A nonprofit that’s long worked to support Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore hopes to offset at least some of a massive revenue loss at the park.

Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes has partnered with the lakeshore for various initiatives for about 30 years. They’ve helped clean, organize, interpret, lead hikes, improve accessibility and much more throughout the 70,000-plus acre park.

Now, as the federal government shutdown drags to record lengths, they’re hoping to replace at least some of the money that’s being lost as droves of people visit the park for free because no workers are there to collect fees.

“Typically, the park welcomes around 100,000 visitors in October. With no entrance fees being collected during the shutdown, the park is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars – funds that would normally support the Lakeshore’s 2026 project budget,” the organization wrote in a Facebook post this week. “This pause in revenue puts future operations at risk.”

FOSB is asking people who use (or just love) the park to donate the value of an entrance fee ($25 for a single vehicle). While they don’t expect to close the huge gap with these donations, some money is better than no money – and it’s also allowing people to take action in a stressful time.

“For one thing, this donation page is allowing people to feel like they're doing something. Because I keep hearing that from people. They’re like, ‘What can we do?’” FOSB Executive Director Laura Ann Johnson tells The Ticker. “Donating the cost of an entrance fee is allowing people to feel like they’re being part of something and being helpful.”

Some of the money will go towards current assistance, Johnson says, including rental fees for port-a-johns at the dune climb. The rest will be given to the park to support programming and other critical operations going forward. 

Johnson doesn’t know for sure which programs or services would be or are on the chopping block due to lost revenue, but educational programs and other things above and beyond essential park operations and services are likely at risk.

“The first things to go are educational components,” she says. “Things like interpretive programs that happen at campgrounds…updating signage, all those educational (aspects).”

Johnson says the park could also see impacts to or lose its PSAR (Preventative Search and Rescue) program, in which a ranger supervises volunteers stationed at high-traffic areas like the dune overlook who warn visitors about the risks of getting in situations that will require actual search and resuce efforts. 

Sleeping Bear Superintendent Scott Tucker, who is furloughed, declined to comment when contacted by The Ticker.

Aside from raising money, FOSB is trying to help the park in any way it can during the shutdown. Right now, Johnson says, less than 20 of the park’s roughly 100 staffers are working. Current workers include law enforcement, select campground staff and a skeleton crew of maintenance staff who are working to winterize items throughout the park.

FOSB volunteers are somewhat limited in what they can do without supervision, but they have been out cleaning up and clearing trails, removing hazards and picking up trash, among other activities.

On that note, those who use the park during the shutdown should be extra mindful and look to leave no trace now more than ever, Johnson says. If everyone chips in by picking up a few pieces of trash, it will go a long way.

“You can also be good stewards….because it’s little things like that are going to add up,” she says.

For more information about exactly what is (or isn't) going on at the park right now, check FOSB's recent Facebook post.