leave the trees alone...there is enough trail!

Laura Waddell-Serocki - There are alternative areas that could be used for the trail, which would not destroy the very nature people want to enjoy.

Cathy McFarland - We need to stop destroying the habitat for wild animals!!!

Karen Donaldson - Please ensure the least invasive efforts are made to save the trees and sensitive environments in jeopardy with this project.

Renee Miron-Alimpich - Please do not destroy the woods for this project! There is a better way!

Michelle Thomas - A different, NON-INVASIVE route proposed, doable AND more cost effective! Leave our threatened natural areas NATURAL, this current T.A.R.T. proposal goes against the National Park Mission Statement on leaving natural areas NATURAL. I’m handicapped myself and do not expect to be able to get every single place others can get to. That’s just life. So you can’t bicycle all the way through endangered areas, SO WHAT! BIG DEAL! STOP THE DESTRUCTION of our precious areas!

Mary Jocque - Preserve the green!

Clara Burton - Please don't destroy Nature!

Vickie Wagner - Cutting down thousands of old growth trees, slicing into dunes is neither acceptable or good stewardship.

Emily Hilton-Van Wagoner - Less is more!!

Kate Smith - Please leave this beautiful landscape alone, there are many better alternatives, bikers don’t need a highway, sad!

Scott Craw - This amount of trees being removed is entirely unnecessary. This is wrong.

Hanna Merrill - Protect environment. No trail extension through Little Traverse Lake

Robert Quentin Hyde - Please do not cut down these trees. They should be preserved and maintained.

Cathy Moriarty - Let's not destroy any forests.

Michael Johnson - Leave Mother Nature alone!

Vickie Finkler - It makes little sense to destroy where people want to go in order to provide access. Once these trees are gone, they will never be replaced.

James Howell - Stop wrecking the environment.

Jocelyn James - Please find an alternative plan and avoid destroying this beautiful, natural area. There’s too much environmental damage in the original trail plan.

Philip Merrill - None of the existing options enhance the existing SBD trail sufficient to justify the cost.

Nick Kilmer - Please reassess to save more trees and the dunes

Rene Koesler - Absolutely a proposed tragedy and must not happen!

Lisa Facciponti - Anytime mature trees and wetlands are in jeopardy, rethinking the plan is much preferred.

Mary Ann McDonald - The trees need to be preserved, especially in this time of climate change... They are beautiful, they are providing habitat for wildlife, and they are also an important carbon sink.

Cynthia Davis - Save this area for the animals and people!!!!

Laura Krause - Please save these beautiful public trees for future generations.

Cynthia Morris - I grew up in Michigan and this project is one of the worst I have seen. Why do humans have to continue to destroy this Beautiful untouched area?

Sharon Cross - I’m REALLY disgusted that someone thought it’s a good idea to wipe out all of these trees. Trees are so disrespected. And it takes years to replace them.

Donna Ohlin - Stop the destruction of our trees and woodlands!!!

Deborah Burcar - Save the trees and preserve the dunes....isn’t that what nature’s all about! Enjoy the beauty.

Marla Clover - We have been going to this area since I was a child, please don't destroy this beautiful natural area. My children and now my grandchildren have been blessed to visit. I would like to think my great grands would also know the beauty. Stop destroying what you were created to protect.

Susan March - Keep the trees

Julie Rambo - Please stop the destruction. Park service should preserve and protect, not destroy.

Boggan Ryan - This is environmental genocide

Vickie Moore - Please don't clear any more trees in the park. Leave most areas for foot traffic only. Cars don't have to cover everything.

Jamie Miller - Leave the Trees

Elizabeth Tyra - Stop the destruction of such a beautiful place!

Kevin Kosmeder - Time to declare war on developers.

Dawn Hopfinger - There is a less destructive alternate route. Why wouldn't you utilize that and save thousands of trees? In these days of severe weather conditions everywhere, we need all the grandmother and grandfather trees we can save. Don't be so short sighted. That's what got us where we are today

Lauren Fancher - We can not afford to lose anymore old growth forests. They are dwindling quickly and are necessary for a healthy ecosystem. Please don't destroy this beautiful area.

Mark Langdon - Being a local resident and enjoying the untouched natural beauty of this area since childhood, I feel all the money proposed to have this paved bike trail run through the rare and beautiful dunes and wetlands can be better appropriated to a different route with less environmental impact while still allowing for the recreational benefits this area is known for.

Macs Whitney - Please choose a less destructive method of expansion. Leave our old growth trees and keep our forests healthy.

Lynne Stuparek - There is a less destructive way! Old growth trees and wetlands are part of our heritage and should never be destroyed for the "heritage trail". Don't you see how contradictory that is?

David Kirk- No comment

Dawn Nye - As someone who grew up loving the wild lands of Michigan, I find it abhorrent that the government is allowing the destruction of these trees and this area. Other options are available, use them

Becky Lindsey - We should NEVER cut established or old growth trees without exploring ALL options to avoid it!!

Iva Puhl - Stop the destruction of our trees.

Jerry Puhl - Useless destruction of trees to satisfy inhumane humans is waste at its worst.

Marcia Dabrowski - Changes are part of life but better options can be found.

Michael Dennis - Natural areas need to be kept that way

Lisa Russell - egregious act for a ridiculous reason.

Rebecca Kuehn - Leave the native trees and do not put asphalt in place of a thriving ecosystem. We do not need more monocultures and vacant space. Let nature have what little it has left of the earth.

Chad Fernandez - We, as a country, need to stop paving over everything.

Dennis Hurst - Destroying 7,300 trees to create an asphalt trail during a critical time of climate change in Michigan is contrary to public policy. Building a huge urban-like retaining wall on a scenic road of quiet, tranquil beauty is completely inconsistent with the quiet, peaceful setting of Traverse Lake Rd. Damaging our dunes, wetlands, and native species in the forest and dune / swale complex, just to build an asphalt trail, is simply wrong-headed in a modern, informed society. Once this damage is done, it can never be reversed !

Jane Kalin - This expansion of a bike trail is unnecessary and will destroy so many trees in the process. If everyone is so concerned about global warming, cutting down trees like these is very counterproductive to saving our planet!

Marty Visnosky - I have had the thrill of visiting the Dunes this is Not what should occur!!

Joan Heisinger - Please don't destroy another natural habitat. You're supposed to protect & preserve, NOT destroy. Try an alternative method.

Jarrett Miller - Do not do it, the natural trees should be left alone, hundreds of years of history that no one in our lifetime would be able to ever see again.

Emilie Brissette - Why? Leave it alone

Sheila Kaminski - Not a fan!

Angie Kowalkowski - LEAVE THE TREES ALONE. WILDLIFE NEEDS THE WILD.

Lori Hauthaway - Stop cutting trees down

Roberta Meserve - I agree with the idea of protecting the dunes, wetland, trees and wildlife in this 4 mile trail proposal. Build it somewhere else causing less destruction.

Mary Osborn - It is your responsibility to protect and preserve as much of the wetlands and dunes as possible. Please use a less destructive path and method.

Morgan Vierheller - In the midst of this climate crisis, please consider how important these heritage trees are. Please find a better way that leaves the trees in place.

Rosalyn Link - Stop destroying trees when there are other options!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lindy Barnes - Please, do not cut down all of those lede-giving trees, there are alternatives.

Diane Lankford - The less invasive route should always be chosen when considering harming natural areas! Please do the right thing for Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Tim Weber - The forest needs to be preserved and the less damaging and costly should be undertaken

Christina Yates - There is a better way than destroying beautiful trees

Denise Midgley- What will we do when there are no more trees?!

Jeri Randolph - Just stop it! Tired of our beautiful lands being tore up .

Michele Sadauskas - Please protect our rare and threatened natural communities!

Renee Hamilton - If there are alternatives USE them!!!

Betty Frohock - Find a better way!

Jan Dassance - I thought NPS was all about preserving nature and doing what is in the best interest to keep our natural areas intact

Lyn Copeland - Stop destroying the irreplaceable, please! The natural world needs allies. There has to be a better way

Victoria Wallick - Please put the trail in a less controversial place

Randy Chamberlain - Leave the national park alone.

Justin Ward - I support low environmental impact construction, not the removal of 7300 trees

Sandy Lockridge - While I'm not from your state, I am against the destruction of any wetlands, dunes, or mature forests.

Sandra Timney - Natural beauty needs nature/animals not more concrete and ugliness

Flora Paquette - Leave what's left of our natural resources alone.

Laurette Giardino - Save the trees we need them

Phillip Mathews - This is the most stupid proposal I have ever heard. Do not do this, period.

Glenda Bettes - Save as many trees and other natural resources as possible. If there is an alternate plan that lessens the impact on the forest, use it.

Kristin Diotte - Just stop ruining our beautiful Leelanau cou to appease bike riders and visitors. 7,300 trees that animals inhabit, and birds. Just stop already!!!

Peggy Jennings - It is very important to preserve and protect the natural areas in Michigan, all alternatives should be considered and one chosen in order not to destroy our beautiful natural areas. This will protect our wildlife and preserve the area for generations to come.

S Joyner - There's an eco-sensible alternative to the current plan

Lynne Ward - Leave the old growth trees

Sara Conner - Please do better

Marilyn Mannino - You must replant young trees to replace the ones you are harvesting.

Vicki Gassel - Destroying the natural world so it can be 'more accessible' is akin to killing wild animals so they can be taxidermied to make them more accessible for people to see and 'enjoy'. Once trees are killed it takes several human lifetimes to (if ever) recover. Haven't we learned our lessons about wetlands and old growth forests yet?

Mary Scott - Our natural areas are our greatest asset!! Money can always be made, but these trees may never grow the same again

Mardi Hanson - Save the trees!

Shanon McCormick - Save the trees!

Kelly Boylan - Destroying the environment is out of the question.

John Walker - Stop the destruction of trees. Sleeping bear is suppose to be a return to nature

Dana Allen - The Forest preserves job is to preserve the forest, not to reconstructor slay it. No amount of money can accommodate the loss of these trees either protect the nature, or turn it over to those who will nature is more important thing dollars any day a couple peoples recreation does not outweigh hundreds of years of tree growth. Trees deliver the oxygen we breathe and their destruction is not tolerable please reconsider this horrific act

Janice Dobbie - We need the trees more than a trail! There are better solutions.

DeeDee Ericks Shin - Please leave our trees . When there is an alternative it should be used … who pays the park service ?

Robbin Everitt - Our National Parks and Heritage Trails belong to ALL OF US!!! Keep nature natural!!!

Ethan Davidson - I have been visiting this area my entire life (31 years) this would not only remove some of the natural beauty from the land but also damage important parts of a very fragile ecosystem. It's not worth it.

Patti Riera - Disgraceful and unnecessary destruction of trees

Rodney Davidson - There's something diabolical about wanting to destroy this breathtaking landscape when viable alternatives exist that will have little impact on the area. I must be missing something here.... What's the agenda???

Jill Baker - Please protect the beautiful, rare wooded areas, dunes and wetlands that make northern Michigan so beautiful. I grew up in Michigan and visit annually because it is such a special place to me. We hope to one day own a home in the Sleeping Bear area to continue to share this naturally beautiful place with the next generation of our family. Please choose a less invasive more cost-effective solution that will preserve this unique and stunningly beautiful area for future generations.

Meseret Tegenu - Stop destroying our natural areas in order to create recreation for people who don’t appreciate Nature. We can’t replace old growth forests!

Heather Cairone - Please take the path of least resistance, and leave nature protected

Pollyanna Mangold - Please save the trees for future generations! Nothing is more important than trees and seas.

George Gasperic - Makes my spirit sad seeing this happen to our natural environment for big industries to gain and profit Until the last tree is cut..the last of out waterways poisoned and air polluted will ine realize we can't eat or drink or breath money ...sad indeed and the wildlife their home has no voices to speak for them...

Luke VanRooyen - I'm from Michigan and this is one of my favorite places ever of all time! Please choose a low impact alternative because once you cut down these ancient trees and destroy these prestine dunes, there's no bringing them back .... Ever! Let's preserve what little natural environment we have left in this country and in Michigan!!! Save it for future generations to enjoy just like we have!!!

Kay Atkins - Please do not destroy what CANNOT be replaced.

Elizabeth Hope - Are you out of your ever-living MINDS?

Denise Brehob - Keep it simple.

Barbara Sansoterra - Please stop this destruction of natural beauty.

Decland Sorensen - We cannot keep making decisions solely for the benefit of one species- humans. This is ridiculous. Progress would be creating more and more wild spaces, not further damaging or destroying the last remaining ones.

Tasha King - Please do not destroy the old growth trees and ecosystem that are the true Heritage of the region.

Dee Anna Newbanks - If we don't fight climate change now, we will wish we had when there is no more clean air.

Jacqueline Thorpe - Please consider less intrusive options.

Nathan Winiarski - Don’t cut down old growth forests!

Patricia Browne - STOP DESTROYING our State / Country! PROGRESS should NEVER INVOLVE DESTRUCTION OF NATUAL RESOURSES! That's just GOVERNMENT AGENCIES 'overspending' (usually to pad pockets/ensure votes!) WE NEED TREES! LEAVE THEM WHERE THEY ARE; THEY ARE VALUABLE as they are!

Joy Toronto - Please do not destroy these trees!

Roberta Walsh - Save the trees!

Jacquline Crouch -For the sake of America, don’t destroy our Forrest’s, take the correct path. Don’t be part of our Republic’s destruction.

D Ann Marcus - Leave the trees be! Stop being parasites to our beautiful earth!

Julie Stratton - Please do not cutdown the trees and destroy the wetlands

Virginia Jackson - STOP destroying nature and taking the wildlifes habitat. It's not necessary to pave every inch of ground. What they call global warming is actually the removal of trees and nature and replacing it with asphalt.

Debora Baker - I grew up vacationing every year on Little Traverse Lake, the segment in question. Although we no.longer live in your great state, we continue to bring our family, including grandchildren to enjoy the beauty of the area. I do not understand the benefit there will be with your proposed path. The expense and destruction of the protected dunes and trees seems environmentally opposed to what the state should be preserving. I encourage you to take the time to review what your proposal would destroy.

Fred Horen- Please We need a new environmental Assessment

Margaret Grinvalsky - The least damage needs to be the first priority.

Bethany Brown - We need to protect sensitive habitat. Stop cutting it down.

Roxanne Haslem - Please, preserve this beautiful natural area.

Karen Mast - You're killing the trees and stealing the habitat from all the animals. What's next? There will be nothing left these trees provide oxygen that we need to survive find another way. There's plenty of open spaces. Other places leave our trees alone.

Denise Gray - I’m tired of seeing wildlife areas and natural areas swallowed up and leveled for pavement, walls, development and in some cases solar or wind farms. Enough of this destructive so-called progress!

Wendy Pulcifer - Stop and think, there is so much to be lost if this mess that is planned actually does happen.

Ruth Dupre - There are better ways, less destructive ways, to do this.

Nancy Allen - Haven’t you done enough to hurt the earth already?

Aidan Hartwell - Use an alternative plan that spares the rare ecosystems

April Schwaegerle - Everything about this plan is wrong, destructive to nature, devastating to the environment and contrary to what we value here on the Leelanau peninsula. I am vehemently opposed!

Emma Bourgeois - There is absolutely no excuse for this stupid behavior. We need to protect these trees not destroy. When your grandchildren are breathing in bubbles because you depleted all the good air know it is your fault

Jennfier Morales - Please leave the trees be!

Lisa Frankenfield - Leave nature alone

Alisha Hascall - Do better... these trees deserve to stay. There's a better route. Please.

Anne Dunn - Leave it as wild as you find it. Keep the wild in wilderness. The natural world is worthy of preservation. Stop the assault on nature.

Kyle Czarnik - I have many memories coming here and experiencing natural, raw beauty. Keep it raw, roads don’t need to be everywhere…there can be some special places still preserved in our concrete jungle

Ralph Zachow - It is not necessary to damage a rare ecosystem just for easier access. There are less impactful ways to achieve essentially the same goal. Once these trees are removed they cannot be replaced.

Laura Rice - Too many natural resources have already been lost, we must work to preserve them.

Ashley Carpenter - These dunes are protected for a reason. We love the dunes and the trails as they are. We do NOT need to harm the wildlife the animals or damage our beloved dunes for some pavement. The land needs to stay as it is

Shila McCarn - Some of my fondest memories have taken place at Sleeping Bear. The thought of this happening sickens me and infuriates me. How many more natural habitats do we need to destroy when it'll finally be enough. This will decimate the ecosystem there.

Betty Kramer - Why would you not use the less destructive route?

Kathleen Lowe - Government is out of control. Over -reaching way to much. Leave our trees alone.

Noel Strieter - We need to protect our environment and the remaining natural areas.

Darleen Rusnak - Please construct the trail where it does the least damage to the old growth trees.

Amanda Hooper - Stop the plan to kill our trees.

Kim Peterson - Please use an alternative plan, that will save the trees. Thank you

Brad Schero - Stupid

Susan Strazisar - This will be wiping out many wildlife habitats, as well as contributing to global warming. Insane plan!!!

Patti Dillon - Why in the world would anyone want to destroy what helps keep us alive? PLEASE reconsider your terrible actions!

Heather LaVanture - Please move forward with as little disruption to our beautiful area!

Jeanne Kennedy-Nix - Please save the trees and wetlands

Chris Boonenberg - Protect old growth and biodiversity

David Bunce - Quit destroying the earth

Shirley Goodrick - Save our trees

Karen Kincaid Wittich - Stop taking forest lands! It’s destructive and unnecessary

Tressa M Barrows - We need all the trees we can get. We also need to save old growth trees that are perfectly healthy. There are alternates to making roadways without removing trees.

Nadia Horen - Trees are life, don’t cut them.

Frances Roberts - Save the wetlands and the trees.

Lindsey Bunce - Please keep it natural!

Valerie Boggs - Please do not destroy the wonderful mature working landscape. It's wrong to destroy this area.

Jason Leach - Bad idea don't do it

Joseph Metzger - Stop this destruction

Margaret Cornelius - Too expensive and cuts too many old trees for no reason.

Sandra Carrion - Most of us Californians fight like crazy to protect our trees and ecosystems and so should Michigan. This is an absurd idea on multiple levels and a travesty to nature. Stop!!!

Karen Bohman - We should do everything we can to save the trees!

Bettina Bowers - Why wouldn't you save as many trees as possible?

Steven Johnk - Ridiculous and sad for this area.

Marium Johnson - Do not cut down any trees!! They take many, many years to grow and are not replaceable. They provide shade, homes for wildlife, oxygen, and BEAUTY!! Areas denuded of trees are ugly, don't do this!

Robert Shaw - Save the trees

Susan Machata - This is a travesty of justice again. We pay for these lands. Not to b disposed of at the will of people in administration influenced by wealthy people. Why cant people see what we have done already.

Kelli Johnson - As many trees as possible, MUST BE SAVED!!!!!!!

Mark Hinrichs - Please preserve and protect these sensitive ecosystems.

Patricia Jackson - All such projects should be designed to have the least impact on the environment and wildlife.

Harold Meisch - Need to preserve, not destroy. I'm sure it won't be Handicap accessible.

Michele Krolczyk - Keep the Sleeping Bear Dunes as they are naturally. Absolute "NO" on proposed Heritage Trail.

Cerelda De Heus - Why? There are better options, why aren’t they being seriously considered? Trees take along time to reach maturity, they should not be cut down/destroyed.

Jane Curry - It's simple just stop the slaughter. This should not be allowed today hundred years for one tree give me a break you people. Never met so many morons in my whole life

Leah Davidson - I've not yet been to Sleeping Bear but I hope someday to be able to appreciate it in as natural a state as possible. From all I've read, the current plan will dash my hopes. Please reconsider.

Diane Mark - Insanity

Milissa Louwaert - Let nature be nature. I have a disability and hike in the area just fine. The wildlife need the trees for food and shelter.

T. Seidel - Take a lesser invasive route! Once you cut those trees, the dunes will start to disappear.

Katie Grotkowski - Please rethink destroying our beautiful nature!

Deborah Ladner - Just stop destroying our planet, people. If there is a viable alternative route, TAKE IT!!!

Lisa Fox - There are alternatives that don't destroy trees and the ecosystems they provide. Please look at the non-destructive alternatives. Don't kill our trees/lungs.

Mica Smith - Please look at alternatives to destroying the trees

Joyce Bertram - Can't believe we just keep cutting down trees!!! Not leaving much of a world for future generations!!

Barbra Case - Tearing down over 7000 trees so people can enjoy nature is insane. These trees have been here for eons and can't be replaced! Surely there is another route appropriate for your plans

Julie Holly - This is absurd! Leave the trees that is what is natural!! Not pavement !

Donna Bevan - Once destroyed, these natural resources will never recover. I have seen it happen. Leave well enough alone

Cindy Orr - When an option is available to NOT cause destruction-- why are they not using it? Typical bureautic actions in my guess. DO BETTER!

Mary Pianko - Don’t cut down those beautiful old trees!

Rhonda Waters - They shouldn't be cutting all these trees down. Think of the harm you are doing to the Earth and it's wildlife. Trees take many many years to grow. The Earth and wildlife needs them.

Cyndi Adams - Our forested, open spaces and forests need to be protected! You're all so worried about global warming and green house emissions is this not an exercise in stupidity!? Wait don't answer that!!!

Deborrah Stephens - Destroying part of the ecosystem in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in order to create a hiking trail is horrible.

Linda Shaver - Please leave the Heritage Trail alone Save some thing for our kids

Terrie Mitchem - If we continue to deforest at the current rate mankind will cease to exist as well as every living species on this earth.

Dean Offerman - Enough already, go with the more environmentally friendly route. Once the habitats are destroyed, they are gone.

Cheryl Murphy-Martin - Do not cut trees

Donalyn Hoh - Please do not destroy nature for your project. It took decades for those trees to grow to that stage in their lives

Paula Pennington - There are alternatives!!!!

Beth Overfield - Keep the trees!!!!!!

Patricia Seebeck - Save the natural beauty. Save the trees & wetlands. When they are gone you cant get them back.

Patricia Ross - We truly need to protect our old growth forests, not destroy them!

Debra Diggan - Not needed if destroying the forest

Margaret Baie - Old growth forest is supposed to be protected. If hikers need more trails, place simple ones not paved ones that require massive tree removal. What the heck are you thinking!!!!

Anthony Beningo - Quit Destroying this State!

Tammy Mendyka - We can't replace this ecosystem and the biodiversity this insures. We lose the natural beauty of our great state. Please leave this heritage trail for future generations.

Judith Havens - Please reconsider your current plans to disrupt OUR old growth trees. Other, better, plans exist and we must allow nature to remain in these areas of natural beauty and harmony.

Heather Palinckx - Be smarter! There are other ways of doing things without destroying nature. Come on.

Annette Wenzel - I lived in Michigan for four years and had the privilege to visit the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. I have taken several other people to experience this beautiful place while I lived there. I have traveled back there with other family members since moving to Wisconsin. Please consider other options before this is started.

Anne Marie Larsen - Save the wild environment.

Janice Richter-Jones - Please leave it natural. A walking trail, fine.

Mary Reposa- Save the Old Growth Forests and their years of underground connections! Haven’t we killed enough?? PLEASE CHANGE YOUR PLANS FOR THE PLANET! It’s ALL we GET!

Stan Tyson - Leave the wooded dunes intact. No excuse for a politically based road here,

Faith Scafe - Don't cut down this precious ecosystem of trees.

Paula Montoya - This is criminal and totally unacceptable. Trees and wildlife habitat are more important than roads. Not everyone needs access to everything.

ShaRon Kelly - This should not happen!

Judy Lawson - This is unnecessary and should be stopped.

Joyce Kramer - Cutting down mature trees is NOT the answer! Find an alternative route for the road! Enough with destruction of Nature!

Mark Weyenberg - Do the right thing.

Caroline Ezoo - You're kidding, right? STOP DOING THIS AND STUFF LIKE THIS! We need the trees to clean the horrible air we have because ALL THE TREES IN MICHIGAN were ALREADY CUT DOWN ONCE!!! Hello?! I know I learned from that. Thank you.

Sandra Herringshaw - I'm handicapped don't be destroying animals natural habitat for me or people like me. We have a respect for nature. Use another route not requiring the destruction of trees and animal habitats. Global warming and you want to destroy more trees? Get a clue!!

David Cannon - I strongly oppose the current segment 9 path.

Nancy Diaz - Save the trees!!

Mary Tarallo - After the trees are down civilization will suffer.

Ardine Burgess - Leave the natural beauty and trees alone. There is too much destruction of old growth trees (the ones NPS is supposedly protecting) already!

Mary Skirving - Please save the Trail

Cindy Gingrich - We are better served by what you are cutting down that what you are making!! Leave this place as is!!

Robert Smithem - I vote no.

Sharon Day - I am very upset with the Forest Dept to actually think this is a good idea destroying 7300 trees and natural habitat! I think you all better go back to the drawing board and look at the other options. Before you destroy what you are hired to protect!

Mary Harrison - I must be stopped

Kelly Lovelady - It sounds like there is a way to achieve the same end goal without taking down all this old growth. Why would you not protect the trees?

Rachel Diem - Please prioritize saving trees and natural ecosystems.

Judy Komorowski - Leave the trees. We need as much nature as we can get. Human recreation doesn't have to destroy millions of homes of wild animals, insects, reptiles, amphibians, plants, and likely rare species of plants. We depend on everything in nature to support us, so quit destroying it!

Maureen Zajatz - Stop the trail and save the trees

Bea Dewing - Trees are a treasure we all share.

Laurel Prosper - There must be some way to make a trail without removing old-growth forest and unique natural habitat. Please find a way!

Daniel Solano - Every tree cut down is a huge loss for the flora, fauna and humans. With the removal of the trees you will be aiding in the warming of our planet. There has to be a better way than the wholesale destruction of our natural environment.

Elizabeth Ehlers - We need to take better options for our trees!

Cindy Wilson - None

Debbi Casey - My property along Lake Huron is at this moment being impacted by the construction of a section of Heritage Trail. We’ve lost many trees, but not to this extent. Please consider taking different action.

Ken Blaze - Stupid waste of money.

Joan Reno - Please keep the Sleeping Bear dunes natural. Do not remove any trees.

Cheryl Doyle - Please find others alternatives. Preserve our beautiful park.

Elizabeth Anderso - Save our forests.

Winnie Woodworth - Please do not destroy wildlife areas and trees!!! This goes against everything our national parks stands for!! Quit ruining our country!!

Suzanne Voigt - These trees are essential for the health of the park not to mention the beauty Do not cut them down!

Edward Maxwell - Wow! Find the most environmentally friendly path forward.

Kevin Cranick - If it’s already known and called the Heritage Trail, nothing more needs to be done instead of creating more problems

Marty Haubrich - Trees are far more important than a trail! Surely there’s another way to build without destroying the only things that can save our planet!!!

Kelly Owen - Please choose an alternative better than one needing the removal of over 7 thousand trees, and some dune ecosystem.

Joyce Ochowicz - Let the wild things be wild. Why destroy beautiful trees and other vulnerable areas just to have a paved area for a limited population.

Cheryl Flowers - No we need oxygen and bad enough forrest fires..animal have rights next houses...never quit

Julia Rotach - Please consider alternative routes to preserve the natural area.

Julia Lott - Save a forest. Every tree counts.

Marcia Templeman - Stop the madness. There are other choices to save trees. You’ll be dead before and new trees will get big enough to do anything. Think of your grandchildren. Duh.

Patricia Morey - Stop the insanity leave paradise alone.

Sharon Sells - SAVE THESE TREES!!

Beth Struble - Why on earth would you cut down thousands of trees!! Let nature be nature and protect our wildlife and the earth!!!

Virginia Howard - There are plenty of trails in the area already. Removing so many trees is a way to destroy the wilderness we love and cannot replace.

Julie Lehmann - NC resident BUT could happen here and shouldn't be allowed by national park system

Jeanette Stewart - We need all our trees

Sara Letterill - This is horrible. I hope my signature helps you

Gina Epley - Stop this nonsense! We need trees!

Nancy Sargent - You don’t just go through an area mowing down trees to serve your purpose! It’s like mowing through a village and killing everything in sight! It’s very wrong! I understand there are alternatives that can be done to avoid cutting down all the trees…choose one of those!

Roy Gibbs - As a person with multiple disabilities and who rides a bike for accessibility, two of the reasons the NPS claims this pavement is necessary for, I would like to state my strong disapproval for this project. Do not misappropriate accessibility needs to further the wanton destruction of nature. The alternatives presented by Sleeping Bear Naturally should be heeded. I would much rather those dunes and wetlands remain wild even if it means it's harder for people to access them.

Linda Baker - Leave the natural beauty of this area alone!

Anna Bergalis - Stop destroying

Donna Phillips - This plan is outrageous. There's an alternative plan that's not as invasive and more cost effective. Stop cutting down every tree in sight!

Holly Chambers - The NPS should choose one of the less destructive alternatives,, that preserves more mature hardwoods and cedars, and also preserves more wetlands.

Anita Nackley - Do the least invasive thing… it should be a no brainer!!

Anne Kirchgraber-McKee - No reason to do the extreme trail at great cost and damage to vulnerable areas. Save the Dunes!!!

Janie Roberts - Please reconsider your plan you can’t replace a large tree for hundreds of years

Oscar Pearson - Stop.the madness!

Janie Kingery - sad

Jane Mason - The destruction of beautiful natural woodlands needs to end. There needs to be concern for resident animals that thrive in these areas. Please leave them undisturbed.

Mary Glazier - Born and raised in Michigan, spent a lot of time at the dunes. This trail addition , will cause harm, to the surrounding areas. Will be moving back, soon, amd I hate to think that the dunes, will forever be altered.

Carol Brand - Please don"t.

Stephanie Hayes - Be sensible and respectful of the forests!

Debbie Gray - My daughter in law grew up around Sleeping Bear national park and when I visit we go there with my son and his family. It's such a beautiful park and I don't understand why there has to be a bike path through it. Please don't destroy the wilderness area. Once you do you will NEVER be able to get it back.

Ann Spehar - It is immoral to destroy these trees and you know it.Those trees house much wildlife.

Barbara Gillette - Just leave it be...

Judy McConoughey - I've been there, so I know what may be lost. It's well worth saving! So save it!

Kelly Rauch - In a world of clear climate change, logging nearly 7300 trees is absurd! Once again a minority decision without public input should be outlawed.

Michael J Henk - Do the study. Determine the impact and risks. Devise a plan that protects the very land you want people to enjoy.

Susan Gray - This is a rare and endangered ecosystem that cannot be adequately mitigated for. NEPA requires the evaluation of alternatives that minimize the road construction impacts. You can do better.

Cheryl Smith - Please protect this eco system by planning responsibly keep the trees and protect them and this habitat!

Linda Sturdevant - Don’t destroy the trees

Miranda Whitehead - Unless those trees are Diseased, they shouldn't be torn out of the ground. The National Park Service should know better than this. One or two, a handful? Sure. But So Many??? No, those trees should be allowed to stand there for decades to come.

Fran Greenup - How can the less destructive alternative plan not be the better choice???

Pam Goffin - Trees are a must to live. We need trees

Meagan Lavey - Please look at the alternatives suggested. I’m originally from Michigan and the one thing I’ve loved about growing up there and going back home is all the wildlife and natural beauty. The more I come home the more I see areas being hastily developed, clear cut, or turned into heinous condos and apartments. It’s devastating and I start to think, why bother moving back if they just keep ruining it? It’s not progress.

Linda Knypstra - “We cannot win this battle to save species and environments without forging an emotional bond between ourselves and nature as well - for we will not fight to save what we do not love.” - @biosapiens

Nicole Foster - We come from hours away to enjoy the beauty why would anyone want to destroy it…. Sad

Carol Long - Unnecessary!

Gina Hunziker - Use the route that won't destroy the old growth/old trees!!!

Elisabeth Kanyer - You'd have to be literal satan level greedy and clearly not thinking about karma to pass something like this. THINK HARD about the repercussions. Shame on all of these people behind ANY of this. Make sure you post exactly who is behind this and their handles ASAP. Just watch what happens.

Heather Newton - The trees can stay, the trail can be routed through them, the trail doesn’t need to be a wide road, just wide enough to walk on.

Mike Wilson - You can do better!!!!

Jenny Mercuri - Are you crazy?

Kate Holland -Trees are what we need to survive. Do the non-invasive option to protect the tree’s & wildlife.

Laura Hardgrove - Too many trees would be removed and this plan would be a nightmare to build. There are more eco-friendly options that are also much cheaper.

Jeff Harris - What a waste of precious resources, and a blight on nature!

Marge Kelley - We need to stop the destruction of our land. Removing trees and other things depresses their oxygen and the animals at their land. One day the humans will see the destruction that they have done. All for money.

Laura White - Don't cut the trees. Use alternative routes

Tammy Fulton Myrick - LEAVE THE DAMN TREES ALONE!! WE NEED THEM!

Kay Metsker - protect our land, protect birds, animals and nature.

Jennifer Franklin - When there are other less destructive ways to help those in need for access to areas of the park, those should be the priority, not the destruction of why people are going there; nature.

Paulette Fowlie - We need our trees and wetlands. Climate change is not helped by putting in this trail

Lisa Rukstales - I am sad to see how our children are getting screwed out of the wonderful world we grew up with and our birthright. Why not use the least destructive method rather than assuming we don’t need an old growth forest? Save the trees!!!

Juanita Thomas - Please consider alternative plans to save our trees whenever possible!

Cindy Marchok - We definitely need to find and do a better way

Laurie Price - Such a beautiful place. Have visited many times. Should NOT be tearing it up for anything.

Kristina Susiddi - Leave the trees, green, oxygen, shade.

Cecile Claude - Do The Right Thing !! There IS an alternative !!

Sharon McDonald - Why isn't it being done in such a way to keep the heritage trail as intact as possible , stop the greed / destruction

Carolyn Cockerham Wiggins - Why does the nps feel this is needed????

Keith Blight - This segment comes too close to many homes

Richard McAnear - Heritage trail? Oxymoron

Philip Angert - Consider alternatives!

Leslie Devore - Have donated to the national park services foundation- won’t be doing it anymore if this how the parks are being managed.

Hannah Willard - I grew up near the Sleeping Bear Dunes, and it would be a shame to see parts of the park destroyed. I understand the want for a good trail system, but there has to be a better way to do it. Don't destroy the park!

Hermine Zavar - Please do not destroy this beautiful area!

Amber Wagner - "When the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten, and the last stream poisoned, you will realize that you cannot eat money."

Martine Vartanian - Thus is ridiculous, for BIKE TRAILS. wahts about the people who enjoy HIKING IN NATURE? What about protecting the land? What about the nature that lives there? GREEDY IS WHAT THIS IS, FOR ELITIST TO BIKE IN A PLCE THEY RUINED. DISGUSTING AND YOU CALL THIS A NATIONAL PARK? A park has NATURE AND WE DO NOT NEED BIKE TRAILS

Theresa Ryan-Mitlyng - This is ridiculous. We should be planting trees, not cutting them down.

Diane McClara - There have been enough Forrest torn down in the USA.We need our Forrest for animals to survive and for oxygen in the air for us to breathe.Trees provide the oxygen we breathe.Stop tearing them all down.

Tana Moore - How about we just fix the damn roads and leave the dunes area alone? This project is a big wrecking ball od a solution in search of a problem.

Ellen Birnbaum - Beyond ill-advised! Stop this harmful project. Whose pockets are being lined???

Carole Thoms - Take the high road. Do the right thing

Kathy Schultz - Time to save our resources!

Thomas E. Kettles - We need natural spaces. Enough of the tree cutting

Jeffrey StJohn - Any option is preferred, even if it costs more.

Teresa Carson - Stop cutting down all the trees. No wonder there is global warming. This is disgusting, and all for greed. White man just keeps destroying the Earth and killing off the wildlife. I can’t stand to think of all the wildlife habitats that will be destroyed. Stop this EVIL.

Damon Rose - To cut down a forest so people can have easier access to the forest is stupid. Please don't cut down anymore forests.

Sharyn Wisdom - when you have better options use them. part of the draw is these huge trees

Stacy Sondergeld - Preserve our natural resources. This plan is far too destructive to justify.

Judith Meldahl - There are alternatives to destroying many trees .... use them!!

Donna Hawkes- It is one thing to make a bike trail, it’s another to make a road. Totally unnecessary. Trails should be more natural.

Mary Lewallen - So many mature trees. It's not worth it!! Please conserve, not destroy what can't be replaced!

Paula Grieb -This sounds so short sighted.

Rose Tallent - I think it’s a sin to cut down all those beautiful trees people seem to not care about our planet I don’t understand just profit it’s all about the money it’s a sad state where in 

Claire Daidone - Leave as is!

Lu Morano -Ridiculous unnecessary destruction. Use it! Don’t be lazy and greedy and stupid. You have a choice.

Peggy White -We need our beautiful wooded areas. The environment and climate health depend on varieties of plant life. Trees provide shade, filter our atmosphere, provide habitat for wildlife, and protect the land itself from erosion.

Nancy Saipetch - Please don’t tear down these trees.

Bonnie Landschoot - Avoid tree removal.

Nancy Blackwood - Save our trees

Alexandra Burns - Please don’t do this. The trees are crucial for wildlife habitat and cool the forest. Please consider the consequences of this drastic action.

Beverly Finlayson - Cutting down thousands of trees should be illegal. It is disgusting, appalling…and against everything I believe in about our environment.

Paul Nau - Can't we leave anything alone? Intervention is killing many good things.

Brenda Carter-Maxwell 48623 Do it some other way. Let the animals live, leave the trees there!

Hill Marilyn - A plan to save as many trees and other natural habitat should be used whenever possible.

Janet Gould - Our wilderness should NOT be paved!!!

Melissa Glover - Asphalt thru the wilderness, destroying the landscape and removing mature trees, sounds like greed to me.

Chris Garrick - Don’t do it!

Melissa Barley - We don’t need it. Who’s Heritage are we talking about? Seriously not the heritage of the people who lived here first. The first section covered up and plowed under artifacts that were found. An atrocity to the real heritage.

Elizabeth Eddy - Developing this area will have detrimental effects on this ecosystem for generations to come. People come to enjoy and experience the native undeveloped environment which will be destroyed by this development.

A. Benedetti - Mature trees can't be quickly or easily replaced. The forests of the world are shrinking daily already; i.e. The Amazon Rainforest. Trees are known to be vital to the good health of the planet. For heavens sake, don't take out any more! We need all the carbon sequestration we can muster! We need more trees, not less!

Lori Hemgesberg - There are alternatives...don't destroy the area.

Deb Max - This is despicable stop ruining our land

Jack Weiszer - The government is not your friend. They ruin everything they touch. I thought they were supposed to take care of natural areas, not destroy them.

Patricia Sutton - This will destroy areas that are one of the reasons Sleeping Bear is a favorite vacation spot. Not to mention the negative effects this destruction will have on climate change.

Matt Woods - Staunchly against deforestation for any reason. Completely unnecessary.

Jacquelyn Settlage - Removing the trees will not advance your goal.

Jeannine Carajanes - We need to stop destroying just because we can. Leave the trees alone!!!

Sondra Woods - Cutting down that many trees and disrupting the natural environment will greatly outweigh any benefit of a paved trail at such a site.

Frances Hogan - It sounds like there are more environmentally friendly ways to accomplish your goals. Please investigate those.

Sharron Bjornbak - 7300 trees destroyed? That is indefensible.

Linda Schuman - Please consider what damage you are doing to some of the last great parts of America. What you plan to destroy cannot be replaced. We need all the trees left alone. The carbon they sequester and oxygen they produce are essential for the planet to survive. PLEASE

Marsha Orzech - Why is so much destruction necessary?!

Dustin Carroll - The system in place is more than adequate. The expansion is a waste of money and damages an ecosystem that cannot be fixed. I say NO to this expansion!!!

Melly Sims - Let nature live

Rosalind Philbeck - Why do you want to destroy those beautiful trees that it took years to grow? Stop destroying nature in our country.

Carmen Jolley - So many more recreational opportunities could be created with different alternatives known to be only a fraction of the cost.

Kathy Diamond - Please stop destroying our nature, the very essence of our wild life depend on the forest. What is gonna be left of our natural lands if we continue to destroy whatever we desire at every whim. What will the future be like with no natural habitat no wildlife, what will the future generations have an lod book of pictures of what once was. We humans are a pathetic bunch for sure. What drives these lunatic decisions greed. One has to wonder. Sad we are.

Judi Gibbs - The easiest one thing we can do for climate change is to preserve our trees.

Patricia Blackman - Preserve as many of the trees as possible!

Tracey Loyd - One of the most well known scientific fact is that trees naturally sequester carbon. All trees. At a time when the effects of climate change are impacting every country in the world, cutting down mature trees is nothing short of insanity. Please find another way.

Susanna Trefsgar - Let’s preserve these special lands rather than tear them down!

Marie Lohr - We need to preserve nature not more destruction!!

Lawrence Pusateri - Stop the destruction

Christina Kniffin - Do better!!

Lynn Cowell - Please just leave things alone

Tom Harrington - Please do not cut down all those trees when their is a lower cost alternative

Michelle Lewis - Please don't ruin a natural habitat for an unnecessary trail.

Jen Simmons - We’ve limited un-impacted wilderness, if there’s a way to access with limited destruction, it is an imperative that it be the method used. Human expansion should be limited to as minimally invasive as possible.

Suzanne Joel - Why does industry always think it's necessary to destroy the environment for "profress"?

Cheri Everson - Please reconsider your plans. Destroy as few trees as possible-please. We don’t want to lose any more nature. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.

Leslie Britton - Former Michigander here. Please do the right thing and save the trees!

Julie Umlor - To many trees will be taken down.

Stephen Bailey - Please make it as minimally invasive as possible.

Charli Stipes - We have very little old growth Forest left and are suffering global loss of habitat. Leave this alone the results are going to be catastrophic.

Bartek Karas - please use alternative plans to cutting down trees, destroying the forest and wetlands.

Carol Milton - Please choose an alternative that protects trees and the environment.

Sarah Ryan - Environmental conservation and cost effective can go hand in hand.

Jan Compton - Please stop destroying our environment. We need every tree to help change global heating. Every single tree!

Dale Riehart - Destruction is NOT progress. Preservation matters.

Anne-Marie Read - Even without a global climate crisis, old growth forests—especially those populated with giant cedars, which are especially challenged during heat waves—sequester vast amounts of CO2 helping enormously to stem rising temperatures. Whereas roads, not only compromise animal migration routes, only create additional heat sinks. As we have found while living on Harstine Island, the cedars most vulnerable to crown death are those that are not in the depth of the forest but rather line roads.

Dorothea Sanchez - Stop the madness

Tonia D Bergh - Please stop this frivolous development, solely designed to attract more tourist dollars. I am fortunate to have seen the unspoiled, raw beauty of this area before 'progress' happened. No doubt generations of my family are weeping tears from heaven, looking down on what has become of their homesteads.

Karl Mui-Blackmon - It should not occur as it disrupts natural lands

Mayra Vivas - NATURE IS WHAT KEEPS US ALIVE!!

Xyra Harper-Cann - If this happens here, it can happen anywhere! SAVE THE TREES… no one can breathe without them

Betsi Bishop - Take the less destructive path!

Scott Lankton - We live on Lime Lake rd. behind Good Harbor. The existing heritage trail is a fine trail, mostly for bicycles, some walkers, and a few CC skiers. We have done all three though we prefer all the unpaved trails. Many bikes prefer to ride on M 22 in our area because the trail is gravel in support of the port Oneida district. Mt wife and I are strongly opposed to the current plans for the trail extension to good harbor. Why must it be another bike trail, twelve feet (or more) wide? Just so that if there is a bike crash or other emergency on the trail that an ambulance could drive right too it? So much of the trail is right by the road anyway. So why not simply making it a narrow foot trail for people who are not bikers? They are already many bike trails and the roads. We have hiked thru out the area of the trail extension going thru the pristine woods and out to the lake. We have walked the proposed trail route several times. it is beautiful and accessible already. We strongly favor not building the trail at all or at best, simply making it a foot trail thru the woods from Little Traverse Lake to Good Harbor. The environmental destruction is well documented now. The residents of Little Traverse road and the two properties on M 22 will be severely impacted by such a huge trail. Times have changed since the original plan was proposed, the costs are frankly ridiculous, both financially and environmentally. The fact that invasive species will certainly be carried along such a huge trai/road is clear. (MDOT is good at designing highways - not foot trails) Please consider the other more sensible alternate proposals which have been made by various groups and individuals. Please listen to the people who live and work here precisely because of the wild nature of the Park. Please do not build big this big paved trail with all the big retaining walls, massive boardwalks etc. Let the woods be woods please for the sake of the flora and fauna and people. who want to enjoy it the way it is. Sincerely, Scott Lankton and Karel Engstrom

Susan Gerschutz - We must save all the trees we can. I am surprised and disappointed at this decision..

Susan Mau - Leave it the way it is. No meed for trashing the Sleeping Bear Dunes area with trails and taking out trees. You hime in nature without walkways!

Karen Phillips - If there are better, noninvasive options, why not take them?! Cutting down trees is not always the answer!

Elizabeth Moore - Save the trees!

Jessica Sanchez - Please leave this trail for wildlife and hikers to enjoy.

Holly Fryman - It only makes sense to utilize the less destructive & more efficient use of resources plan!

Leslie Vinson - Cutting down more trees does not help the environment

Stephen Kay - Horrible idea!

Mary Wilson - I hope this works!

Lauren McGough - STOP DESTROYING OUR OXYGEN. STOP TRYING TO KILL THE EARTH FOR PROFIT. WE WILL ALL DIE OTHERWISE. STOP NOW IF YOU WANT THE FUTURE GENERATIONS TO HAVE ANY HOPE.

Jeanne Shuler - Save the trees.

Jane Barillo - If there is a better way, why not take it? Use your brains. Keep destroying nature and we won't have anything left and nature will do her thing in eradicating us

Hannah G Robinson - Wild places are precious and need to be left alone. A foot trail allows walkers to appreciate the wilderness.

Jennifer Kuehle - “Heritage Trail”??? Really? You would name it that after ripping out thousands of trees? Wtaf.

Linda Vaughn - We must not destroy more natural habitats

Dawn Wright - Stop cutting down trees! Complain about global warning then cut down all the trees! Not to smart!

Lindy Pounds - These trees are precious, and everything should be done to save them.

Lucky Beckett - So let's pave, chop-up, haul away and destroy the natural beauty people will be going to see... totally illogical. They paid somebody to design this with my tax dollars! You could hire fifty bicycle taxis for thirty years to haul people on a dirt trail. Not so nutty as this wretched plan. Stop now!

Jeff Shutz - Run the trail down Traverse Lake Rd or even M22. Stay out of the forest, the wetlands and the dunes. Why must we destroy nature to add a superfluous bike trail segment? It opens an invasive species vector that will be exploited by both invasive flora and destructive fauna.

Janine Mills - Things like this are destroying the eco system and the wildlife habitats. This has got to stop and it’s up to you to do something about it.

Hillary Culver - Just signed

Jessica Hamilton - I thought the dunes were protected?

Jennifer Cobb - Stop, just stop! I am sick of people rearranging and "getting rid of" nature, wildlife and trees to suit them. Enough is enough. We do not need concrete in the woods!!

Patricia Guillette - Destruction if old growth forests is absolutely unacceptable. Find a better way.

Katherine Mclellan - Isn’t it time we found a “better” way of doing things?

Beverly Kontney - Don’t cut down trees

Gail Walton - Be on the right side of history and do not go ahead with the destruction of these trees.

Rusty Mills - From my experience in the area, the existing access via roads, trails and paths for hiking and biking are adequate for the majority of people wishing to access the area. More highly developed trails through sensitive areas, especially at the expense of removing/destroying the surrounding habitat, seems very counter productive. Many areas have signage to keep people off sensitive areas to prevent just what you are about to do.

Mayra Pena - We need to protect our natural resources. Stop the deforestation.

Irene Gardyna - Leave the trees alone!

Carrie Heywood - preserve and protect these sensitive ecosystems - Critical Dunes, wooded dune and swale complexes, wetlands, dune forests. Stop destroying everything, nature does NOT need human intervention

Jeri Munson - please seek alternative ways to go ahead with road projects... preserve this area for our children and our future family.... this area is a spot where many tourists as well come to escape to the wilderness and dunes... please dont deforrest this area... it would be a detriment to flora and fauna and people ... thank you ... j munson

Virginia Lawson - There are routes that will have less devastating ecological impact. Take one of them. Destroyed resources such as these will not recover.

Rose Kimsey - Save all our trees and wildlife possible

Mary Rogge - Don't destroy all those big trees for a road. Move it to an area with fewer trees.

Mary La Barge - Absolutely AGAINST lumbering trees for a bike trail. Please use alternative methods

Matt Chacon -They lost their minds!

Esther Salem - Please don't cut down these beautiful trees!

Lisa Wallace - Since there is another, cost-effective way to meet your goal, please do not cut down thousands of trees! It takes so many years to achieve the old growth of many of these trees. Please keep the trees!!

Sandra Behner - SAVE THE TREES! FIND AN ALTERNATIVE!

Linda Frederick - was born and raised in michigan.....miss it...i live in florida now....but environmental measures to safe everything is so important.....we cannot destroy our planet....but measures are being taken just to do this....makes me cry....

Liz Bode - Please make changes to preserve the hard woods in the segment 9 heritage trail.

Jeanette Killingsworth - Let’s protect what’s left. No machines!!! Save money and trees.

Joyce Neifeld- At a time of climate change ,droughts destroying these trees when there is an alternative is a travesty. Other countries have learned their mistake and are planting trees

Denise Castro - There is a better non-invasive way and you should be using it.

Eleanor Haase - Please build the trail disturbing the minimum amount of trees and parkland.

Carrie Schneider - The proposed route is preposterous. Seriously find another way. This checks off so many NO boxes.

Cindy Davis - Please do not cut down the tree’s, trees are our survival! They can hold hundreds of gallons of water in their roots, very much needed in our atmosphere. Up through the roots to branches, leaves and right into our clouds… and provide us with clean air

Kelly Wurzer - The planet can't be raped of its biodiversity any more. There is no more getting it back. We need our dunes. There are other alternatives for a bike trail which only brings humans into an area it shouldn't be and the trash that comes w them.

Kitty Hill - QUIT TEARING UP OUR EARTH

Korey Williams - We need our trees!

Leonardo Sanches Saenz - Do not destroy trees.

Christina Stevens- Please, preserve this beautiful treasure intact. Sleeping Bear is a treasure to all of us.

Saskia Magdalena Herbst - Please choose the alternate, pro- nature route

Teri Steger - Go with the better option being presented.

Carolyn A. Lyons - I have been there and it would be a real shame to cut trees and pave over such beautiful natural area!!

Karen McHugh - We have far too few old growth trees left. Protect and preserve them. Don’t cut any of them down. To do so is an outrage.

Marie Stapel - Stop destroying nature!!! When is enough ,enough ? You won't be happy till there are no trees. " Take the trees and put them in a tree museum. " STOP!!!!!

Christina Maschmeyer - Save the trees.

Linda Diaz - We need every tree we have. Leave them be

Rich Kuklentz - Their plan is obscene NPS should preserve nature and habitat, Not destroy it !!!

Eleanor Lakin - Important to complete the trail

Sherry Ashby - Stop tearing down trees and wreaking havoc on our wild places

Lisa Buzzard - Please

Charlotte DeYoung - Please do not destroy this beautiful natural area of Michigan. Removal of all those trees goes against our fight against global warming.

Thomas Masters - Are you nuts?

Lori Green - Please do not destroy this beautiful land, and wildlife habitat just for human use. Some things should just be left alone. Thank you. Even though I don't live in Michigan anymore it's still part of me.

Kathryn Kae Nilsson - Leave it Natural . Spend the money on the roads

JoAnna Amdress - This can be done without tearing up our beautiful shore line and a lot of the beautiful woods! Stop with this government over reach and listen to We The People for a change.

Michael Morrish - Leave the trees alone

Ariana Borges - Keep the trees!

Linda Hilf - no

Thomas Broderick - Leave no trace!

Shelly Sue Proudfoot - Please do everything possible to preserve as many trees and other natural resources as possible.

Teri Buvala - Low impact is the way to go!

Steve Vander Roest - You need to fully examine alternatives that avoid loss of old growth forest and wetland loss before you go ahead with this process.

Elin Richardson - Stop destroying environment.

Debbie Kappel - It’s ludicrous to cut old growth trees when there’s a way around it. Let’s do better!

Nancy Campbell - Do not destroy the woods the wetlands or the dunes for stinkin Road

Deborah Sargent - No! Stop the cutting of our forests!!

Pam Rice - Keep the trees, we need the oxygen.

Rickie Littler - We need to save our trees and land

Dawson Porter - Do not destroy the last remaining wild places of Michigan. Or you will have an entire state of angry, pissed off people you will have to deal with.

Derrick Hulien - No to removing these trees and no to deforestation

Lisa A Traver - This whole project seems to destroy more than it will help. MANY birds and other creatures nest in those trees and this will displace or kill many.

Sarah Zeeb - It's destructive! Create a non invasive lane or don't do it at all.

Kens Repair - Why remove good trees when there is another way? Makes no sense.

Matthew Kuhn - Keep the trees. Use existing space.

Susan Hatton - I am tired of people we elect. Corporation greed!

Barbara Cote - Commonsense says preserve these trees. WE'RE IN A CLIMATE CRISIS!

Cindy Sloan - Any action that will preserve wetlands and old growth trees should be considered.

Catherine Camien - It's absurd. We need our trees.

Pamela McGinn - With other options available at lower costs, leave the trees!!! Trees are so much better than new roads . The environment is so much more important than a new road. Treed don't need maintenance, roads do. And we all know that roads aren't maintained very well at all.

Marilyn Alvey - Use the plan that doesn't require the destruction of hundreds of valuable trees. This isn't being "green" at all to destroy Nature.

Darla Rooze - Please don't do this

Sam Leeper - Find a better way

Carol Wright - Stop destroying the land.

Rosemary Thompson - Trees help clean our air and cool our planet. I thought that was a "thing". That forest is home to many parts of the ecosystem. Leave it alone!

Dolly Holland - There are alternatives to chopping down majestic, old growth trees.

Elizabeth Keane - Don't kill the trees

Rod Steven - Save the trees and wetlands

Chris Clayborne - Please do not remove these trees this is a beautiful one of a kind place and experience.

Kelly Cornell - Destroying or fragmenting endangered areas and land is irresponsible. Doing that and cutting down thousands of trees in the process is worse. We need the trees to combat climate change, and it will especially impact the wilderness area. Other options are available. Please make the responsible choice and choose a better option for the taxpayers, and the wilderness.

R Poland - Leave the trees alone!

Robert Griesel - When the last tree fall's. Will you be able to eat your money?

Ruth A Rudin - Who is paying you off? You are supposed to PROTECT our natural resources,NOT DESTROY them! This is a travesty. There are MANY less DESTRUCTIVE options!

Dianne Gleich - Please don't destroy this beautiful natural resource

Mary Bryant - Don't let them take our trees...they are greedy!

Carolyn Gardner - Any way to save our old growth woodlands our wetlands is extremely important to the world..

Jude Zoeller - This expansion slates for destruction our environmental / natural heritage. Do the right thing. Find a non-invasive alternative.

Carole Chitwood - Leave the trees alone

Teri West - DO NOT REMOVE THE TREES!!

Connie Deloney - Please leave the trees alone regarding the Segment 9 Heritage Trail. Don’t ruin our forests

Shelley Mitchell - If you want to prevent global warming stop cutting trees for road . That’s not progress it’s destruction

Linda Duncan - We need ALL of our trees, they give life!!!!!

Helen Hook-Crust - You can do much better than ruining Park land.

Karen Spurr - Please do not destroy this beautiful place.

Sharon Ross - Keep it natural

Janice Littleton - We must preserve our natural resources, not destroy wildlife habitats. Thank you .

Deborah Bernhardt - Try a different solution, don’t cut down old growth trees.

Janine Tyler - You can't rid of these trees!

Joyce Murray - Need more trees not less

Lisa H - Please reroute the trail to avoid permanent loss of habitat that makes this place special.

Janey Rogers - SAVE THE TREES!!!

Susan Barnes - We must save, not destroy our natural environment. Leave this for future generations to see and enjoy!

Sabra D'Orazio - What good reason is there for this? Our planet is already in crisis! Please, don't allow this to happen. We NEED the trees and other foliage. Look at the harm already caused by deforestation!! STOP FOR THE GOOD OF US, AND ALL THE FUTURE GENERATIONS!!!!

Kim Latas - Please reconsider and try other solutions.

CDR Kathryn Brown - If a better solution, ditch the ego and talk

Marge Simon - We need to safe the trees & protect the dunes! We need those trees to help the earth, wildlife, birds, & us!! They help provide oxygen we need . Everyone yells about global warming & then this happens - you chop down the trees!!!! Helps with placement of the dunes, to help the placement. There has to be a better way to obtain your goal without sacrificing the trees & the dunes.

Robert Wilkie - don't cut the trees.

Jeannie Carle - Trees which produce oxygen... necessary for life... are being destroyed for oxygen-destroying vehicles??? Seriously??? You won't even look at alternatives? Who's paying you?

Susan Patrie - Climate change is real! We must preserve our trees, not cut them down!

Steve Smith - Respect Mother Earth please.

Michele Velfling - Old growth forests, and ecosystems, must be protected. Humanity must not fail the natural world.

Jem Santo - This is happening too much there has to be some protection for the environment before there's nothing left at all.

John Myers - If there's an alternate route that means less trees cut down then by all means they should take it.

Barbara Odom - There are alternate routes, with little or no destruction of the trees. How could anyone at this stage of our planet’s history, choose the cutting down of trees, everyone is aware of the impact this will have on habitat and the ecosystem’s health. This is Not the 1900s. We know better, why aren’t you doing better?!

Lesley Hughes - Don't take more tree! Especially if rare dune growth

Timothy Marcoux - Have friends in that area that want those trees saved !

Joleen Serry - Save the trees!

Beauveau Williams - Please leave the trail alone and untouched !

Liza Metz - I have been going to Sleeping Bear Dunes since I was a child, and it would be so sad if future children can't enjoy it the way I did. if this industrial development has to be done, I hope it is done with a minimum of disruption to the plants and animals that call the park home

Elaine Sorensen - Bad idea. Hurting the environment.

Ruth Terenzi - why

Rachel McCrain - Try harder, do better. Leave trees alone!

Dana Crowe- Choose a route that doesn't destroy what we been preserving! Do NOT destroy the trees, dont kill the animals nor destroy their habitats! There are other options!!!!!

Michele Myers-Platt - Please use the alternative route, less destruction makes more sense and there is already 22 miles of trail. The environment is important to all, animal and humans,to our continued survival.

Suzanne Zimmerly - We need trees not roads!

Lynette Carter - We need to avoid cuttings trees at all costs to save our environment!!

Billie Denmon - Leave for All to enjoy instead of the Few Elites whom would benefit from such Natural Areas being Devestated.

Sabrina Chaffee - You rich people have enough bike trails, put this one somewhere else that doesn't require you to devastate an entire Forrest 🙄 why would you chop down the very thing people are there to enjoy?

Gloria Frost - Idiots.!!!!!

John Cannon - Please consider a different option.

Jerry Banks - Not needed !

Finn Fisher - It’s unnecessary and harmful to the thousands of trees and will devastate the habitats and ecosystems for the water, animals and birds

Rodney Whitney - This wild area should be preserved.

Linda Allcock - Can't comment, too angry and sad

Barbara Howard - No no no

Samantha Larios - DONT cut the trees! Especially when there are other methods and is unnecessary

Penny Potter - This is absolutely ridiculous! Stop destroying our land!

Virginia Abraham - Least trees removed in a rare habitat necessitates alternative route!

Teresa Welch - Please don’t destroy this beautiful place!

John Beach - Leaving the trees standing is SO much more important than creating a path through the forest !!!!! A walk through a forest on the forest floor is much more natural and enjoyable than walking on a man made path !!!!!

Linda McHale - Please!! Only take down as few trees as possible!!!!

Brenda Domogauer - Please stop taking wildlifes homes and shelters away!!!! There are alternatives, please choose one of those...we ate running out of natural land areas.

Martha Pirrone - Stop destroying our precious earth!!!!

Chris Sanborn - Please don’t cut trees

Janice Mulvaney - It's always about money. Who gets the lumber?

Sam McCutcheon- NPS needs better management techniques! Far too often they sell out and let little bits of development happen and we are looking sacred parks!

Cherie Hatlem - Once an ecosystem is damaged it is difficult or impossible to repair. That should be more important than short term dollars.

Ila Minton - This is not progress. Please use a less destructive option. We can't keep destroying the only home we'll ever have. No amount of money is worth what you're proposing.

Sarah Flum - Protect the natural landscape. Do not destroy it. There will be no need for a trail after the wilderness is destroyed.

Karen Muncie - PLEASE DO THE RIGHT THING

Paul Gray - A trail builder myself, I've found that there are always alternatives. We have always strived to protect natural features and prevent loving an area to death. Tread lightly in this area. Treat it it as wilderness and build no 10' paved (trail) road.

Charleigh Simmons - The National Park Service should be absolutely against damaging miles of wildlife and ecosystems. It’s our job as human beings to protect our planet. In as little as a quarter of a life time, the Earth could be beyond repair. We have to ban together and make a difference now!

Debra Wood - Should use alternative route. Save these trees and the Dunes

Becky Hawley - Please stop for all the above reasons.......prioritize the needs of the planet before the needs of a few of its citizens.

Kathy Kae - Its time to protect our environment, not destroy more of it.

Carrie Turner - Please do not destroy this natural wonder, stop cutting down trees! The old growth forests can never be replaced and Michigan has enough parks. Maintain what we have and stop wasting money that is needed elsewhere. Our trees are special and no project is ever worth cutting down this many trees

Diane Mays - We must protect our wetlands and trees from any unnecessary destruction.

Shaana Christian - It’s beyond disgraceful that we have to rally together to save the very planet and wild places that are interconnected and We ALL call home ! There is absolutely NO Planet B Allowing apathy and greed of the few over the well being and prosperity for all earthlings

Peri Doubleday - Greed is destroying our planet. Your future generations are depending on you as well

Stephen Groat - DNR getting out of hand, has to be another way.

Michelle Reid - The trail is not a friend to our fragile environment, nor do we need a 25 ft wall destroying the natural beauty of our land. Does it really make sense to spend over 14 million dollars, with destruction so intense It's beyond reason, when we already have countless miles of trails to enjoy? Please stop the madness!

Joan Kinn - leave the trees alone

Gary Freund - Clearing trees never helps.

Kathleen Casey-Zeitz - Save the trees and use the other route.

Deb Waitner - Save OUR trees, WE NEED THEM TO BREATH

Jacki Coughlin - Stop the cutting of the old and rare growth trees...

Paula Knier - Destroying nature, so people can enjoy nature makes zero sense. A better solution needs to be found.

Alice Watts - Find an alternate route that doesn't include removing all of the trees.

Patricia Montilio - It would be a tragedy to remove all those productive trees They do so much ecologically for the environment

Christine Adams - It doesn’t have to be this way!!! It can’t always be about the money!

Joy Holman - There are alternatives!

Mel Morgan - Dont do it

Leslie Louisell - If there is a way to save the trees that plan should at least be considered.

Patricia Bronikowski - Can’t you people just leave well enough alone . Instead of destroying everything maybe you should start making it better .

Sharon Brown - We need to preserve our trees!

Julia Ketchens - I’m signing this petition because construction work is killing our planet. Not every plot of land needs to be developed. STOP KILLING OUR PLANET!!!!!!!! SAVE THE TREES!

Laura Nicol - Preserving trees and wetlands is very important! Don't tear down trees to build roads.

Dawn Kleinhenz - Do not cut down any trees!!!!

Karen Crockett - Trees are important, there are better ways to make the trail that don't involve taking down so many trees.

Jane Dunn - Do not destroy trees.

Melissa Clifton - I hope this stops them from cutting down the trees.

Jill Garrity - Stop

Ellen Abrams - Old growth trees are so rare we need to figure out a more reasonable way to do this.

Kathy Robinson - Use the route to kill less trees.

Alfredo Sanxhez-Onate - For the love of god, do not go out and destroy even more mature and old growth trees to build a road. There are better ways.

Amber Stancil - If there is a way to keep the ecosystem intact, then it shouldn't matter how much time and effort it takes to saving it. I shouldn't have to be the one to remind you why it is that we should protect our natural habitats. Nor should I have to bring up the science which backs me up when I say that we only stand to benefit mind, body,, and soul by protecting our precious mother earth.

Leslie Spurling - Tearing up and destroying environment to make a road into a protected and preserved area? Does this not just obviously be wrong-headed?

Kathleen Grauman - No need to kill trees!

Jesse Pote - Harvest your trees somewhere else. The state owns tons of useless landlocked property, force the surrounding landowners to allow county access to harvest those lands since they're useless for anything else

Mary Miller - No Segment 9 Heritage Trail

Beth Carr - Preserving trees and forest is tantamount to saving our planet! Don't destroy this natural forest.

Carol Mountain - Other alternatives will not destroy these beautiful lands. Choose wisely. Save Our dunes and forests.

Aaron Devereau - Our tax dollars are not for you to spend without limit, or as you please.. All considerations should be taken into consideration when impacting the environment, and spending taxpayers dollars. The environment should of be preserved as much as possible, and our money is not for your unlimited spending. You should be much more frugal with "our" money than you are with yours.

Gregoire Bolduc - I love the current section of the Heritage Trail and would love more trail, but please do it with a minimal impact on the woods and dunes. Thank you.

Cynthia Barcome - Please consider less destructive alternatives and protect what is already endangered around the world.

Jennifer Warfield - Please don't pave the dunes!

Pamela Gagliardo - It’s not progress to destroy habitat.

Juanita Velasquez - Tourists and natives flock to this space to enjoy its natural beauty. Please leave it as it is. Save the trees. They provide shelter to many birds and other wildlife.

Lisami Parker - Leave them trees!

Francine Finocchio - MOST come here to enjoy the natural beauty. Stop cutting it down

Alexis Riley - Stop killing trees!

Mary Ellen Boesgaard - Stop destroying the earth and life!

Pat Anderton - Time to think of the environment and do the least amount of damage possible.

Kailey Hermosillo - Keep the trees!

Mary Brickley - Please only do things that protect this environment.

Amanda Tipple - Use a less invasive method!!!! Stop destroying protected dunes!!

Susan Brown - Why do you idiots always need to destroy everything.

Patricia Donovan - Save the trees. One of our most valuable assets

Debbie Cesar - No more destruction of our trees

Lillian Desoto - Listen to alternatives offered. There is much to learn.

Elizabeth Workman - Please use a different route and spare the trees/forest. The US has little to no old stands anymore and roads/trails can be built anywhere....it does not have to be at the expense of life, that's needed to support us all.

Mackenzie Jordan - Slaughtering trees that have been here longer than entire generations of families is cruel and useless. As a whole, we need to be protecting and replenishing as many trees as possible. Leave the trees be!!

Andrea Sutherland - Leave the trees alone! Taking beautiful land and turning it out for profit is disgusting. We need the trees, not you and your profits and disastrous harm.

Brian Henderson - Stop destroying the environment!

Cecilia Sauter - Keep our trees! There are other ways to accomplish the same goal in keep the trees and wet lands in place!

Roberta Freeman - We must save trees and old growth forests. There has to be a better way.

Tony Anthony - I have lived in California and Arizona and watched this type of development happen over and over again, once the wild is gone it is gone as in never again. Leave the wild places wild please.

Roberta Paschka - Ridiculous plan when there are much better alternatives.

Michael Quarterman - Sickening to think that any agency or people would condone this!

Virginia Czmil - Leave nature alone the animals live in the forest and need to stay.

Cameron Coltrain - Please save the trees. Our trees must be taken into account in every part of planning.

Debra Taylor - This makes me ill. I will never understand how we need to fight against something like this. Hopefully enough signatures will help .

Vyolet Vasquez - Mature trees add shade and wildlife refuge- work with nature, not against it

Karen McKinley - Waste of nature and woodland and then complain about bovine. Ridiculous!

Lucinda Marvin - Please stop destroying nature. It cannot be brought back. You owe future generations better decisions. A concerned citizen,

Kelley Moss - Disgusting. Who made this decision? ?????

Jeremy Walker - Leave it alone

Katherine Connor - Save theses beautiful trees. There is a way to,do it without cutting them down

Ralph Merchant - Leave it natural don’t need a bicycle highway.

Cody Moore - We need the trees , there has to be another way.

Rosemarie Grubba - Stop destroying trees that could be saved.

Carol Johnson - Do this with the least impact, please!

Oliver Kurtz - There is no reason to destroy this old-growth forest, besides human greed

Patricia Griffin - Trees and bees are our survival. This can't be allowed!!

Karen Roach - Please preserve the forest!

Cynthia Gonzales - The TREES are MORE NECESSARY at this Point in Time!!!

Chris Byknish - If they are other routes / ways to do this without killing such majestic trees, that should be done - You can’t get these trees back

Susan Grooms - Do not destroy more mature forests. Riding a bicycle through a wilderness area is not important compared to saving the area for the wildlife. Choose the alternate; less costly, less destruction; save the habitat for the residents--the wildlife and forest habitat. Please THINK about the path of less evil.

Theresa Pearce - It is always better to protect the wilderness whenever there are better alternatives. Destroying this part of the park is going against the principle to do no harm when you have the choice or do less harm because it is the better solution. Preservation over progress please.

Jean Battled - There will be no nature to enjoy if we cut down the trees. There are better alternatives than cutting so many trees. Find a better way than this

Harriet Watts - What on earth is wrong with you people? There are other ways to do what you want to do without such destruction.

Virginia Angstadt Duckett - Leave the trees! Find other options.

Krizti Jones - This suck!

Nellie Hintz - places such as those dunes are precious and quickly disappearing - we humans have done enough damage.

Lynn Kirk - This is not the time to remove trees and pave. It’s unconscionable

David Tamulevich - Seek some alternatives and save the trees!!!

John McGough - Stop this destruction.

Christie Kelly - As stewards of our world we always need to preserve as much nature as possible. At all costs.

Karin Weinfurtner - I beg you don’t keep destroying our Mother Earth

Helen Charbonneau - Enough already. LEAVE THE TREES ALONE!!

Teresa Volta - It's just plain logical.

Pam Estep - Please leave the trees alone! I don’t think people realize that without trees, global disasters get worse! Trees are what protects Mother Earth.

Janice Moore - Save the trees, save the Earth and stop global warming. You cannot do any of these if we continue to cut down the trees. We need clean air provided by the trees. They reduce greenhouse emissions.

Jeff James - Save the trees and help nature.

Kim Michel - Trails are great but Nature needs to be preserved at all costs. Plain & simple.

Marlene Chamberlain - I'm signing this petition because I'm tired of seeing nature being destroyed.

Jeff Lepke - Philip Hart had a vision. We have too many people in certain areas of the park. Enough is enough.

Cheryl Double - There are better ways to do the trail

Theresa Hitchcock - There is already trails. Why do you need to change it. Leave the trees alone

Andrea Holle - Horrible to cut down so many trees. Ruin a perfect forest.

Pamela Voras - The forest is habitat and home to chipmunks, squirrels, birds- so many animals and innocent creatures, many of which are already almost extinct, or in extreme decline. Where there are other options, it is our moral obligation to choose the one that does the least harm. You have other options. Please choose responsibly.

Sue Greichunos - Leave this old growth forest as it is. You kill trees you kill the Earth and her living beings a little faster.

Kelli Alfano-Yaroch - Find a different way. Killing trees and wetlands is WRONG

Christina Marks - You will introduce natives by disturbing the soil. We cannot lose these several ecosystems to dutch white clover, phragmites, and other invasives brought in on equipment creating the disturbed areas ripe for invasive colonization. This is big money catastrophe again, instead of stewardship. Have the original stewards been consulted???

Johanna Wittbracht - This natural area NEEDS to be kept as it is. We don't need more road access into the park. My family and I have enjoyed the Sleeping Bear area for decades; please don't ruin it.

Kathleen McIntyre -Stupid plan to wipe out natural areas for something that could be accomplished without all that destruction of habitat & trees

Thomas Berube - We need to always choose the better way - not the easy way!

Dodi Aguiar - Destruction is all it is , I could go on a rant about this !! For me tearing down trees that filters our air to replace it with chemical based asphalt . To bring in more people with their gas and oil powered vehicles. At the expense of hundreds of thousands of spieces living in that forest - wetlands  I can't understand this way of thinking !!!

Vma Witte - While I am not a MI resident, two of my sons and their families are along with many other family members. We take lots of vacations in MI and Sleeping Bear Dunes is one of our favorite places to visit. I am saddened, angered, and disappointed to think that the State of MI is even considering the demolition of any area of dunes and forest given there are other viable and more ecological options. Also, being fiducially responsible means wise allocation of funds for the betterment of all involved. How is removal of dunes and deforestation of such valuable natural resources being fiducially responsible when there are other options? Improving the park for the enjoyment of the public by removing such critical portions of the very park that we come to enjoy seems counterintuitive. Since there are other options, I respectfully ask you to reconsider the currently proposed plan of action concerning Heritage Trail.

Sandra Cox - Stop destroying wetlands

Gloria Rogers - There has to be a better way than to destroy 7,300 old growth hardwood trees. We have to preserve nature when and where we can.

Laura Orth - I thought the dunes were a protected area. This is shocking! Leave nature be!

Sally Van Slambrouck - Save the trees

Elaine Roche - We need the trees for the environment.

Ashley Roeder - We need to leave our nature alone!!! our wildlife will not have anywhere to go, if we continue to take their home away

Amy Watson - Keep it natural.

Karen Pennell - STOP PLEASE

Tom Mahnken - Leave those trees alone

Heather Contreras - Please please do as little as absolutely possible to change the natural formations of the sbd. The native ecosystem is important and we love sbd the way it is!

Marsha Pechman - Please stop ruining this earth

Carol Garbino - We need to save the trees and wild life in every region. We don’t need anymore roads, highways or houses. When is enough enough ?

Walt Carr - Save the trees!

Marilyn Pyszka - Destruction of trees and habitat is frightening as this will only cause more harm to our planet and our future

Marilee Lampman - SAVE THESE TREES! The earth & all living creatures need the oxygen, and the shelter.

Cheryl Grekowicz -Save the trees!!!

Steve Downing - The trees do more good for the land than anything else! Leave them be!

Mayra-Gonzalez Estep - Humans need to find ALTERNATIVES towards Deforestation and Pollination.

Judith Lindquist - Please use a plan that doesn't involve losing trees.

Cynthia Springer - Please don't remove anymore trees than absolutely necessary. Animals and birds need their habitat more than we do.

Lisa Wilson - There has got to be a better way than removing 7,000 + trees you are the parks department not the clear and plant stupid shit Department please figure it out you blame us for global warming and yet you are willing to cut down over 7,000 trees what the hell is wrong with you people there has got to be a better way they're proposing A Better Way open your ears and listen

Joe Loop - The trees are much more important alive than cut for timber. Most of the people in this country want the wild, natural places left alone.

Beth M. Horowitz - Please use non-destructive alternatives.

Myles Davis - Stop this needless madness.

Patricia Zwiebel - Save the environment. There has to be a better way!

Robert Slomer - Please leave the trees alone and take a better path.

Nancy Yekel Bivens - Please save the trees

Judith Oneill - This is disgusting. Family has had cottages near there since the early 60s.

Gail Meister - There are other ways to go without destroying the trees!

Dennis M. Gribbin - I cannot reason the destruction of a rare wooded area...on a rational of, progress or public need. If this project is for private profit, at least one elected or appointment needs to be investigated...of and for the people.

John Hugg - Be nice to nature. We’re all connected, and don’t like to be destroyed …. Destruction is not needed here.

Rebecca Bailey - Use alternatives to cutting trees and ruining vital habitat. What are you thinking??

Sandra Ferrentino- When there is a way to move forward without the destruction of trees in our environment we must do it.

Kimberly Beyer - This isn't a heritage trail is a urban abomination. We don't need to make roads & trails throughout our beautiful woodlands & dunes. The ecological effects of this will be felt for ever. Local people don't want it. It's the uneducated bureaucrats that want to open up the area. Leave it alone.

Sue Hollingsworth Thistle - New Jersey Has been ruined by similar TACTICS! NO MORE DESTRUCTION

Jack Collins - Just simply add a bike lane to the road if you insist on another trail through this section. The proposed trail is nothing more than a blight on the area’s natural beauty. Not to mention a tremendous waste of funds.

Pamela Bennett - Leave the forest intact, as it is.

Paula VanDyke - We cannot afford to lose any more trees, especially when it's not necessary. Why destroy such a beautiful area.

Brooke Glascoe - Save the trees

Juliette Os - Respect for life please without imposing your notions of primacy

Dawn Fogaroli - Less destruction of native trees is always preferred! and less costs for the work also!

Sophie Collins - In favor of not disturbing our ecosystem, we have lots of trails already

Val Bell - Save the TREES

Reitz Mike - As we approach accellerated global warming, it is even more important to preserve.

Mark Maclaine - Such proposals destroy the whole purpose of having the trails in the first place.

Charles Dupre - It seems outrageously sinful to cut these trees. Particularly these trees.

Merry Ingraldi - Using an alternative plan is the way to go. Someone probably wants to make money off the lumber.

Elaine Bolick - We need to preserve our land.

Pat Metz - This must not happen

Neil Silins - It is possible to work with nature to preserve it rather than to destroy it for any other purpose. Please find an alternate route to preserve the dunes.

Laurel Sorensen - There are less destructive ways to achieve this goal

Susanne Pilath - We do not need to cut down 7000 trees! Excuse me stop and think about this!

Margie Huggins - There is an alternative to cutting the old growth trees. Please!

Carol Donahue - Stop cutting down the trees!!!!!

Donna London - If there is a wat to preserve trees and wetland than that is the sensible route to take. It should be a no brainer.

Darcy Shaw - Keep nature as it is. Please don't cut down trees.

Karen Dauner - Don't let this happen!

Pat Simmons - I don t understand how they can destroy the very thing they say they’re trying to save

Rebecca Turpin - We need to save as many trees as possible and if there are alternative routes available then they should be used with less destruction to the land. You realize those trees help provide the oxygen we need to live don't you?

Stephen Otte - Do not destroy our natural resources.

Ludmila Hogg - We need trees, especially old trees because they store more CO2 than young trees. With the high temperatures we are experiencing, trees keep areas cooler.

Hope Espinos - Please stop this!

Cindy Quinlan - Please preserve nature.

Kathleen Roche - Please leave the older and larger trees.

Ann Leonard - Please find a less destructive option! You can do that!

Joan Muller - Please use all means possible to retain standing timber and wetlands. You can’t duplicate these features as time and the environment have formed them as part of a bigger system. Please reconsider with alternative plans.

Saundra Stephenson - Please don’t destroy these important trees. Employ one of the alternative plans.

Marie Parcell - Do not cut down the old, heathy trees! Find a better route. (We need trees.

Shelley Eaglehunter - Stop destroying our forest

Mary Schmidt - Learn nature alone. This is a destination for so many and you want to destroy it!!!

Ann Maier - Please leave the trees to be a forest.

Theresa Moran - Please don’t cut down the trees. National Park Service should be preserving our trees in the park. Thank you

Tommy Stewart - Please follow the rationale.

Kimberly Johnson - Please protect the trees. We are supposed to be planting more trees not removing the mature ones. They do so much good and there is an alternative route. Please use it away from the trees.

Ian Jezylo - Any update to our parks and trails need to be done with the least amount of environmental impact future generations depend on it.

Judy Gray - Just do what's right!!!

Joy Grate - Recently visited Long Beach Beach in WA. I was stunned by the millions of logs piled up in lumber yards along the way. When one imagines the forests that lay in piles stripped of life the imagination can hardly comprehend the number of acres stripped of the natural resources that those forests provide for life of everything. There is no excuse but greed to explain why, when alternatives exist, why?

Chuck Mitchell - The least invasive solution is the best solution.

Eric Shawbitz - These trees should not be cut

Carla Villa - This is unacceptable!

Emily Harris - You cannot justify further removal of our old growth forests!! These trees are more than shade, they assist an entire ecosystem that we are destroying step by step, to ensure that our grandchildren have no nature to enjoy.

Beth Stinebaugh - Progress and conservation isn't destroying thousands of trees. Why is this path so wide? Why can't it be built around the trees to preserve habitat? Your doing the opposite what a national park should be doing.

Debbie Van Wyck - Find a better way that using any property near national parks. There really should be a law.

Irina Yarema - Stop ruin our house- our planet and nature!!!! This is the place where we live and will live our future generations!

Rita Hodges - I honestly don't know much about this. But taking down trees for a road that can be moved into another location and save those trees. To me seems like a very bad idea. Especially considering how horrible climate change is right now.

Lydia Wethington - To destroy trees and habitat is to destroy our Earth

Deborah Hooper - Save the trees

Lisa Marie Zayas - I believe in preserving nature and not destroy it.

Lisa Meyer - Please do what is right! Don’t destroy this beautiful area when there is another way!

Susan Griffin - What happened to conservation! There are better choices here!

Kathryn Keller - I am an Associate of Science with a focus on Environmental Sciences. I believe there are more sustainable alternatives to this problem. These should be explored and potentially implemented before the proposed plans.

Shaon Brown - I may not live there now, but this area is part of my and my husband’s heritage. We still love and care deeply about this area. Stop the carnage.

Becky Lerew - Stop it!

Gene Shapiro - Save the trees!!!!!!

Mary Monarko - We should do the least destructive option!

Barbara Fry - WHY CAN'T YOU LEAVE ANYTHING ALONE?!

Tamara Swart - Seriously, leave nature alone. Humans are the invasive species¡!¡

Phyllis Reichenbach - Destroying our natural resources to make us more dependent on foreign powers

Ilene Orem - STOP!!!

Thomas Busch - It would be a sin to remove these trees !

Doris Andersson - Absolutely despicable. Climate change and want to take down trees. Unbelievable.

Della Reynolds - I'm doing everything I can.

Patricia Westcot - THIS IS WRONG.

Anna Olsen - Change the road! Save the trees

Mark Baumgartner - Grow Hemp and Save Trees !

Debra Henriksen - Why cut valuable trees which help clear our air when there is a better way to do this.

Sandra Keith - Our natural woodlands, many of which have stood for centuries, should be valued for what they are and for what they do. Woodlands harbor wildlife, the trees support a friendly environment, citizens take to the woodlands for peace and relaxation. Do not cut these trees to make a road that is not a priority. History shows us that removal of large woodlands leads to natural disasters such as floods where there used to be none, loss of wildlife habitat, loss of quiet places to hike, and much more than I have room to write. Please reconsider this action.

Margaret Butler - We need to preserve our National forest for our wildlife. Bears, moose, deer, and all the other dear animals that live in our forests. We need our trees to filter out our air and make it he air clean again.

Deborah Brawner - Use an alternative route to avoid cutting down this area and old growth trees.

Erica Boston-West - Destroying our last and precious bits of real forest in the U.S.A. is not only unnecessary, but harmful to the entire dependent ecosystems depending on the forest. Please do not destroy 7800 beautiful and old trees for something that be be rerouted without as much destruction. WE NEED TREES!!! Sincerely, A tree hugger & tree advocate, Erica

Charles Walden - protect the dunes- don't build a road over them

Michelle Rader - There is NO good reason to destroy so many trees. Please use the alternatives that are available to you!

Nina Boyer - We need every tree we can save. You don't have to destroy so much and ruin something so beautiful.

Karen Wiley - Save the trees

Joseph Dube - I think this destruction will harm the environment even more than it already is. There must be better alternatives to the plans that include destruction of natural habitats.

Dori Cifelli - Keep the area natural. Least development is what is right.

Renee Ragno - Hell, no, stop destroying habitats, what supports, protects us, species. Stop the slaughter!!!

Michael Brennan - Stupid

Susan Breloff - This ecocide must stop. The day of The Lorax is upon us forgetting down the trees,flooding mud slides and co2 will be the result

Emma Dessau - This project doesn’t make sense for our beloved vacation community. We oppose this plan and wish for a different solution that honors the environment, budget, and the people’s wants.

Kim Baker - I've been coming to little traverse lake my entire life. The proposed stretch of trail will significantly impact the area in a negative way. You have a better, cheaper solution available to you that will have far less environmental impact. Let common sense prevail for once.

Deanna DiTroia - If there is an alternative way to build these roads and protect those trees which should be there then do it. This is why I have no faith in humans

Jim Sharpe - Please save our trees

Tammy Sanders - Leave the trees alone find a better way

Francine Parker - Please stop destroying old growth forests. Our very existence depends on the forests. Thank you

Micky Clark - Saving older trees is extremely important for the survival of our planet as home for humans ( and other creatures). We need to think of our descendants. Our children and their children.

Joan Fisher - Leave the trees alone! People want to see nature, not concrete!

Holmes John - That NPS Sleeping Bear is beyond beautiful and truly appreciated -- it makes no sense to destroy this beautiful piece of nature for a board walk -- for what? I always thought that area would be preserved and appreciated forever but I guess heartless individuals need to get richer. Some would use the Grand Canyon as a land fill to make a dollar if they could.

Sandra Verwys - There’s a better way!!!!

Jamie Cunningham - Please stop destroying mother nature and all her beautiful creations for your own greed

Leigh Baxter - Please do the right thing. Destruction is never the answer.

Donna Cranfill - Trees are one of the only things that can help save this planet.

Debbie Kiefer - Why destroy these old growth trees when there is a better and easier way, that's better for the park ecosystem? After all isn't that what the National Parks purpose is?

Molly Nolan - Absurd plan, contrary to the mission of the park service.

Anita Clemmer - I fail to understand why destruction of these trees is necessary and think there has to be a better way! I watched a river bank "restoration" in my area that took far roo many healthy trees that were breeding areas for many different species of birds! With a lighter touch better results could have been achieved! Same here at the Heritage Trail! Why must our heritage always cause so much destruction of animal habitat?!!!

Sharon Miller - Please save these trees, Very important. Thank you

Sharon Dean - This earth of ours needs to be protected, we should not be standing by watching as more and more of our landscape is being destroyed!!! Please, please with all the power and influence you hold prevent this from going forward!!!!!!

Matthew Piland - Stop destroying our forests. Look at less invasive methods.

Sherry Bogan - Don’t cut down ANY trees, we need them all to survive.

Linda Stephenson - Do not destroy these trees, let people see nature not pavement. There are enough roads and not enough trees. What possible reason is there to destroy nature.?

Philip Stephenson - It makes no sense to destroy what is named treasure of Beauty-- paving will destroy the very essence of what makes it beautiful. What is WRONG with how it is-- who will make money off of the destruction of this unique sensitive environment. Do you have a clue????

Joe Gorman - Preserving remnant ecosystems in this time of accelerating climate change should be the priority, not destroying it for fossil fuel infrastructure.

Michele Talcott - I am signing because I think what is being done is horrific and does nothing to protect our beautiful Sleeping Bear Dunes. How can you look at it and want to ruin it. I just cannot understand at all!

Richard M Riley - Save the trees! They cannot be replaced in several life times! Protect them.. Any goofball can cut down trees. It takes forethought and planning to save them! Do so!

Vickie McClintock - Trees provide oxygen and shade. Both of these are vital to our warming planet.

Jennifer Alexander - Possible benefits not worth the costs and losses. Not a good R on Investment.

Kathy Downie - They preach about global warming and then want to cut all these trees down.

Gerald Bittle - There is absolutely no reason remove these beautiful trees.

Shaheen Alikhan - It’s insane to keep cutting trees as we are. National park service, do better. Planet isn’t even dying by inches anymore, it’s dying by miles and tons every day. Please set a good example, for the love of all that’s holy

Rebecca Nichols - Protect the land and wildlife.

Lyle Bisanz - Why would you even consider destroying anything that is so beautiful, and helps us breath fresh air! No common sense!

Catherine Lambert - Obviously I'm against this or I wouldn't be signing this petition!

David Parent - This unacceptable……

Joy Reno - I’m against the cutting of the trees.

Wanda Moody - Leave the land alone!!!

April Oldenburg - There are enough non motorized trails we need to protect our shoreline! Maybe a more extensive research of how much these trails will be used and how said users won't abuse the nature with garbage? It's very tiring to see certain people to throw money at something they want without realizing the bigger picture of what was once beautiful to be ruined because they are bored with current trails and need a new one.

Judith Mize - I think there should be better ways to do things without destroying trees! They are our lifeblood!

Raymond Luebke - A less intrusive trail should be an alternative.

Leslie Coker-LeMense - Protect nature...our planets has lost enough as it is...

Linda Weiland - Don't destroy this ecosystem. There are other ways.

Jean McFarland - Please use the alternative choice to save the trees

Kathy Vetter - Do not go where you have to take down so many hardwood trees. There have to be alternative routes.

Andrea Gregg - Save Sleeping Save, skip the trail!

Anja Crismon - Our national parks and wildlife are important , I hope this petition will help preserve it

Lacy Ostrander - It's sad

James Andriani - You need to find a alternative Route leave those Trees alone

Edy Garrison - Your tax dollars at work. Does the road really need to be in that exact location? Probably not.

Vic Dietz - Let us balance wisdom and practicality in our desires to connect with nature.

James Ayers - Stop cutting down healthy trees.

Melissa Wilander - Stop distroying our planet & killing our trees!!!!

Mary Lide - Do not cut down the trees.

Julie Mock- This is a terrible plan. We already cut down 90% of old growth trees. Please stop the destruction.

Lisa Anthony - I agree with the petition!

Nancy Cooney - Please save the trees, they are a heritage, please don't cut them down. Thank you

Suzanne Kruger - We need all the old growth trees. they are our lungs.

Christina Burns - Leave the forest alone...it's for all of us to enjoy, not just entities profiting from it's destruction

Malinda Funk - Isn't less better?

Kelly Caffrey - Stop the madness

Brenda Allen - Please find a different route. Destruction like this should be illegal. There is no excuse. By destroying these trees you are destroying ourselves :(

Michael Power -The least impact and least loss of natural trees and features should be the way to do any alterations of natural areas. The Forrest service is under the supreme Court ruling that they cannot exceed their lawful mandates.

Terri Middlemiss - This tragedy would not happen here in Calif. We care about old trees and forests and special environments.

Rosalyn Perry - Save trees, wetlands

Kirk Delaplaine - Please refrain from any unnecessary destruction of the planet by the government.

Dave Mundt - Old growth, mature forests and wetlands like this are disappearing gems in this country. They should be preserved and honored...not raped for progress. NPS - Be the Good Stewards of the Land that you are called to be...do not betray your oath. Build this on one of the alternate, less destructive, routes.

Ian DeGraaf - As a resident of the county with a direct view of the heritage trail, the microscopic amount of usage the current trail receives is a reflection of the failure of the already completed sections. To spend another dime, much worse cut down one more tree for this complete disregard for the natural environment would be one of the worst environmental tragedies in the history of this county. It is truly unfathomable why anyone with a respect for nature and the understanding of how little the trail is used could think this proposed new section was anything other than a joke.

Sarah Hinton - Leave the trees! We need them more. If they want to do by the disabled/ less mobile peoples, let them have a living means. Many battle with paying for the necessities as is, let alone be able to afford traveling.

Marilyn Anderson - We need more trees planted not taken down!!!!!

Denise Miller - Please do not log thousands of trees and build a material intensive project in this sensitive area. Not every single square foot of a natural area needs to be accessible to every single person.

Lorie Staffan - Our Earth has had far too much abuse as it is. Please leave these trees standing.

William Chávez - We have t take care for our nature

Fred Thaller - Push them to use the alternatives!!!

Brook St John - We must protect our National and state parks!!! We have them for a reason and they must be left alone or we will end up with nothing left!!

Valerie Lane - Do not cut the trees down. You are only adding to climate issues

Roland Powell Sr - Stop the destruction of our natural resources!

Michelle Rollins-Hall - Please try one of the other options rather than cutting down old growth trees!

Terrie Mccans - No more

Victoria Dobson - This nature area should not be destroyed.

Les Furman - Don’t cut down the trees

Diane Jennings - Preserve the trees and dunes and lakes for all!

Karen LeVan - Do not destroy the dunes… we have enough paved atrocities already.

Renee Larkin - Preserve trees!

Virginia Uelmen - Please do not destroy these sensitive areas of our Sleeping Bear dunes!

Kathi Muse - We should stop destroying our natural lands. Animals, birds and bugs matter too.

John Ward - Save the trees

Paul Ranney - Nothing that is created by man can replace the natural dunes and shoreline and wilderness that are parts of what we currently have and hold in trust for those generations following.

Tye Block - Keep our planet natural and beautiful.

Denise Tufts - Don’t cut trees. They are A valuable resource. Find another way.

John Aldrich - Please do not remove old growth woods!

KnoxAnn Armijo - No more roads and cutting down trees of any type age or size. We are in need of trees and green spaces. No more roads. Enough

Frank Staub - In a time of habitat loss and climate change, we need to save all the carbon-holding wild land we can.

Aza Drielts Davis - If we can keep it natural we need to! Leave the trees where they are and work around them. Leave the animals in them to their homes.

Marlene Dick - Please use an alternative plan.

Maria Guzman - Please don’t kill the planet. We need trees and wetlands.

Danny Baker - Please don’t let greed destroy this beautiful natural area.

Lisa Kamuyu - Sleeping Bear

James Gross - Please stop destroying forest for a hiking trail. Save the environment!

Dianne Richter - Thank you!

Mary Ann Tomaszewski - Hey! Instead of cutting down 7000 trees and building ugly tall retaining walls, how about using that money to build a section of trail SOUTH of Empire! What a concept! Maybe have a trail that runs from Wilco Road down Aral Road, and maybe even connect with Deer Lake Road! Those trails already exist. Nah, on second thought, keep the crowds up in Leelanau. I love having the Platte Plains trails all to myself!

Susan Heller - This sounds like a "Disney-fication" of a beautiful natural area.

Morry Heller - Who came up with this terrible idea? Replacing a beautiful natural environment with asphalt/concrete? Shameful!!!

Mark Janeczko - Save trees, use the alternative suggestion for the trail. Don’t build in wetlands and don’t build walls to hold back naturally occurring sand dune.

Rachel Lettinga - As a frequent visitor to the area, I oppose the Heritage trail expansion on the basis that is will disturb wildlife. This is an ecologically sensitive and important area and progress should not override the responsibility to protect these lands.

Rachelle Flees- I rode from the beach west a few miles on the HT. No reason to cut down our beautiful trees! Use 651 as part of the trail. It is just common sense and costs so much less!

Margo Burian - The proposed segment of the Pathway to Good Harbor is incredibly short sighted and extremely detrimental to preserving the ecosystem of that particular area. The loss of native species including trees, plants, insects and wildlife will be irreparable. Especially in an era where we are facing unprecedented loss of habitat and experiencing extreme heating of the planet. While we have been in support of Tart Trails projects in the past, our support ends with this project.

Monica Shalda-Evans - This is a no-brainer. Even though I'd love to see the Shalda Creek area remain untouched, preserving sensitive ecosystems and environments is SO critical.

Amy Bergagnini - This can be done responsibly while saving the trees. Please do so.

Arlene Dean - I am opposed to having any trail disrupt the wetlands and dune ecosystems that were supposed to be preserved by the Park. I am the daughter of Evelyn and Wilbur Kropp who gave up their land with the understanding that the Park would preserve the natural environment of the area, not that it would be paved over.

Kathy Reider - I do not want this to go through. We need to protect Sleeping Bear Dunes. The alternative route makes more sense .

Leslie Cunningham - Why oh why wouldn’t you do the most environmentally sensitive thing, which also happens to be sensible? The problem with projects like this is they are not thought through, and yet nobody who has any say is willing to question it. Question everything, don’t just go along with the crowd.

Kim Polzin - Please keep the trail as beautiful and natural as possible by not destroying more trees.

Gary Baumdraher - I totally agree. N on 669 to the lake and then on from there.

Lynne Sundwall - The focus of parks and natural areas should be to save them undisturbed for future generations.

Doug Oppelt - Protect the environment!!!

Brian Chamberlain - I believe that keeping everything as natural as possible is important today . Please don’t let progress be more important than keeping our earth together . I love to hike in the great outdoors but the best trails are the ones that stay close to the original way the site was and not those that tear down trees and ruin the environment.

Andrea Smith - Summer & Fall vacations over the years, hiking through the area, I’d hate to see the trees destroyed & ecosystem ruined.

Leanne Primrose-Brown - I totally agree with the recommendations made by the SBN group! I don't see the need to destroy nature just to provide access to nature, when possible.

Ann Pettay - I would be fabulous to save that many trees etc and to have so much money left for other projects is absolutely a first to be heard of!

Richard Meader - Please don’t build the road as planned. It would cause much more environmental damage than is necessary or desirable.

Theresa Miller - Save the wetland & tree & wild life.

Lawrence Cleary -Evaluate all alternatives, keep disruption to a minimum.

Paula Hampton - The goal should be to keep it simple & beautiful. Simply Beautiful & without pavement!!!

Loraine Rhode - respect the beauty and integrity of this area with a less costly, more logical project.

Beth Knapp - Actually I had no idea this was even up for debate

Thomas Bulson Jr - All

Lisa Renfree - Protect our National Parks & create an atmosphere of beauty & sensibility for All to enjoy & being thoughtful & responsible for taxpayer dollars in enhancing this Park.

Jane Stanley - Please keep the area undisturbed ss much as possible to protect the native flora and fauna.

Gloria Slaughter - Please consider this alternative route as a way to prevent the destruction of the dunes and the ecosystem in one of the most beautiful areas of our state. This alternative route seems to be a much better solution for connecting the trails.

Pam Anderson - No way. This is the most beautiful place in America. Keep out!

Marcey MacCready - A New Assessment needs to be done. Leave Nature's Beauty with the Least Destruction.

Andrea Slack - This is a travesty. The dune needs protection not more bike trails

Michael Hackett - Don't destroy the trees and wetlands or build retaining walls. This is such an unnecessary, destructive, and financially wasteful project.

Wade Guelde - The trail is a bad, costly idea. I like the new proposed cheaper and environmentaly better trail

Scott Lowe - The idea of National Parks and National Lakeshores was and still should be to preserve wilderness for ourselves and future generations. As we chip away at the remaining wilderness and particularly places as special as Sleeping Bear National lakeshore with "improvements" ie: paved trails, parking lots and concrete retaining walls we diminish the character of the park. Let's not keep paving the park please!

Kathleen Farrell - The idea that 7,300 trees are proposed to be cut down and 15-25’ high retaining walls are proposed to contain natural sand dunes that will be disfigured to accommodate an extension of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail is unfathomable. Presumably, the trail is meant to provide additional access to this natural wonder. Disfiguring it in such a way is the height of uncontrolled human intervention by uninformed bureaucrats. What part of this proposed project has anything to do with heritage? Not to mention the importance of trees in preventing global warming as development continues to remove them in the name of progress. I have lived in both Leelanau and Grand Traverse counties for 51 of my 66 years and am appalled that this is even being considered. Especially when alternatives are apparently available. The “sleeping bears” have awakened and are not happy.

Christine Burns - Please preserve this area and this Earth leave it natural

Paul Macintyre - Don’t build it!

Patty Meldrum - stop cutting trees and ruining natural habitat

Marilyn Schuler - Do not tear up the area when there is a better alternative route.

David Rozanski - Stop all further Bike Trails and any new paved roads in the SBN National Park. Continued development to serve the few makes no sense when we have a Natural treasure like SBN. If we don’t stop this it will never end. Tell the TART team to go build more around Traverse City since it has already been urbanized and continues to lose the charm it once had.

Jennifer Nosakowski - Please save our natural lakeshore. As a bike enthusiast, I would gladly take an alternative route. Thank you!

Debbie Cole - Preserve nature!

Debra Baker Crike - Segment 9 trail would be so destructive to the environment. Please hang on to Michigans natural beauty. The influx of tourists is already changing the Michigan Lake coastline dramatically.

Sandra Phelan - Stop destroying the very thing you are supposed to be protecting!!

Rose Izworski - Please lave the sleeping bear dunes park alone!

Pam Teunissen - Not in favor of destroying parts of dunes and wetlands and having a trail that ends at a street corner. The alternate plan makes more sense and is more economical and kinder to the environment

Amy Sironen - Please leave this beautiful natural area as God intended.

Eric Ferguson -The scale of climate change disaster we’re faced with means that every bit of forest and natural landscape that has not  yet been developed is precious (and let’s remember that it always has been so to the people indigenous to so-called Leelanau County). The Mansfield report commissioned by Sleeping Bear Naturally puts forth an intriguing set of alternatives to the current Section 9 plans that would down so many trees. NPS and TART would be wise to take the comprehensive combination of alternatives offered on page 54 of the Mansfield report, make a few nominal modifications, and just claim it all as their own idea. We’ll know it wasn’t their idea at all, but we won’t mind-we’ll be too busy making good use of the new walking trail between LTL and Good Harbor Bay, the vastly improved TLR, the Bohemian Road trail and improvements on Lake Michigan Rd in the Lakeshore area that is already equipped to handle visitors, and the M-22 trail section south of LTL!

Kathy Roman - We have the need to preserve the forests and wetlands and to protect wildlife. NOT to destroy it by paving a trail!

Widen Denise - Please do what least affects this ecosystem negatively.

Glen Sironen - We need to make sure that we leave this area as undisturbed as we possibly can.

Cruz Aleman - It is critical to care for this specialized habitat.

Benjamin Buskirk - I’m dumbfounded that this is even a thing to consider, it’s not a good idea at all and ruins the natural beauty we have and can share in this great state. Leave the land natural as it is, why ruin a good thing? We not only owe it to ourselves, but to future generations as well.

Thomas Owens Boondoggle.

Gayle Galloway The negative impact on the ecosystems and natural beauty of this area motivates me to support the effort to rethink and revise the plan for Heritage Trail.

Suzanne Davis-Lucey Please save your Wetlands for others in the FUTURE

Nancy Mueller Please stop section 9. Trees, dune swales and wetlands are precious. All this damage to our National Lakeshore just for human bicycle riding on four miles of pavement? This proposed trail is selfish and short-sighted. Please preserve our beautiful Lakeshore from destruction.

Catherine Irwin I applaud the Cleveland Township Board for its willingness to pause and take a closer look at the issues raised. The plan was developed fifteen years ago using what has been shown to be a deficient study deserves to be reconsidered and SND’s refusal to do so is inexplicable.

Matthew Lautner Heritage bike trail doesn’t need 4 more miles! Use bohemian rd. and SAVE THE DUNES!

Christina Burns Keep the humans out of the forests...we r having enough wildlife issues from human progress...honestly think y'all wanna destroy everything good in the world for ur greed

Karen Viskochil The proposed plan takes too great a risk for the health of the existing dunes, forest, wetlands ecosystem. Please-not this plan.

Michelle Irwin I do not support Segment 9 as proposed- there has to be a better way.

Austin Kimball There is enough trail in the park already for recreational riding. Most “Serious” rides who want a longer ride use the roads and do not ride on the trail.

Ted Lauer America already has over 2 million miles of paved roads.

Chad Rubenow I would like an alternative route along Bohemian Road that does not impact the wilderness area or trees.

Lisa Koorn Preserve and save always!

Alicea Howell Stop section 9 and save nature for future generations

Megan Larr It requires the destruction of everything that is supposed to be saved and protected there are many alternatives that can be considered and implemented without destroying and taking away so much.

Alicia Forton No paving!! Leave our forests alone

Chandra Adams Keep nature natural.

Cameron Lange Stop developing land for humans to trash and destroy! Despicable.

Diane Kolak The National Lakeshore exists to protect nature. There is ample access already for people to enjoy it in cars, on bikes, and on foot. The proposed trail will unnecessarily ruin a fragile natural environment forever.

Rochelle Williams SAVE IT. Leave it as it was meant to be.

Chris Musson Totally unnecessary! Shouldn’t even be considered!

Chrissy Winograd Leave things alone

Raechel Lenz We need to keep natural areas protected from people.

Ashley Hooper Preserve what’s left of our wetlands and Forests!

Lindsy Skellenger Leave nature alone. Anyone who spends any amount of time in this area knows bikers still ride on 22 vs the multi million dollar paved path that went in. Waste of money resources and horrific damage to the environment.

Michael Crawford Leave it natural. No need to have tar soaked into the ground and destroy the wildlife.

Ross Kniffin There is no need for this. There are plenty of trails elsewhere for all of us to ride. We need to protect the wetland before it's gone.

Cody Ranger This is coming from an arborist save it and do not pave it your gonna cause more diseases to our trees by hacking through the forest

Ann Konczal We have lots of availability for hiking the area designated for this trail extension. Please keep this area undeveloped.

Paris Burton Do not pave a path through the beautiful woods no trees should be cut down because of this.

Adin Harmon I feel this would negatively impact the wildcards that this foundation is entrusted to protect

Robert Marcotte What happened to sod buster swamp buster law ! Your throwing farmers in jail for draining wet holes in their fields to raise crops and these people want to pave a swamp to ride a bike ? What kind of crazy is that ! And we wonder why the bears are in the city . Where else they going to go when you keep paving their home.

Susan Turner Please do not pave a bike path in Sleeping Bear. There are already so many in the area. Please keep it pristine for the plants, people, and wildlife to enjoy as nature made it.

Amber Bowen Save the forest

Peggy Duncan Please save the forest and dunes.

Alyssa Hayden We don't need anymore trails, please!!! Trust me, there is plenty of beautiful areas to bike. This would scare animals out of the area!!!! Keep the forest a forest!!!!

Julie Shearer The dunes must be protected

Christina Roberts I would like to see the wetland/forest/dunes to stay natural and the bike can ride on the side of the road for a portion

Rachal Saurr They can bike somewhere else

Kristen Worrall This trail is unnecessary. There are plenty of paved pathways, and the environmental integrity is what folks come to see. Pave paradise, put up more paved spaces should not happen in Sleeping Bear.

Kathleen Shelton Any disruption of the critical dunes areas is absolutely unacceptable

Tobi Becker Preserving nature does not mean building through it. It is disruptive to the ecosystem no matter how small.

Susan Carey We need natural places to be left alone! If you want to enjoy this area, hike through it, not bike!

Carolyn Warren Please do not destroy our natural environment. It needs to be protected!

David Warren Please respect the rights of nature!

Meghan Davies Absolutely awful - do NOT destroy natural areas and wetlands.

Clair Pearl As a local permanent resident of Leelanau County residing on 651/Good Harbor Trail I am completely opposed to the se gment 9 trail extension. Part of the area that the proposed trail extension would go through is designated protected wilderness in the park. This area was designated wilderness in 2014. The planning, meetings for public comment and environmental assessments for this segment of trail were conducted in 2009, prior to the wilderness designation. For this reason alone SBD National Lakeshore should be required to completely restart the planning process for trail approval. SBD should not be using information from 2009 (15 years ago!) to push this expensive, environmentally destructive project through. Keep our Wilderness Wild!

Amy Brady Do not pave!

Glenn Solowiej One purpose of the park is to be maintained for the future, not developed.

Kimberly Hayes I oppose the proposed SB Heritage Trail Segment 9 due to inadequate EA from too long ago (2009). A finding of no significant impact is indefensible with detailed biological and ecological evidence presented in recent years. The lack of a responsible and defensible environmental assessment of the actual proposed route as staked on the ground is shocking and totally unacceptable as fulfilling NPS's commitment to protecting the natural resources under NPS's care. The good people involved in planning and promoting Segment 9 have the capacity within themselves to rethink this before it is too late and fragile, rare, legally protected natural resources are degraded or destroyed. An alternative route , if this final segment of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail is needed at all, is the only responsible move to make at this stage. The cost of the proposed trail is staggering. Numerous, responsibly located and designed Universal Access points could be built to provide proximity to and visual access to Good Harbor Bay, which is a national and global treasure. Protecting the unique natural resources such as the State Critical Dune Area and the plants and animals found within it is the responsibility of NPS. We the public must support the work of NPS through our tax dollars, advocacy and such, however that support can also mean holding NPS accountable to make changes to plans when proposing infrastructure development on public lands that does not meet the high bar required and expected for NPS to first and foremost protect public resources for future generations.

Jacqueline Bowen I was born and raised in Michigan. My daughters still live there. I love the dunes. The ecosystem is delicate. Don’t destroy a thing. Treat the sleeping bear dunes with love and respect. Don’t invade the wilderness with big equipment. It will destroy the eco system and I’m sure there are wild endangered plants there. Keep Michigan beautiful.

Dianne Fisher Hate the destruction of the huge amount of trees and harm to wildlife. Also it is a huge cost. The bikers have free alternate routes. This is a no brainer. Don’t do this project!

Carl Freeman This is entirely unnecessary, violates the intent of the wilderness designation, and way out of align of the are cost and use of natural resources.

Everett Jeffrey It is very important to protect the environment

Penelope Woodruff I am against attempts to fix nature . Leave it alone without a great reason and I doubt if there is one

Parker Davis we absolutely do not need to destroy more of the environment. We have more then enough trails in this county.

Michael Johnson Trail will do more damage than good.

Marianne Lindsey Don't destroy the eco system needlessly, there is enough of the area developed for tourism, leave the rest alone.

Sandy Hopwood This area is a natural, majestic, and Important, irreplaceable wonder and it is our responsibility as temporary human stewards living on this Earth to protect it at all costs.

Catherine Campbell National Parks are sites of cultural and historic value. The changes you are proposing damage not only native cultural sites but also the visual preservation of the land. Abandon this project.

TelaAnn Martin We need to save our precious land and animals...it is our sacred duty to protect them.

Wayne Headley The current plan should be canceled. A new environmental study is an essential part of any proposal to build in Sleeping Bear Dunes area. Look and present alternatives please!

Linda Brundage We do not need additional trails of this type

David Redfield I am a conservationist that uses and loves Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (SBDNL). I have seen loons on Shell Lake, School Lake and Tucker Lake. I have seen eagles over many of those same lakes. I have seen Bobolinks and Snowy Owls on South Port Oneida Road. This is a very special part of Michigan. Wetlands are a unique, rich, beautiful, bountiful and at-risk habitat and SBDNL is home to numerous habitats like School Lake, Shalda Creek, Shell Lake, Tucker Lake, Bass Lake, Lake Narada, to name only a few and each one has its own character and beauty. Have you seen nesting Sandhills in the cove on School Lake? I am also a regular user of SBHT from the Dune Climb to Bohemian Road and love the access and beauty that it provides. But we must protect wetland habitats. Wetlands are so rich and beautiful and the threats to them have always been with us and were made even worse since the SCOTUS decision in Sackett v. EPA. Why would we perpetuate more destruction in 2024? We know better. This development is not necessary. I am opposed to the current TART/NPS plan for Segment 9.

Shaunna Martz I like the trees and wetlands and feel the trail should end where it’s at. It will not get used.

Scott Martz No like

Roz Mayerat Why would you take down over 7,000 trees, destroy wetlands and move dunes. This entire plan seems geared towards someone making a lot of money without listening to what people actually want. The entire idea blows.

Alexander Kleinfelder We as humans do not need to have easy access to everywhere. Nature deserves and requires unmolested space.

Brian Smith There are enough trails in Sleeping Bear Dunes. This destructive extension sacrificing 7300 trees so a bicycle can be ridden 4.5 miles further is unneeded and ridiculous.

Janice Fink I am VERY opposed to the trail cutting down ANY more trees. The wetlands need to remain as is, no trail through them at all.

Linda Vanderslice Not for it. Too costly and too many trees will be lost.

Cheryl Spaniola Leave the area as it is, as it's meant to be. Taking out trees to put in pavement is not logical for a place that we are supposed to be protecting for our future generations. The earth is enough trouble without adding to the problem with this absurd, idiotic plan. Please use some common sense here, people.

Janine Sam Heritage - interesting to choose a name implying preservation while gutting nature for Man’s convenience. Some places should be protected from Man’s intrusion. Keep Sleeping Bear as is.

Michelle Sturdevant Nature is fine without interventions and so-called improvements.

Marissa Summersett Paving an asphalt trail through untouched wilderness is absolutely insane. LEAVE OUR WILDERNESS ALONE.

Georgia Donovan Plants and trees are extra important near dunes areas.

Terri DeFilippo Cutting down these trees when it is not necessary is bad for the planet bad for the beauty of our area and just stupid. Please, NO!

Shannon Underwood Please keep our forests natural and healthy.

Wendy Hempton I have family over there and enjoy nature and don't want it disturbed! Please don't interrupt this, as nature, people and animals will greatly be affected. Thank you

Leah Olson Please protect our national parks!

Patrick Garcez We need to preserve every bit of nature. Continually destroying to make room for people is nonsensical.

Robin Hendricks Please protect the trees and natural habitat for future generations

Victor Lukasavitz As a retired trail/non-motorized pathway designer I find this proposal to be out of line with reasonable and quality design and environmental design standards. When it came to protecting natural environments, we were always required by the state and federal government to find and utilize reasonable and prudent alternatives, which should be a requirement here too! This route needs to be stopped and moved.

LuAnne Kozma There is already y plenty of access. Trail users of all people should understand that we don't need trails everywhere.

Mollie Martinek Hello, Stop destroying what cannot be replaced. Here's to biocentism!

Sarah Hlavenka The trail requires too much influence of man and for what…respect nature’s gifts and go a different route.

Kerry Leonard Leave this area wild. Nothing you could build or “improve” here could be as special and important as this very rare ecosystem.

Elizabeth Clark Do not destroy habitats for walking trails.

Karen Ettinger NO, leave these areas as they are! Quite destroying land like this. Find a different way.

Wendy Blough No more ripping things up please keep it natural. Paved trails and retaining walls are ugly.

Barbara Corcoran Please stop the destruction of these fragile dunes.

Veronica Langlois It would be very disappointing to see the destruction of the beautiful natural habitat and trees.

Linda Lawson I am against Segment 9 Heritage Trail. We should leave this area as natural as possible.

Cynthia Wilkening Please keep ou r pristine dunes just the way they are. Nature should remain untouched so people can see the beauty of it in the future. Putting this trail through it will harm the many different animals that depend upon it.

Carolyn Hancock This is completely unnecessary act of violence against nature. When is enough access? STOP!

Alice Waterman Leave it as it should be.

Heather Waterman The destruction this plan for segment 9 would wreak far outweighs the benefits of developing the trail. It makes no sense to destroy what you are trying to preserve. The expense is outrageous as well. The entire plan needs to be scrapped not just have the course slightly adjusted.

Dennis Compton Stop,it all

Janis Baharis I love Leelanau and the Sleeping Bear area. I believe that it should remain natural, preserved for future generations. There is no other place like it. We should value it, as it is, for all time.

Jay Tropf We don’t need heavily developed trails to everywhere. Some places are meant to be off the beaten path, hard to get to, and undeveloped. It’s sad seeing all the work that would go into this and the natural beauty that would be destroyed just for somebody to zip by on a bike so fast that they don’t even appreciate it. Please leave this area alone!!!

Joseph Trever Sad to see this even attempted, it will never be the same

Jef Spalding Without truly understanding ecosystems and ecology, it's easy to overlook the long term impact the proposed development at the few remaining quality natural areas like the Dunes. Highly destructive and costly proposed trail(s) will clearly disrupt and forever change the integrity of the great bear ecosystem. And in doing so, we'll loose the original intent behind setting it aside and saving in the first place. Please consider less intrusive ( and costly) development, and keep these unique ecosystem protected in a way that will maintain its unique, naturally designed landscape..

Kayla William There is no need to have this paved. Leave It alone

Donald Gough This insanity has to stop. This trail is not useful. It is cleary not indeginious to the area. You have all these rules. Leave things as they are. But when it comes time for you to bulldoze land. It's perfectly OK. Regardless of the citizens say! You do not dictate to us. This whole trail is a joke. And will not be used for the amount of money you're investing into it. What is the Return on investment?? Go ahead I'll wait. Stop this bullshit right now. Leave the land alone. Like in the rules you post. Go away!

Susan Justice They need to fix the trail back

Megan Grant Please consider serving as an example for other similar projects and just leave the land as it currently exists. People have plenty of access to other trails, parks, and other outdoor areas that have already been affected by mankind. this area is an incredibly rare and perfectly preserved section of forest. Making even the slightest modifications to this space will ensure that what little old growth forest we have left will be blemished forever by the footprint of humans like everything else. Please consider leaving it be. Be an example.

Gary Woodhams Please take the time to listen to the petitioner's concerns. Bohemian Road seems like the best alternative.

Joanna Heiman-Aldridge While I appreciate the need for accessibility, the harms to our environment will seemingly outweigh the benefits by a long shot. There is no need to have a connected trail system. I would like to see nature's wellbeing prioritized over human over-development.

Eric Aldridge The trail is unnecessary, expensive, and detrimental. Why not just add a wider bike lane?

Jeff Bauman Do not build proposed 4 mile extension of TART trail, find a less environmentally destructive alternate route.