Woodworking at Sleeping Bear Dunes

EcoCorps Project Portfolio

Location

Honor, Empire, Michigan; Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Years

2021-Present

Partners

National Park Service

Details

In 2021, EcoCorps was sent out to create signs for Alligator Hill and sawhorse benches. This project allowed for the crew to enhance their skills in the workshop and to gain hands-on experience on using new tools. Their supervisor Pete helped them gain the confidence in using all the tools by providing the basics: Turning the machine on and off, safety rules and the mechanics of how to use them.

The signs were created by carving the words into the sign, trimming the signs to the ideal size, sanding down the edges, and then painting the letters white.

In 2022, EcoCorps members took on creating benches for South Manitou Island for the National Park Service. Their main focus was working on the seating part of the bench. Crew members enjoyed being able to use multiple tools to create, sand down, and install the benches.