Landowner Stories

A Good Land Conservation Transaction Must Be Good for Both the Land and the People Involved

A longtime goal of ours has been this: whenever an owner of significant conservation land in our county thinks about planning for the future of their land he or she think: “Call the Leelanau Conservancy.” To foster that goal of being a source of information and good advice about conservation land we must employ dedicated land protection staff who understand not only land and its intrinsic values, but also the complex web of laws and tax codes effecting ownership of land. On top of that, land protection staff must be sensitive to the needs of families. We live by a fairly simple rule: A good conservation transaction must be good for both the land and the people involved. On this site are stories of people who have chosen to preserve their land. We are both grateful to them and inspired by them.

• Ansorge: Solon Swamp

  The Solon Swamp: 80 More Acres Protected “This just feels like the right thing to do,” is what Anthony and Susan Ansorge said when they sold 80 acres of prime wetland habitat within the Solon Swamp to the Conservancy in late May 2005. Mr. Ansorge approached the Conservancy this spring about the property south of [...]

• Bardenhagen Farms: East Leland

  Three Farms, 380 Acres Forever Protected in East Leland, M-204 Suttons Bay Area  For everyone who loves sweet, local strawberries and honey crisp apples, take heart in knowing that two of the farms that are major producers of the fruit have been forever protected. The Leelanau Conservancy signed agreements in December that will protect 380 [...]

• Bartle/Spaulding: Lake Leelanau WS

  A Powerful Tool by Holly Wren Spaulding, Land Owner Fall 2005–In 1999, my partner, Robert Bartle, and I were missing good air and our beloved lakeshore while living in one of Europe’s grittier cities. We decided that we wanted to be closer to my family, to return to Leelanau, and to begin after many years [...]

• Berkshire-Sprouse: Glen Lake Area

  Juliet Sprouse Preserves 18 Acres in Sensitive Hatlem Creek Watershed With Conservation Easement One of the many things that gives Leelanau County its unique charm is the way that people make a living here, and how our landscapes figure into their livelihoods. Take Juliet Berkshire Sprouse, whose llama and alpaca ranch doubles as a wedding [...]

• Bronwyn Jones: Chippewa Run

  Happy Trails! Our Chippewa Run Natural Area trail system will be extended, thanks to the generosity of adjacent landowners Bronwyn Jones and Joe VanderMuelen. The couple has donated a conservation easement on their 26 acres, forever protecting their land that borders the north end of our 111-acre natural area. “It’s to give something back,” says [...]

• Buffum: near Cedar

  The Buffum Easement Protects the Family’s Hunting Lands From our Fall 2003 Newsletter Dennis Buffum’s 80-acre slice of tranquility lies out Cedar-way, past the dairy barns and the Centerville Township hall, just around the corner from the spire of Holy Rosary. It is here that Dennis, his brothers and his in-laws hunted with his dad [...]

• Carlson/Price: Lake Leelanau Waterhshed

  Lake Leelanau Watershed Initiative Preserves 2 More Parcels: Total of 316 Acres Protected In Phase II All Together! This fall, the Leelanau Conservancy completed a very successful three-year grant project that helped to purchase conservation agreements in the Lake Leelanau watershed. The final two projects detailed below were completed in the last two months, adding [...]

• Casier Farm: Empire

  Five Generation Casier Farm in Empire Forever Protected Casier Farm in Empire Township – Signed, Sealed & Delivered! It’s one of those marathon projects that make you smile when it’s all said and done. The cherries and maple syrup will seem that much more tasty now that the project has finally reached its conclusion. As [...]

• Charter Bird Sanctuary: Omena

  For the Love of Birds! Conservation Easement Protects Charter Sanctuary, Site Is Adjacent to Saving Birds Thru Habitat in Omena One need only read the first chapter of Kay Charter’s book, For The Love of Birds, to understand the passion that she and husband, Jimmy, have for preserving habitat for our avian friends. In her [...]

• Dean Family: Glen Lake Watershed

  Dean Family Protects Land in Crystal River/Glen Lake Watershed Howard Dean has been spending summers on Glen Lake since 1937, the year he was born. “The only time I didn’t make it up there for some part of the summer were the years I spent in the military,” says Howard. Now he and his wife, [...]

• Dlugopolski: Northport

  66-Acre Dlugopolski Cherished Family Lands Near Northport Preserved Through Conservation Easement A family’s reverence for a 66-acre tract of land north of the village of Northport has translated into its permanent preservation. Joe Dlugopolski and his four children have placed a conservation easement* on this multi-faceted piece of land through a bargain sale of development [...]

• Empire Valley, Anonymous

  285 Acres Near Empire Forever Protected: Conservation Easement Preserves Scenic Views From M-72 and Co. Rd. 677 Nearly a mile of frontage on M-72 and one of the most scenic vistas near Empire has been forever protected through the completion of the Conservancy’s largest conservation easement to date. An Empire area family has protected 285 [...]

• Force: Lake Leelanau Watershed

  For the Love of the Land: 40 Acres Preserved in the Lake Leelanau Watershed As communications director, one of the best parts of my job is to shut off my computer and get out onto the land. Newsletter deadline often finds me touring protected properties and listening to the stories of landowners, so that I [...]

• Goss: Cedar Lake

  Two New Projects on Cedar Lake Protect 1,690 Feet of Shoreline – Now 1/3 of the Lakeshore Has Been Forever Preserved! Great news for Cedar Lake! Two neighboring landowners have together protected 46.1 acres and 1,690 feet of natural, pristine shoreline through two separate conservation agreements on private land.* These latest two efforts cap two [...]

• Goudschaal: Near Leland

  Claudia’s Big Picture Perspective Claudia Goudschaal left quite a legacy behind when she passed away in November. “She was a person who was very visible and committed to so many organizations, including ours,” says Conservancy Director Brian Price. “She was fascinated with history and the Great Lakes and I think that this also provided the [...]

• Grossnickle 45 North Farm/Winery

  100-Acre Farm on M-204 Adjacent to New Courthouse Forever Preserved…Now Home to “45 North” Winery The Leelanau Conservancy has preserved another farm—its fourth farm project for 2007 wrapped up just before year end. The 100-acre farm has frontage on M-204 and is adjacent to the new courthouse. It is also home to a new winery [...]

• Herrold: Near Cedar

  For the Love of Trees:  John Herrold Protects His 158-Acre Forest John Herrold was just a baby when he started coming north to Lake Leelanau with his family from their home in Detroit. His father, Edward, was a life-long General Motors employee who saved up his three weeks of vacation every year to spend time [...]

• Hoagland: near Glen Lake

  A First Step Near Glen Lake John (Chip) and Shirley Hoagland’s conservation easement donation is a great first step toward protecting the stunning forested ridgelines in private ownership overlooking Glen Lake. The Glen Lake couple made their donation at the end of 2007 on the 47 acres along Bow Road, land they had fallen in [...]

• Hunt: Northport Creek

  Jeannette Hunt Protects Her Sensitive Land Along Northport Creek With a Conservation Agreement When our Director of Land Protection, Matt Heiman, returned after his first visit to Jan (Jeannette) Hunt’s land along Northport Creek, he called it “possibly the most ecologically rich 10 acres I’ve seen in quite a while.” He claimed that its values [...]

• Kimmerly: Omena

  Bea Kimmerly: An Omena Original Preserves Her Family’s Land My purpose in writing this article is to announce that my 96-year-old neighbor, Bea Kimmerly, has engineered the permanent protection of her family’s 35 acres in Omena through the donation of a conservation agreement to the Leelanau Conservancy. But I can’t quite get to that story [...]

• Kohler: Suttons Bay

  Joe’s Place: Diana Kohler Protects the Swamp Her Late Husband Loved There’s a sweet spot at Diana Kohler’s farm where her late husband, Joe, used to spend time. A sandy knoll overlooks a serene wooded swamp where he hunted for years. “When he got older, he liked to take the dog and his pickup truck [...]

• L. Mawby Vineyards: Suttons Bay

  L Mawby Vineyards Forever Protects 32-Acre Vineyard Near Sutton’s Bay Vintner Larry Mawby, and his new partner, Stuart Laing, have permanently protected 32 rolling acres near Suttons Bay, home of L. Mawby Vineyards. The donation of the conservation easement coincided with the year-end sale of half of his business to Stuart and his wife, Sharon. [...]

• Leatherman-Walker: Bingham

  A Natural Choice: Jayne Leatherman Walker Leaves a Legacy Long before the local foods movement swept the nation and the words sustainable agriculture infiltrated our vocabulary, Jayne Leatherman Walker was devoting her life to these causes. Now, as she looks toward the close of her time on Earth, Jayne wants to make sure that her [...]

• MacKenzie: Hatlem Creek Area

  A Passion for Glen Lake: 20 Acres Preserved in the Critical Hatlem Creek Area “Glen Lake is a huge part of my identity,” says Robert MacKenzie. “You can’t talk about Robert MacKenzie without saying Glen Lake in the same breath. I met my wife at Art’s. I developed great friendships, and it’s the place I [...]

• McInnis: North of Northport

  A Wild Idea: Doug and Ann McInnis Believe in Wildlife Corridors From our Fall 2002 Newsletter The phrase “wildlife corridor” doesn’t mean much to a red-shouldered hawk. What does is having access to two disparate habitats critical to its survival. This “species of special concern” must be privy to upland forest, where it will lay [...]

• Millers: Lake Leelanau Watershed

  Millers Donate Conservation Easements on 120 Acres to Protect Lake Leelanau Watershed From our Spring 2005 Newsletter When Bob and Eleanor Miller bought their 160 acres in Centerville Township back in 1977, there were only a handful of people living year round in that part of the county. Bob, a psychiatrist, had just taken a [...]

• Newton Farm: near Gills Pier

  Newton Family Protects a Farm With an Incredible View Take a couple of conservation-minded landowners, partner them with the Leelanau Conservancy, add member-supported and federal dollars and voila! Instant farmland preservation, right? Well, not exactly. The excitement has been building for months now about preserving the Newton Farm in the Gills Pier area—the site of [...]

• Olsen Farm: Bohemian Valley

  Landmark 4th Generation Olsen Farm in Bohemian Valley: First 40 Acres Forever Protected Bill Olsen is a man of few words. But one phrase he says over and over again when talking about preserving his farm is, “That really means a lot to me.” It means the world to Bill to think he could preserve [...]

• Sanborn: Birch Point

  Local Heroes: Sanborn Family Protects 43 Acres in Lake Leelanau Watershed From our Fall 2005 Newsletter There’s an ancient hemlock on the Sanborn/Robinson property that, some years back, brothers Will and Jeff could have taken a chainsaw to and turned a tidy profit on. “There was enough lumber there to frame a house,” says Will [...]

• Sedlacek: East Leland

  Jean Sedlacek Protects Her Land: 76 Acres in Lake Leelanau Watershed Jean Sedlacek has great neighbors. She names a half-dozen people who she says “would come running if I called them, and be here inside of two minutes time.” But as much as she enjoys her neighbors, there’s something she enjoys even more: the privacy [...]

• Send & Emeott: Center Hwy

  Send and Emeott Families Protect Prime Fruit – Growing Lands on Center Highway In a world where optimism seems to be in short supply these days, it was heartening to sit down with fruit farmers Jeff and Nita Send and their partners, Scott and Penny Emeott. The Suttons Bay farmers had taken a break from [...]

• Seward: On the Crystal River

  17 Acres Near the Crystal River Forever Protected! A globally rare dune and swale wetland near the Crystal River has been forever protected. We purchased a conservation easement on 17.5 acres from the Rich Seward family that will restrict development in this delicate wetland. “We’re grateful to the Seward Family, who worked closely with us [...]

• Shuster: Lighthouse Point

  A 40-Year Love Affair: Shuster Family Protects Lighthouse Point – Again! From our Spring 2002 Newsletter The year was 1963. Dick and Rosemary “Posy” Shuster were pregnant with their third child, and hadn’t taken a vacation in seven years. “We didn’t have a lot of money,” says Dick, a retired judge from Hastings, Michigan. “A [...]

• Spinniken: East Leland

  Alan and Nancy Spinniken Farm 1 of 3 Farms to Be Preserved With $1.5 Million Grant When you have a gravely ill child, the term “family farm” can take on a whole new meaning. Nancy and Alan Spinniken say that without the help of his extended farming family—particularly Alan’s father Robert—they never would have made [...]

• Stanek Farm–Bingham

  PRESERVATION MEANS BUSINESS FOR STANEK FARMERS July 2002–For those who take the back roads into the county, the rolling orchards of the Stanek Farm along County Road 633 have long been the place where one senses a change. The last remnants of the city fall away, and, like plunging into an oasis of green, the [...]

• Stockman: On the Crystal River

  More Land Along the Crystal River Protected: Conservation Easement Will Keep 6.3 Acres, 2,446 Feet of Shoreline Forever Natural David and Joyce Stockman always thought they would live out their retirement years along the Crystal River, in a house built there by David’s grandfather. Instead, complicated health issues and a need to be near family [...]

• Teichner: Lime Lake

  Martha Teichner’s Inspiring Speech From the 2008 Land Trust Alliance Rally  Photo at top left by Jeff Ripple (www.jeffripple.com) Martha Teichner made the following speech at the Land Trust Alliance Rally in September, 2008. I’m going to tell you a story, mine as it happens, about some woods on a lake in Northern Michigan and [...]

• Telford Farms: Cedar

  Historic Telford Farms Land Preserved: 42 Acres Protected Within This “Intentional” Community The children growing up on Telford Farm near Cedar have a big back yard to play in. Eighty-eight acres, to be exact. Fort building is popular and imaginary play runs rampant in the woods and fields where video games and TV can’t intrude. [...]

• Theiss: Glen Lake Hillside

  The Theiss Easement Protects a Glen Lake Hillside From our Spring 2004 Newsletter A scenic hillside near Glen Lake and the birthplace of skiing in Leelanau County has been forever preserved by the Leelanau Conservancy. Vik and Susan Theiss of Cincinnati and Glen Lake have placed a conservation easement on their 71-acre parcel that lies [...]

• VanZoeren: Glen Lake/HatlemCreek

  Natural Partners: Van Zoerens Preserve 30 Acres Near Glen Lake Tom and Alice Van Zoeren are the kind of people who work at preserving things that otherwise might slip away. Piping plovers. Port Oneida history. Ridgeline views seen from Glen Lake. The Burdickville couple, who are naturalists in profession as well as in spirit, have [...]

• Wollenweber: Near Northport

  The James C. Soper Preserve: Wetland Preserve Nearly Doubled in Size With Addition of 38-Acre Wollenweber Property Perhaps Norman Wollenweber has said it best. The 70-something Northport native who spent nine years in the U.S. Army and a career as a fleet service crew chief for American Airlines says his life has taken him to [...]