Dune Savior

     I enjoy a good traipse through the woods.  One of my most favored stomping ground lies within the grounds of the Saugatuck Dunes State park.  My childhood home is very near to all this plot of land has to offer; rolling dunes, the felt mansion, acre upon acre of woods.  Although I did not frequent this place until I was old enough to drive myself there, for years it was a place of mystery for me.  My mother kept me home on one particularly sunny fall day when I was in second grade.  She told me we were going on an adventure.  We drove down the winding tree lined road which ended in a small parking lot, but the lot is not the end it is the start.  Just beyond the lot is a wide open prairie like expanse, a little further one can see the rolling mountains of trees, and beyond that lies the endless expanses of Lake Michigan.  It simply has it all.  While exploring with my Mom on my first trip there I vowed that I would one day explore everything this vast sanctuary had to offer.  I kept true to my vow and discovered many of the secrets that these dunes hide; wether it be the best spots to see out above the changing fall leaves, the best way to get to the lake, or the animal pens left from a zoo of yesteryear.

     When I learned that Alison Swan, the Editor of Fresh Water, and guest lecturer, was responsible for heading the efforts to protect this great piece of land I wanted to jump up and give her a hug.  Alison Swan preserved the place where many of my fresh water memories were made.  She also preserved the truly remarkable fresh water memories the women in her book, Fresh Water: Women Writing on the Great Lakes.  These writers expressed thoughts and emotions about their relationships with the great lakes that I have struggled to put into words.  "Anyone with a love for or curiosity about the Great Lakes and their shorelines will be captivated", explains Swan in an interview with Dave Dempsey.  I feel that Gayle Boss best explained what being surrounded by a the Great Lakes and their seemingly neverending shorelines feels like  in her essay, "Dunetop Dying,"after a time, sensations congeal into a dominant thought: There's nothing I need".  When I find myself alone with nature I feel exactly the same.  Its as if the rest of the world does not exist and it is only me and nature sharing a special moment.