Threats from Mining Lake Michigan houses the largest concentration of freshwater sand dunes in the world. Michigan, the state with the highest number of dunes, continues to lose dunes every day, such as Muskegon County's Pigeon Hill , Maggie Thorpe and Creeping Joe of Manistee County.
Sand dunes hold a special place in the hearts of Michigan residents.
The dunes support plant and animal life that can't be found elsewhere and were the birthplace for the field of ecology. Once they are gone, they cannot be replaced. When people realized that sand dune mining was responsible for the disappearance of dunes that had once been important local landmarks, they called for a way to save the dunes that remained. This brought about the Sand Dune Protection and Management Act of 1976. LMFs report reveals that more dunes are threatened by mining now than even before.