Tagged: sleeping bear dunes

GLEN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) - The state Transportation Department has received $100,000 in federal funds to extend Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Heritage Trail by nearly five miles.

The funding is part of $12.5 million for 29 projects in 20 states to improve access to national parks, forests and wildlife refuges.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the projects Monday.

EMPIRE, Mich. (AP) - Nearly half of Michigan's Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore would be preserved as wilderness under legislation awaiting a possible vote in the U.S. House in the last days of the 112th Congress.

The wilderness tag would be given to more than 32,000 undeveloped acres in the scenic lakeshore in northwestern lower Michigan. It's the highest level of conservation protection for federal lands.

An invasive insect may wipe out the ash trees at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The emerald ash borer has infested up to 90 percent of the ash trees on the lakeshore's mainland in the northwestern Lower Peninsula. The first case was discovered in June and the tree-killing pest has spread quickly.

Lakeshore officials are considering their options to try to control the ash borer, but things look bleak.

This morning, ABC's Good Morning America revealed the winner of their "Most Beautiful Place in America" contest.

For reasons we all know, Sleeping Bear Dunes won.

You can see the video on ABC's website.

Here are the places Sleeping Bear Dunes finished ahead of:

• Newport, R.I.
• Cape Cod, Mass.
• Point Reyes, Calif.
• Aspen, Colo.
• Sedona, Ariz
• Destin, Fla.
• Asheville, N.C.
• Lanikai Beach, Hawaii
• and Grand Teton National Park, Wyo

ABC says Jim Madole of Grand Rapids nominated Sleeping Bear Dunes saying:

"It is peaceful and serene, a place for gazing out into the world, night or day, and realizing that the universe is truly a magical, majestic mystery, and humans are just a very small part of it all," he wrote in his submission. "Here at Sleeping Bear, I sit in awe and wonder at the perfection of Mother Nature."

The federal government wants to make money selling real estate. The government has released an interactive map of about 12 thousand federal “excess” properties, including 55 in Michigan.

The government says most of these properties have little market value. But, President Obama wants legislation to increase the number of properties and the speed of sales. He wants the government to use a process similar to that used to decommission old military bases.

Daniel Werfel is the United States Controller