Former Leelanau County Commissioner Raising Funds For Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Citing “recent federal workforce reductions affecting the National Park Service (NPS),” Earthly After, the business founded by former Leelanau County commissioner Jamie Kramer, announced a new initiative this week “aimed at preserving and supporting our cherished national parks during these challenging times.”

Earthly After has a partnership with the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore that allows the business to organize memorial services and scatter ashes in the park. As Kramer noted in a press release, her company’s livelihood “depends on the health of our national parks, especially Sleeping Bear Dunes.”

With that in mind, Kramer has launched a conservation initiative, called Saving Wild Spaces, and is raising funds “to protect and restore our most cherished natural spaces while creating lasting legacies for loved ones.”

“Every donation to Saving Wild Spaces, Earthly After’s conservation initiative, directly supports land preservation, tree planting, and national park stewardship,” the press release notes. “Planting a Memorial Tree – In partnership with One Tree Planted, a tree will be planted in honor of your loved one, creating a lasting tribute to their memory. Families will receive a personalized certificate upon planting.”

The funds will help support parks like Sleeping Bear as they navigate the uncertainty of the new presidential administration, which earlier this month laid off more than 1,000 NPS workers. Those layoffs, combined with a federal hiring freeze that stalled national parks from recruiting seasonal workers, have caused some local leaders to wonder what the summer might look like at Sleeping Bear.

The good news for the park, beyond fundraising initiatives like Earthly After’s? The NPS announced on Thursday that it has gotten clearance to resume seasonal hiring for the coming summer.

“The National Park Service is hiring seasonal workers to continue enhancing the visitor experience as we embrace new opportunities for optimization and innovation in workforce management,” an NPS spokesperson said in a statement emailed to media yesterday. “We are focused on ensuring that every visitor has the chance to explore and connect with the incredible, iconic spaces of our national parks.”