Michigan Conservancies Reach Milestones
Legacy Land Conservancy, North Oakland Headwaters Land Conservancy, Land Conservancy of West Michigan,Little Traverse Conservancy, and the Michigan Nature Association have each recently reached important milestones.
April 22, 2011
By Heart of the Lakes
Earth Day rolled round once again on April 22, and several Michigan land conservancies can trace their beginnings back to the years following the very first Earth Day in 1970. With a unique promise to protect land in perpetuity, longevity among conservancies is a must so even these groups are very young on a timescale that embraces “forever”.
Staking its claim as the oldest “local” land conservancy in Michigan, the Legacy Land Conservancy (Ann Arbor) celebrates its 40th year of conserving natural and farmlands in Washtenaw County with a gala event on June 9th. Close on Legacy’s heels are the North Oakland Headwaters Land Conservancy (northwest Oakland County) and Little Traverse Conservancy (Harbor Springs) with 40th anniversaries next year and the Land Conservancy of West Michigan’s (Grand Rapids) 35th , also in 2011. The oldest homegrown land conservancy in Michigan, the statewide Michigan Nature Association, will mark its 60th year in 2012.
While some of their names have changed over the years, these respected elders were the vanguard of the state’s conservancy movement in Michigan, testing new conservation tools and smoothing the way for other organizations to follow, with the result that land conservancies now touch every corner of the state with nearly 550,000 acres of scenic, natural, farm and forest lands under protection. Heart of the Lakes congratulates and thanks Legacy and the others for their years of leadership, dedication and conservation accomplishments.
And speaking of milestones, the Michigan Nature Association recently announced the protection of their 10,000th acre. Congratulations, MNA!
