Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Director Rebecca Humphries in August joined with DNR parks and recreation officials, community leaders from the Muskegon area, special invited guests and members of the public at an event honoring the 30th anniversary of the dedication of the E. Genevieve Gillette Sand Dune Visitor Center at P. J. Hoffmaster State Park in Muskegon.

Humphries presented the special Michigan Walk of Fame plaque honoring Genevieve Gillette to Elizabeth Brockwell-Tillman, interpreter at Hoffmaster State Park. Director Humphries then led the media to the upper level of the visitor center for the unveiling of the new Eastern elk antler display. Discovered on the beach at Hoffmaster State Park in November 2004, radiocarbon dating indicated this antler is about 350 years old. Eastern elk have been extinct since the 1880s.

E. Genevieve Gillette, often referred to as “Miss Michigan State Parks,” was one of the most successful citizen activists of her generation. Her efforts helped shaped Michigan’s state park system and resulted in the establishment of some of our best-known parks. In May, she was one of the first 12 inductees to be honored for the Michigan Walk of Fame, located in downtown Lansing, which honors Michigan residents, past or present, who have made significant contributions to the state or nation.

As part of its Michigan Conservation Trail project, MEC has proposed an historical marker commemorating Genevieve Gillette’s contribution to the parks movement in Michigan, including her advocacy of the legislation establishing Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.