News Release

2024-03-29 spring 2024 prescribed fires

News Release Date: March 29, 2024 EMPIRE, MI - The National Park Service (NPS) plans to conduct three prescribed fires in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (Lakeshore) this spring.   Prescribed fire is used as a tool to assist in restoring forest habitat while also reducing the threat of wildland fires.

In the Good Harbor Bay area of the park, staff plan to burn 104 acres. This burn unit is located west of County Rd 669 (Bohemian Road) and between West Lake Michigan Road and the beach. Portions of this burn unit may be excluded due to native cedar tree stands and Lakeshore infrastructure. Other areas of Good Harbor Bay were successfully burned in 2023.

Two prescribed burns are planned in the Lakeshore’s Platte Plains area. The 515-acre Otter Creek unit and the 416-acre Bass Lake unit were both previously burned in 2021. Prescribed fire in this area is used to maintain healthy ecosystems, replenish fire dependent ecosystems, reduce available fuels in areas, control encroaching vegetation, and assist with the management of invasive species.

Updates regarding burning activities will be posted as “alerts” on the park website. For those alerts and more in-depth information about the National Lakeshore, please go to www.nps.gov/slbe.

Also, check out the park’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/sbdnl and Twitter site at www.twitter.com/sleepingbearnps. A map of the burn units can be found at https://bit.ly/SleepingBearSpring2024Fires.

About the National Park Service: More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 429 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit the National Park Service at www.nps.gov, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice, Twitter at www.twitter.com/natlparkservice, and YouTube at www.youtube.com/nationalparkservice.