Full Description
In 1961, Senator Philip Hart of Michigan introduced legislation to add Michigan's Sleeping Bear Dunes and 77,000 surrounding acres to America's National Park system. The 1,600 people who lived in the proposed park area feared not only that the federal government would confiscate their homes, but that a wave of tourists would ensue and destroy their beloved and fragile lands. In response, they organized citizen action groups and fought a nine-year battle against the legislation.
Sixties Sandstorm is not a book about dunes as much as it is a book about people and their government. It chronicles the public meetings, bills, protests, and congressional interactions that led to the signing of the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes Act in 1970. The Dunes park fight is a case study of the politics, the legislative process, citizen response to the expanded role of government in the 1960s, and the rise of the environmental movement in America during that decade. Since Hart's legislation was made law, millions of Americans have traveled to the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Lakeshore. Few imagine what the area would look like today if not for the efforts of people like Senator Hart. On the other hand, few appreciate the sacrifice of the landowners who-not always willingly-gave up their property in this place where, as one resident put it, "stars are closer to the earth than anywhere else in the world."
Contents
ContentsPrefaceINTRODUCTION: First ImpressionsMap 1: The Sleeping Bear Dunes Area1The Bear Sleeps: Early YearsLocal HistoryThe Shoreline ProgramEarly Legislation2Channels of Power: The Legislative Process, 1961-1964Philip A. Hart and Selling the BillThe First BillMap 2: The First Hart Bill, S. 2153 (1961)New BillsMap 3: The Griffin Bill, H.R. 2400 (1963)Map 4: The Senate-passed Bill, S. 792 (1963) (includes scenic highway)3The Bear Awakens: Local Opposition, Citizen Action, and the MediaEarly Citizen ActionThe Dunes Park Debate and the MediaArguments of the OppositionUnderlying Currents of the Opposition4The Green Tide: Changes in Environmentalism in the 1960sThe National Park Service and EnvironmentalismConservation, Preservation, and Economics in the DunesThe Environmental Movement5Resolution: The Legislative Process, 1965-1970Stalemate, 1965-1968Map 5: The House Subcommittee-passed Bill, S. 936 (1966) (includes scenic highway)Resolution, 1969-1970ConclusionsEPILOGUE: The Sleeping Bear Dunes after 1970APPENDIX: LegislationNOTE ON SOURCESENDNOTESINDEX
