# State of Michigan to receive Big Sable Lighthouse



## Shoeman (Aug 26, 2000)

State of Michigan to receive Big Sable Lighthouse

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Land
Management, United States Coast Guard and the Big Sable Lighthouse
Keepers Association will host a Nov. 1 transfer ceremony of the Big
Sable Lighthouse to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. This
historic event will be held at the Great Lakes Visitor Center, located
within Ludington State Park, at 2 p.m.
In 1866, By Executive Order, the Big Sable Point Lighthouse
property was withdrawn from general public use and set-aside for
lighthouse purposes. The US Coast Guard in 1994 notified the Bureau of
Land Management that the lighthouse was no longer needed as a guiding
light for ships. The Michigan DNR then submitted an application for the
property to become part of Ludington State Park.
The ceremony is held to recognize the first transfer of a
lighthouse property from the Federal government to the State of Michigan
through the signing of the Federal patent, and to sign the lease from
the Michigan DNR to the Big Sable Lighthouse Keepers Association, who
will operate the lighthouse.
Those invited include representatives from the Michigan DNR,
BLM, Coast Guard, Big Sable Lighthouse Keepers Association, Michigan
Lighthouse Project, Senator Carl Levin (D- MI), Congressman Bart Stupak
(D-MI, 1st), Congressman Peter Hoekstra (R-MI, 2nd), and state
officials.
The public is invited to join in the ceremony. Prior to the
ceremony everyone is invited to participate in a naturalist-guided,
3-mile hike to the lighthouse and back. That group will meet at the
parking lot in front of the state park booth by the fish cleaning
station at 10 a.m. for the hike.
Lighthouses around the Great Lakes are viewed by many as
national resources and treasured for their historic, cultural and scenic
values. The lands surrounding the lighthouses also merit special
attention because they provide important habitats for the hundreds of
animal, bird, and plant species, which rely on the Great Lakes ecosystem
for their survival.
For more information contact Paul Salvatore, BLM Eastern States
Milwaukee Field Office at 414-297-4413 or Jerry Bukoski, Michigan DNR at
517-241-3213.


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