For the past 50 years the Land Conservancy of West Michigan has dedicated itself to caring for Michigan’s natural areas. WGVUS' Joe Bielecki spoke with Marie Orttenburger, Advancement manager for the Land Conservancy about the Conservancy's history, events planned to celebrate this anniversary, and more.
Joe Bielecki: Take me back 50 years to the beginning of the Land Conservancy of West Michigan. Who started it? What was the goal and what was the landscape like back then for a project like this?
Marie Orttenburger: Sure. 50 years ago, four volunteers came together to start what was then called the Natural Areas Conservancy of West Michigan. And their goal at that time was to protect West Michigan's important natural areas so that future generations could continue to enjoy them and benefit them and that our region's native plants and wildlife could thrive there. And we've been keeping that promise ever since. Now, today we're known as the Land Conservancy of West Michigan. One of the first projects that we did as an organization was at Soggentuck Dunes State Park. There was an opportunity to add 300 acres to that park and our group of volunteers came together to advocate that that part be added and also that it be permanently protected as a preserve. It's critical dune habitat. They wanted to see that it would never be developed even, you know, for a parking lot, for the park or a campground. So they helped make sure that it was preserved as is now those critical dunes can continue to provide the important and globally rare habitat that they protect.
JB: And they do this through like advocating with local lawmakers and things like that?
MO: Yes. Yeah. Meeting with local lawmakers, uh, talking to members of the community to garner support for it, raise funds, things like that.
JB: Okay. What is a public nature preserve? How is that different from say a state park or something like that?
MO: For us, um, nature preserves, uh, denote the properties that the land conservancy owns and manages. So those are properties that we hold and that we keep open to the public. So they're protected natural spaces. They have trail systems that run through them. And we manage them with our stewardship team to make sure that we keep, we manage invasive species, we plant native species and do restoration projects and support the health of those natural habitats.
JB: Okay, so the land preservation you're doing is kind of multi-fold. You're on the one hand buying up land yourselves and then also advocating for local governments to protect the land that they own.
MO: That's correct. And there's also a third way that we work where we collaborate with private landowners to help them to permanently protect their land with conservation easements. But then we are charged with ensuring are upheld in perpetuity.
JB: Okay. So now it's 50 years later. We've expanded and we've grown and uh you're celebrating your 50th anniversary this year. How are you going about doing that?
MO: Sure. We have a number of different initiatives to celebrate our 50 years of keeping nature nearby. Big one right now is our Explorathon event series. We have a series of three events that we're planning to showcase, or highlight connected, protected natural land and help people in our community to see and feel the impact of that 50 year commitment to conservation. So this Saturday, we're kicking that off with a guided hike along the Lake Michigan shoreline. And that will, there's a couple of different options for that hike. We have a two mile hike, which is just around a loop at Ottawa Sands, but we also have a seven mile hike that spans 2,400 acres of protected natural land that's all connected five different parks and preserves starting at PJ Hofmaster State Park, running down to KLH Dunes Preserve in the Muskegon Grand Haven area.
JB: Okay, that sounds quite fun. I imagine those hikes are not especially challenging.
MO: The seven mile hike does traverse some, it's in a forested dune area, so there are some steep hills, but we've designed it so you can kind of hike at your own pace. four different pace groups for the seven mile hike. So people who would like to hike at a faster pace can hike with people that feel the same. And then we also have slower groups. uh Of course, both uh hikes also have aid stations staged along the way. So there's places to take a break, get a refreshment, some snacks, and all of the hikes are led by naturalist guides. So we'll be teaching about the history of the properties and the protected natural features as we go.
JB: Okay, cool. So you'll be like stopping every now and again to say like, Hey, this flower is this type of thing. It's important to this biome because. Etc.
MO: Exactly. Yeah. And then the two mile hike is uh an accessible option. It's along a paved loop at Ottawa Sands. It's a no drop hike. So that means that we, uh, the pace is set by the slowest hiker, and that paved loop is, there's not a lot of elevation change. So it's a much more accessible version of the hike.
JB: Okay. So would you say wheelchair accessible?
MO: Yes.
JB: Awesome. And then you have two more events coming up. It looks like in the summer and uh late summer. Talk about those a little bit.
MO: Sure. So the series will continue after this Saturday. June 6th, we will host a guided bike ride in the region that we call our Eastern Glacial Corridor. It's a part of Kent County that's characterized by really diverse topography and uh it's glacially formed. There's the glaciers when they retreated left lots of lakes and streams and uh well draining soils that created the conditions for really unique habitats like oaks, savannas and prairies to take root. And so this region is a really important area of biodiversity. And we've worked with partners in that area to protect nature preserves and parks. So we'll be inviting people to participate in a couple of different bike routes of varying lengths around that region. Again, there'll be opportunities to stop at parks and preserves to learn about the importance of protecting habitat in that region. And so that event is June 6th. We'll have tickets for sale on our website this week. The next event after that is a guided paddle along the Pier Marquette River. That'll be on August 29th. And that event is aimed at kind of highlighting the importance of conservation easements while they protect private land. They also uh protect these important public resources like our rivers and waterways. So we'll be able to see kind of the impact of having committed to incorporating that into our work over the last 50 years.
JB: Fantastic. One last time, if someone wants to learn more about the work you do at the Land Conservancy of West Michigan, what is the best place for them to go to get that information?
MO: Yeah, they should definitely check out our website at naturenearby.org. Um, there you can find all of the information about our upcoming events and purchase tickets and you can learn all about our mission. Definitely also recommend that people follow us on social media or subscribe to our newsletter. Those are great places to stay up to date.
JB: Awesome. And one last time information for this Saturday.
MO: Yes, this Saturday, the hike will take place uh at PJ Hoffmaster State Park.The whole event begins at 830. I will say we are running low on tickets for that. So if you are interested in joining us, definitely purchase a ticket.
JB: Awesome. Marie, thank you for talking with me today.
MO: Thank you so much, Joe. It's pleasure.
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