Roy Van Loo

Grass pink orchid.

Mr. and Mrs. William Skora donated this wonderful dune community located in the center of Great Sand Bay. Long known as the wind tunnel of the Keweenaw, this stable sand dune was formed by the strong westerly winds coming off of Lake Superior. Although the sanctuary gets it name from a character in one of William Skora’s novels, portions of the sanctuary are named in memory of Skora’s grandfather Bertrand B. Balkema and Skora’s great aunt Mame Swykert.

As Chief Engineer of the U.P. during the depression, Balkema respected the environment and fostered well-known projects such as the creation of Brockway Mountain Drive and the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge. Swykert was a pioneering school teacher who organized construction of the Our Lady of the Pines Church and fought to alleviate the hardships that the copper mine closures and the depression brought to the Keweenaw.