EMPIRE, MICH. -- Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is strongly considering closing some of the park’s more popular spots on account of large crowds and social distancing concerns in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last weekend, park staff reported packed parking lots and overcrowded trails at popular locations like the Dune Climb, Pyramid Point and Empire Bluffs, the Glen Arbor Sun reported.
Additionally, there were “dramatic instances” of visitors not following social distancing guidelines, Superintendent Scott Tucker said.
“The worst-case scenario is that we ask visitors not to come hike at Sleeping Bear, which is not the decision any of us want to make,” he said.
While the park’s public buildings and campgrounds have been closed for weeks, trails have remained open as a way to encourage local residents to get outdoors for exercise, which is an exception to the state’s stay-home executive order.
But closing trails would be the latest measure the national park would take in response to visitor behavior roughly since that stay-home order began.
Late last month, the park closed all restrooms, including vault toilets, after vandals ransacked the park’s bathrooms to steal toilet paper and hand sanitizer.
The park also has had to address a significant increase in litter around the park since the state’s stay-home order began.
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In recent weeks, the park has used social media to address the littering, as well as the overcrowding. In Facebook posts on March 19 and April 3, the park asked visitors to avoid crowded trails. And on March 31, the park posted a short list of specific trails to avoid, with alternate options that are likely to be less trafficked, such as Port Oneida Rural Historic District, the Platte Plains Trail, and Alligator Hill Trail.
Tucker said the park will again use social media to urge people to be mindful of the need to safely social distance even when outdoors, and will wait to see how people respond before making the decision whether or not to close trails.
“We’ll see how visitors are responding after social media and information getting out there,” Tucker said. “Hopefully we wont have to make that decision, but if it continues to be an issue, I’m going to have to make that decision.”
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April 10, 2020 at 02:00AM
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Popular Sleeping Bear Dunes trails may close because of overcrowding, improper social distancing - MLive.com
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