U.S. Park Rangers at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (SBDNL) are seeking information from the public to aid an investigation into a recent illegal diversion of the Platte River.

SBDNL Superintendent Scott Tucker tells the Leelanau Ticker that “on or around August 15, we noticed a shift at the Platte River mouth.”

As National Park Service (NPS) law enforcement rangers and members of the natural resources team began to look into the sudden change in waterflow, “they received tips from visitors who saw something, which now has turned it into an active law enforcement investigation,” he says. “We are now asking the why and how of the illegal work that was done to create the diversion of the mouth of the Platte.”

Concurrently, the NPS biologists are conducting “a damage assessment of what natural resources might have challenges because of this illegal diversion,” he says. “It went through a critical dune, piping plover habitat, and it [possibly] lowered the level of the Platte River watershed.”

Tucker adds, “It remains an active law enforcement investigation and it will take several weeks to do our due diligence and piece together the full timeline.”

Visitors who may have observed this activity on Sunday, August 14, 2022, or Monday, August 15, 2022, are encouraged to share the information with investigators. An anonymous tip line has been set up by the National Park Service’s Investigative Services Branch.

The National Lakeshore notes that information from other visitors is often very helpful to investigators. You do not have to provide your name, only what you know:

CALL or TEXT the Tip Line: 888-653-0009
ONLINE: go.nps.gov/SubmitATip
EMAIL: nps_isb@nps.gov

Here, MLive details the background on the new outflow pattern that apparently began sometime around August 15.

Editor's note: This story was updated at noon August 29 with comments from SBDNL Superintendent Scott Tucker.