How are we dune?

Oh yes. We hear it all the time. We’re the “The Most Beautiful Place in America” from Good Morning America. We’re “Sahara-Level Sand Dunes, Mediterranean Blue Water: Welcome to Michigan” according to the New York Times this September.

What keeps our secure footing as a top-10 darling? So many reasons, of course, but one stands out — or rather perches about the rest — our dunes.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore flaunts almost 40 miles of dune-meets-water coastline.

Our state has the distinction of hosting the largest collection of freshwater coastal sand dunes in the world.

A map of them, covering 230,000 acres, will be presented today in Lansing at the Michigan Coastal Dunes Symposium 2019.

This first, high-resolution map doubles the area previously mapped, according to Michigan State University researcher Alan Arbogast.

The economics of dunes will also arise.

A recent survey — #howyoudune — found that people spent an average of $133 each visit, according to MSU ecological economist Robert Richardson.

“More than 80 percent of responses to our online survey said access to coastal dunes in Michigan is extremely important to the quality of life for them and members of their household,” Richardson said.

But dunes change — it’s their nature — as do the times.

Currently about 54 percent of the total acreage of dunes are publicly owned or in conservancy.

About 32 percent of our dunes are considered “critical” and fall under state protection.

But threats to dunes and dune ecosystems persist — so must the conversation.

(A recent) symposium was to address their unique value and using science to better manage the threats facing them.

Our dunes are attention-getting and ever-changing. Our awareness of #howwedune is critical.

— Traverse City Record-Eagle