<p><em><a href="mailto:payettepc@interlochen.org">By Peter Payette</a></em></p> <p>The federal government will spend more than $1.5 million dollars restoring beaches, forests and rivers in northern Michigan. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced this week it is funding projects in the Huron-Manistee National Forest and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. </p> <p>Work will also be done along some rivers, including the Betsie, the Platte, and the Boardman.</p> <p>Susan Heedman, who manages Great Lakes programs for the E.P.A., says nearly a million dollars will be spent in Sleeping Bear Dunes.</p> <p>"Specifically they'll be restoring piping plover habitat, reintroducing native plants and controlling invasive species throughout the lakeshore," she says.</p> <p>The program is designed to create jobs during the next year or two. It's modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps program from the Great Depression.</p> <p>The river projects will be managed by the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.</p>