Conservation group Huron Pines has some exciting plans for Mich-e-ke-wis Park.

There, the group and its AmeriCorps members will this year restore the sand dunes leading up to the beach, removing invasive species and installing native species to build a robust habitat for plant and animal life.

The work will have numerous benefits, Huron Pines officials told News staff writer Michael Gonzalez for a recent story.

In addition to the habitat restoration, the grasses of the dunes will help filter stormwater runoff before it reaches Thunder Bay. It will protect the park from the natural cycle of high tides from the big lake. And it could deter geese from stopping at the beach and leaving their droppings behind.

“We’re really just restoring the native landscape and what used to be there before Alpena was a thing,” Chris Engle, communications associate for Huron Pines, told Gonzalez.

We’re excited about this project.

Our shorelines and the water beyond are perhaps Northeast Michigan’s greatest treasure.

Protecting those shorelines and keeping their natural beauty and function should be a goal of the entire community.

Thank you, Huron Pines, for your work on this project.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)