Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore ⓘ

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore gets its name from one dune in particular—the Mother Bear. Perched along the edge of the large dune that towers about Lake Michigan, this dune, at one time, resembled a sleeping bear. The Anishinaabek used the Mother Bear as a landmark and tell a story about how she came to be there.

Two different versions of the story are commonly told. These stories are an Anishinaabe (Odawa/Ottawa, Ojibway/Chippewa and Potawatomi) oral tradition of a sacred place within their homelands in the Great Lakes.

Once, long ago, in the land called Wisconsin across the great lake, there was terrible hunger and many people died. A bear and two little cubs were trying to leave that place and come around the lake where there would be more food.

They walked for many days on the beach together, but after a while the two little cubs began to whimper with hunger, and so the bear decided to swim across the rest of the lake.

They waded into the water, one cub on each side of the bear, and they swam off into the lake a long way. After a while the cubs began to get very tired, and so the bear said, “Try hard, the land is not very far.” And very soon they did come in sight of land.

But gradually the cubs got weaker, and only ten miles away, one cub sank into the water. Soon after, the other also drowned.

The bear’s heart was broken, but she could do nothing. She waded ashore and lay down, looking out on the water where her cubs had died. Eventually, both of them came to the surface as two little islands, and so the bear still lies there atop the dunes, looking after her children.

Long ago, along the Wisconsin shoreline, a mother bear and her two cubs were driven into Lake Michigan by a raging forest fire. The bears swam for many hours, but soon the cubs tired. Mother bear reached the shore first and climbed to the top of a high bluff to watch and wait for her cubs. The cubs drowned within sight of the shore. The Great Spirit created two islands to mark the spot where the cubs disappeared and then created a solitary dune to represent the eternal vigil of mother bear.

South Manitou Island was once the center of civilization and commerce in the Manitou Passage. The Anishinabek people’s connection to the island and surrounding area goes back thousands of years. They used the area as seasonal hunting grounds, a critical trading route, and ceremonial ground.

With the completion of the Erie Canal in 1826, the Great Lakes became the primary method of westward expansion. The Manitou Passage, and more specifically South Manitou Island, became incredibly important as the only deepwater harbor from Buffalo to Chicago and the only shelter for ships traveling Lake Michigan.

The first settlement was established in 1838 by William Burton, who built a dock in Crescent Bay to provide cordwood to fuel the passing steamships. By 1847 the village included a blacksmith shop, general store, and a wooden railroad track to haul wood from the interior of the island to the dock. This was also where the first post office was built in 1879.

Recognizing the importance and the dangers of the Manitou Passage, Congress appropriated five thousand dollars in 1838 to build a lighthouse on South Manitou Island equipped with a fourth order Fresnel Lens with a range of 15 miles. The U.S. Lighthouse Establishment replaced this first lighthouse with a taller one, built nearby in 1858. To accommodate ever increasing shipping on the Great Lakes, the lighthouse was changed again in 1871 with an even taller tower and a more powerful third order lens. To help ensure the safety of ships crews, a life saving station was established on the island in 1901.

As the woodcutters cleared the island of trees it became increasingly attractive to prospective farmers. The first homestead claim was made by George Hutzler in 1863 and seven more were made by 1868. The year-round population of the island stood at seventy-four in 1860 and ninety-eight in 1880, with farming, fishing, and logging being the main occupations. Islanders largely led subsistence-style lives, growing a wide variety of crops in addition to gathering wild berries, mushrooms, maple sap, and ginseng. In the winters they harvested ice and cut timber. Much of the sand and gravel used to rebuild Chicago after the Great Fire of 1871 was provided by the Garden City Sand Company. The company bought land on South Manitou and sent barges to excavate the sand and gravel and transport it to Chicago.

The Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University) selected South Manitou Island as an experiment station. The island's isolation made it a great place to grow seeds for certain crops. The absence of pollen from the mainland mean the seeds would be genetically pure and valuable. The first of these seed experiments was Rosen Rye. The seeds for this variety of grain were brought to the United States in 1909 by a Russian student named Rosen. Rye is primarily used for making bread and alcohol. Rosen Rye thrives in the sandy soil of northern Michigan. This variety was also grown for its seeds, which were grown by farmers across the region. The second seed experiment was the Michelite bean . This variety of navy bean was invented by state researchers and the seeds for them were grown on South Manitou Island. These bean seeds were distributed to farmers across the Midwest in the 1940s, and they were used to feed the troops during World War II. Prize winning Rosen Rye and Michelite beans were grown on the island into the 1940s.

As coal and fuel oil became cheaper and more efficient, fewer and fewer ships stopped at South Manitou Island. Transporting supplies and agricultural products to and from the island became more difficult and expensive. In the 1940s, several families began leaving the island.

As maritime technology improved the need for lighthouses and life-saving stations decreased. Both the South Manitou Island Lighthouse and Life Saving Station, now under the control of the U.S. Coast Guard, were decommissioned in 1958. They took with them a significant portion of the island’s population. The last family, Ed and Esther Riker, left the island in 1974.

In 1970 Congress authorized the creation of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. North and South Manitou Island were included within the National Lakeshore. The majority of South Manitou Island is designated wilderness, areas not part of the designated wilderness include the South Manitou Island Complex. These areas are focused on protecting and preserving the historic and cultural resources for current and future generations.

North Manitou Island has a long and rich history spanning thousands of years. From the prehistoric Native Americans to the visitors of today the island has provided shelter, nourishment, livelihood, and entertainment. At the same time the island has gone through many periods of change, challenging some while providing opportunity for others.

North and South Manitou Islands have been occupied by Native Americans for at least 3,000 years, possibly as long as 13,000 years. They primarily used the islands and surrounding areas as seasonal hunting grounds and temporary settlements as part of a vast trade network that extended as far as modern Florida. As a result, North Manitou Island is one of the richest archaeological sites in the Great Lakes.

European settlers began moving into the area in earnest in the mid-1840s. For the next thirty years the Manitou Islands became important for ships sailing to and from Chicago to stop and load wood to fuel their steam engines. By 1860 the population of the island had grown to 269 with the majority being recent European immigrants who worked to clear and process the island's forest into lumber and fuel for hungry ship’s boilers.

A second village on the island, Cresent, was established in 1906 after Smith and Hull Company purchased 4,000 acres of timber land and leased a section of beachfront property on the island’s west side. Cresent had its own dock, sawmill, a boarding house, blacksmith shop, general store, post office, and a saloon that was later converted into a school and church. Smith and Hull closed the mill and moved off the island in 1915, bringing an end to the village.

Towards the end of the 1860s the lumber business on the island went into decline, as the vast majority of the trees had been cleared. By 1870 the population had plummeted to just ninety-four people. However, the end of the lumber industry on the island quite literally cleared the way for aspiring farmers to work the land, providing other opportunities to the residents.

The first homestead claim on the island was made in 1875 by Andrew Anderson. Six more claims were made by 1880. Commercial crops grown included fruit, corn, oats, wheat, and potatoes. The homesteaders also produced dairy products, pork, beef, and wool, which were mostly for their own consumption. Life was nevertheless difficult for the homesteaders, who struggled with growing crops in the sandy soil.

A ghost town is a once thriving town that has been completely abandoned. Many of the logging or mining communities in Michigan from the 1800s are ghost towns today. In Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, little evidence remains of many of the little towns that were once a center of economic activity in the area but couldn’t adapt to meet changing economic conditions. Some villages in the area were able to adapt and are currently thriving tourist destinations (e.g. Empire and Glen Arbor). Glen Haven and Port Oneida became part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and are preserved to get a glimpse what these little logging and farming villages were like.

Ghost towns allow us to question - Who were these people? How did they live? What were their dreams and aspirations? What happened? Can we avoid their mistakes? As you explore the site of a ghost town you may find evidence of the town and its people in the remains of a stone foundation, artifacts, or a few old pilings from the dock. While you are encouraged to examine these things and take photos, please do not take artifacts or damage the historic structures. Leave them for other visitors and future generations to find and contemplate.

What we know as Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore today was first settled by Native Americans, known as Anishinabek, who migrated into this area about 8,000 years ago. Living in small settlements around rivers and lakes. The Anishinabek lived on fishing, gathering wild berries, hunting/trapping, and gardening, which provided corn, potatoes, squash, and pumpkins. They thought it would stay this way for ever, but European settlement would change their world dramatically.

The first Europeans entered the area in the mid-1600s through the mid-1800s to explore and trade. Opening the Erie Canal in 1825 resulted in a dramatic increase in the use of the Great Lakes for shipping to transport people and goods to the growing Midwestern part of the continent. Great Lakes ship traffic quickly changed from schooners (2-masted sail boats), to steamships thanks to the steam engine.

The early steamships used wood for fuel. Making trips from Buffalo, NY to Chicago or Milwaukee required ships to stop for wood along the way. A dock was built on South Manitou Island in 1838, selling cord wood to the passing steamships. Increased need for cord wood led to a dock built on North Manitou Island. Small villages grew up around these docks, populated by the loggers and dock workers who supplied the firewood to the steamers. Because of the constant steamer traffic, these little ports became the transportation and commerce centers of the area.

Depleting the forest of the Manitou Islands quickly, the search was on for a new supply of wood for fuel. Several cord wood businesses started on the mainland. Coal became the preferred fuel for the steamers, the cord wood business declined. The pine and hardwood forests were still in demand, needed to supply lumber for the building industry in the West. Sawmills were set up to cut the logs into lumber which was shipped to market from the same piers used to supply cord wood. Demand escalated dramatically after the 1871 Chicago fire.

Each logging village had a dock to load the cord wood or lumber on the steamships, one or more boarding houses where the workers would sleep and eat, a general store where they could buy whatever they needed, and a blacksmith shop to make and repair the metal tools and parts. There were also barns for the work animals (horses and oxen) used in the logging camps. After the lumberjacks and teamsters worked in a camp for a while they would bring their wives and children to the village. As the families moved in, small shacks, houses, and a school would be built. A logging village would have 100-500 residents, a couple of stores, post office, and school, which was often used as a community meeting place and church.

By 1910 most of the trees were gone. When the trees were gone, the logging business was over. The sawmill would be torn down and the equipment put on a ship and moved to a new location. Then everyone would move out of town. Buildings would be torn down and the lumber would be used for other purposes, the village remaining only in the memories of the people who lived there. Few remnants remain - a foundation or a dock piling along the beach to mark the spot. Some communities made the transition to farming, fruit orchards and canning, or tourism to survive.

Michigan's logging industry has taught us a lesson. Uninhibited exploitation of a natural resource is unsustainable business. Creating only short-term wealth and jobs. Today we know that businesses dependent on the use of natural resources must be managed in a sustainable manner to create long-term prosperity and minimize the impact on the environment.

Location: Follow M-22 north through Empire and Glen Arbor. About 3 miles past Glen Arbor, turn left on Port Oneida Road. The original townsite included a dock, and was fully abandoned by 1934. Many of the families from the original townsite resided on farmlands nearby. Today, Port Oneida stands as the largest National Rural Historic District in the United States totaling nearly 2,000 acres.

Location: The main village is found on the east side of North Manitou, near the present location of the NPS dock for the passenger ferry.

Location: Located on the west side of North Manitou Island, was named after the shape of the shoreline where the dock was built. To get to the village site, take the trail that cuts through the center of the island to the Swanson Barn and make your way to the beach. As you walk along the beach to the north, you will find some of the old dock pilings.

Glen Haven is the best-preserved cord wood station on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, and perhaps in the entire Great Lakes. It was a company town, eventually diversifying into farming, canning of fruit, and tourism. Today, the history of Glen Haven is still preserved within several buildings that you can visit during your trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes:

In 1857, C. C. McCarty built a sawmill and an inn on the beach west of Glen Arbor. He called the settlement Sleeping Bearville. A dock was added in 1865, and he also built a sawmill on Little Glen Lake, where tugboats could transport logs. Once the lumber was cut up, it was transferred to the Glen Haven dock by wagon or sled. Glen Haven's development slowed when many of the settlers left to fight in the Civil War. Through the Homestead Act of 1862, returning Union soldier P. P. Smith became foreman for the Northern Transit Company (NTC) at the Glen Haven cord wood station. He later became Glen Haven's postmaster.

In 1878, NTC President Philo Chamberlain acquired Glen Haven. The 24-vessel fleet running between Ogdensburg, NY and Chicago or Milwaukee needed a refueling station, and Sleeping Bear Bay offered a protected harbor. Chamberlain picked D.H. Day , his sister-in-law's younger brother, to serve as NTC's agent in Glen Haven. Before long, Day acquired most of NTC's property, including the village of Glen Haven itself. He also bought shares of two NTC steamers (the Lawrence and Champlain). D. H. Day lived in a 2-room suite on the second floor of Glen Haven's Sleeping Bear Inn from 1878, when he arrived, until 1889. In 1889, D. H. Day married Eva Farrant, the innkeeper's daughter. The newlyweds moved into an apartment above his general store. The property included a granary, root cellar, and icehouse capable of holding 5,000 blocks of ice cut from Glen Lake, each weighing 150 lbs. According to an 1881 plat map, Glen Haven had 11 buildings including the inn, a general store, a blacksmith shop, a wagon shop, and a school. Day retained the deeds to all the lots in the village—and there were over 100 of them.

The Sleeping Bear Inn, which was near the dock, provided food and board to lumberjacks, dock workers, and passengers. The front rooms of the inn were nicer and were usually rented to businessmen. Workers stayed in the large bunk rooms in the back, which were added later. Most of the socializing occurred in the large parlors on the first floor, or on the porch, which was enclosed in 1928. Lumberjacks and dock hands worked 12 hours a day, six days a week. Most of them were single or living away from their families, so they stayed at the inn. Married workers lived in small shacks along Main Street. Most of Day's employees were of Norwegian and Swedish descent, but some came from a small settlement of Anishinaabe people near what is now the D. H. Day campground.

The arrival of steamers was a festive occasion on Glen Haven beach. Locals often watched the docking in a small boat. It would take about an hour for 20-30 men to unload the cargo. When lumber was swept off ships in a storm, townspeople gathered the wood to build houses and barns. The rail line used to haul logs from the sawmill at Glen Lake to the dock ran along the front of the inn. In 1907, D. H. Day purchased the locomotive to haul the flatcars, and moved the tracks. Before that, the flatcars were pulled by teams of horses. Visitors could also ride the tramway, which became a popular pasttime. Glen Haven was an active recreation center for the Day family and neighbors, including the crew and families of the Sleeping Bear Point Lifesaving Station. There was a 150 ft x 50 ft ice-skating and curling rink in the village. Day also built a tennis court complete with bleachers.

Agricultural use of land in the Glen Haven area changed as trees were logged. By the early 1920s, D. H. Day had established the Glen Haven Canning Company on the shore near the dock. He supplied the fruit from his farm and orchard, located south of the village, where he grew over 5,000 cherry and apple trees. The Canning Company processed the fruit and shipped it to market from the Glen Haven Dock. As roads and rail services improved, the importance of the Glen Haven dock continued to decline until it was finally closed in 1931. Today, the Cannery serves as a Great Lakes boat museum. With expansion of trucking companies and improved highways, steamboat freight and passenger revenues fell sharply. Ships stopped docking at Glen Haven by around 1918, and the pier was allowed to deteriorate over time. Although service continued to Glen Haven, there was little cargo and few passengers by the late 1920s. Insolvency for operators of the steamships in 1931 finally brought the beginning of the end of Glen Haven's maritime role—and that of its dock.

In 1935, Louis Warnes and his wife Marion (D. H. Day's youngest daughter) began running Sleeping Bear Dunesmobile Rides out of Glen Haven. They began the business with a used 1934 Ford, taking 4 people at a time to the crest of the dunes and back for 25 cents each. By the time the rides ended in 1978, there were 13 dunes wagons each carrying 14 passengers on a 12-mile, 35-minute excursion. The National Park Service purchased the village of Glen Haven in the mid-1970s, although some residents retained occupancy rights. Today, several of the buildings are being used for visitors to learn about the history of the area. You can visit Glen Haven and stop by the blacksmith shop, the general store, and the Great Lakes Cannery to learn more!

Much of the content of this page was excerpted from Sleeping Bear - Yesterday & Today , by George Weeks, which contains a detailed and illustrated history of the Glen Haven area. It is available at bookstores both within the National Lakeshore and in the local area.

David Henry Day was not the founder of Glen Haven, nor the first to capitalize on its access to the relatively cheap and rapid transportation that the Great Lakes provided. In 1857, C. C. McCarty, brother-in-law of Glen Arbor pioneer John E. Fisher, built a saw mill and inn on the beach west of Glen Arbor. In 1878, NTC President Philo Chamberlain acquired Glen Haven in order to assure a reliable supply of wood for a 24 vessel fleet.

To serve as NTC's agent in Glen Haven, Chamberlain picked D.H. Day, his sister-in-law's younger brother. The job involved many responsibilities including dockmaster when ships arrived at Glen Haven. Before long, Day became master of all of Glen Haven. In 1881, Day bought NTC's properties, including the village of Glen Haven, using his savings and money borrowed from his friend Perry Hannah of Traverse City's Hannah & Lay Lumber Company, where he served briefly as manager.

Day also announced that he and a silent partner had purchased the NTC steamers Lawrence and Champlain to form the Northern Michigan Line with freight and passenger service to Chicago, Milwaukee and a number of Michigan stops. Northwest Michigan became a popular destination for vacationers, and steamer was a popular mode of travel.

For about three decades, water was a far more pleasant way to travel than by road or rail. Many Chicago businessmen left their families in northern Michigan for summer vacations, joining them on Saturday mornings after an overnight trip from Chicago and then departing for Chicago on Sunday night. The one-way fare: five dollars.

Day initially paid his lumberjacks 15 cents an hour, and dock hands 35 cents an hour. Pay was often in the form of coupons redeemable only at the D.H. Day store, which also served as a telegraph office (Day built the telegraph line to Leland), a post office and a nerve center of the community. The second story of the store served as home for the Day family.

On 20 December 1889 David Henry Day, thirty-six years old, and Eva Ezilda Farrant, nineteen years old, were married. Over a span of twenty one years, they had nine children. A daughter died at birth in 1890 when Eva Day fell on stairs, forcing an early delivery. A son, Houston, died at age three in 1906.

By 1910, he owned more than 5,000 forested acres and long before the reforestation movement came to northern Michigan he promoted it. The 1,400-acre Day Forest, with its huge second-growth trees, was viewed by government researchers as one of the best timber stands in the Midwest.

By the 1920s, Day also had more than 5,000 cherry and apple trees at the 400-acre D.H. Day Farm, which he called "Oswegatchi" after the New York community where his father was born and the Oswegatchi River on whose banks D.H. Day played.

Day grew hay and corn to feed his 400 hogs and prize herd of 200 Holsteins described as among the best in the state. The farm, located just south of Glen Haven, has a massive white barn that stands today as a landmark of the heritage of Sleeping Bear Country. Day had the barn, house, and three out-buildings built in the late 1880s and early 1890s. One outbuilding was the pig barn, one the creamery, and the third, the bull barn.

As lumbering declined, Day planned for economic diversification. In the early 1920s, he established the Glen Haven Canning Company on the shoreline near the dock and shipped cherries and other fruits to various Great Lake cities. With improvement of roads, the Glen Haven dock faded in importance.

A diversification project promoted by Day that was far bigger than the canning company was resort development. His scheme was so grandiose that if successful, the Glen Haven/Glen Lake area would be transformed into the most elaborate and exclusive resort in the United States. In large part, because of the Depression, it was not successful.

In 1922, Day sold a large portion of land including reforested Alligator Hill for real estate development that was called Day Forest Estates. An 18-hole golf course was built, an air strip and clubhouse site were cleared, and access roads graded. The venture failed during the Depression, although the golf course operated for several years. Although the course is abandoned and overgrown, the outline of its fairways are evident today for those who hike the area.

In 1920, Day donated 32 acres along the shore of Lake Michigan between Glen Haven and Glen Arbor to the State of Michigan to become the D.H. Day State Park. The park is now part of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

When D.H. Day died in 1928 at the age of 76, newspapers said Michigan had lost "King David of the North." He came to Glen Haven by steamer in 1878 at age twenty-seven, and went on to diversified achievements in lumbering, shipping, forestry, conservation, road-building, tourism, and growing and canning of cherries. He was the first chairman of the State Park Commission.

The content of this web page is excerpted from Sleeping Bear - Yesterday & Today , George Weeks, which has much more detail and includes many photographs. The book is available at the park bookstores and the Village Bookstore in Glen Arbor.

The high amount of ship traffic, the unpredictable weather, and unmarked gravel and sand shoals in this area, caused many ships to be lost. During the severe winter of 1870-71, 214 lives were lost due to shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. In 1871, congress created the US Life-Saving Service to conduct rescues from shore. Lighthouses were also built at strategic points along the shore to guide ships safely along their way. There were several lighthouses in and around the Sleeping Bear Dunes. The South Manitou Island lighthouse is open for tours.

Port Oneida started as a lumbering town, but remained long after the port closed. Changing from logging to farming, adapting to the changing landscape. The farming legacy of the area is embodied in the Port Oneida Rural Historic District as well as some of the farmsteads on the southern part of the park.

Learn about the logging and farming culture by visiting Glen Haven , the little historic logging village located on the shore of Lake Michigan.

Sleeping Bear Dunes was established as a National Lakeshore in 1970, but it has a history that stretches back over 12,000 years. Glaciers deposited much of the land here during the last ice age. Since then, these lands have become a mosaic of sand dunes, forests, fields, streams, and lakes. Every location in the Lakeshore is within a few miles of Lake Michigan or another body of freshwater. Our water resources support a vast array of plants , animals , and ecosystems.

A trained eye will notice the extraordinary number of plants that blanket Sleeping Bear Dunes. Explore our forests and uncover trees , ferns , mosses, and rare wildflowers . Hike through our fields and historic farms to reveal a hidden world of interesting grasses , flowers, and fruit trees. Dive into our streams and lakes to discover secret forests of freshwater plants . Even more interesting to most visitors are the special animals that live here. Over 50 mammal species can be found here, including American black bears and river otters. The unique geography of Sleeping Bear Dunes makes it a paradise for birds . Many visitors have their first experience with an endangered species when they spot Great Lakes piping plovers on the beach. The fields, forests, and streambanks are home to many reptiles and amphibians . The underwater realm holds its own secrets with nearly 100 fish species and countless microorganisms.

Many research projects are conducted in the Park each year so we can better understand our natural resources. This research helps us plan out how we can preserve our natural heritage for future generations to enjoy. View the current research projects .

Birding is often the most reliable, accessible, and enchanting way to view wildlife. The variety of habitats found across Sleeping Bear Dunes are all home to their own special birds. Some species are only found in healthy wetlands, while others are found in dry fields. Still others, like Great Lakes piping plovers , live on very specific pebble beaches. Many of the trails within Sleeping Bear Dunes cross through several different habitats. This makes them great places to observe a diverse array of birdlife. Below are a few of the species that can be found at Sleeping Bear Dunes. There are countless other species waiting to be discovered by you on your next visit!

The American Kestrel is one of the smallest and most common falcons found at Sleeping Bear Dunes. They are pigeon-sized with black face stripes that resemble a mustache and sideburns. Kestrels perch on fences and powerlines, where they pump their tails up and down for balance. A sneaky ambush is their preferred hunting method. They wait patiently for prey to approach and then pounce. They feed on a wide variety of small prey, which has allowed them to thrive in many different ecosystems.

The vegetation of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is as varied as is the habitat and weather of the park. Plants growing in the sandy dunes and beaches have adaptations for surviving the extremes of hot, dry conditions, wind and blowing sand. Plants such as sea rocket have succulent leaves to hold moisture. Bearberry has tough, leathery leaves to reduce evaporation. Pitcher's thistle leaves have a velvety surface to reduce desiccation by the wind and spend several years developing a deep root system before they flower, set seed and die. Dune grass has deep roots to reach water. The story of the plants in the park is a story of adaptation for survival.

Flowers of the forest floor develop leaves early in the season to gather sunlight before the trees leaf out overhead. The flowers of maples and other trees bloom early to take advantage of the wind for pollination before the leaves develop. The deciduous trees in the forest survive the dry winter conditions by dropping their leaves altogether. This loss of leaves also prevents accumulation of the heavy snows of this snow belt region that could break their branches. The hard leaf surface and resins of coniferous trees protects them from winter freezing and drying. The lacy structure of pine needles, or in the case of cedars and firs, their conical shape, helps to shed snow.

All of the plants have a growth advantage in the maritime climate due to the nearness of Lake Michigan. The waters of Lake Michigan, warmed by the summer sun, moderate the weather and lengthen the growing season. The large body of water keeps the air cooler in summer, warmer in winter, and wetter throughout the year. The moist air contributes to the heavy snows that can blanket the ground in winter.

The vegetation of South Manitou Island (5,000 acres) is probably representative of the vegetation of Michigan's northwest lower peninsula before impacts of farming and deer browsing. The forests are heavy in beech and maple, but also have impressive stands of champion size, uncut northern white cedar. The ground cover is thick with yew, which cannot thrive in the presence of deer browsing. Perhaps the richest examples in Michigan of spring flowers exist on the island with several species of trillium, Jack-in-the-pulpit, hepatica, trout lily, spring beauty, and bloodroot. There are twelve species of orchids on the island. The dunes themselves are alive in brightly colored flowers such as the dune lily, harebell, hoary puccoon, and wind anemone and flowers of more subtle colors such as Pitcher's thistle, false heather and death camas. It can be surprising to find plants on the dunes that are associated with more wet environments such as northern white cedar, wild grape, red-osier dogwood, and equisetum.

The vegetation of North Manitou Island (15,000 acres) is remarkably different from that of South Manitou Island due to nearly 80 years of browsing by an introduced deer herd that reached populations exceeding 2000 animals. There are no deer on South Manitou Island. A number of studies have been conducted to document the vegetative differences between the 2 islands and to tract the vegetative changes that are occurring as the deer herd has been reduced to fewer than 100 animals through a very successful hunting program.

The 26 inland lakes within the Lakeshore play host to a number of freshwater plants. Both pond-lily and water-lily are commonly seen floating on the water surface in the shallow bays around the lakes. Fifteen different species of pondweeds can be found around the lakes and in the wetland areas. Cattails and bulrushes grow in the shallow waters and provide important nesting habitat for wetland birds and habitat areas for pond turtles and muskrats. Various manna and eel grasses, sedges, and rushes grow along the waters edge and help stabilize the beaches and toe slopes of steep banks. The endangered Michigan monkeyflower, a tiny aquatic plant with a beautiful yellow flower, is found at only a few remote sites along small seeps and springs and is carefully watched and protected. Efforts are underway to control invasive species such as purple loosestrife, non-native common reed (phragmites), Eurasian water-milfoil, and reed canarygrass before they can develop populations which replace the native freshwater plants.