We Miss Our Conservancy People - The Leelanau Conservancy
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We Miss Our Conservancy People

More than anything here at the Leelanau Conservancy, we miss our people. We miss seeing you in the office, on docent-led hikes, working alongside you at our beautiful natural areas. We miss gathering with you for meetings and events. We miss the school children, the mailing crews, our partners. Some day we will meet again. But until then, we will have to connect online. Below are some photos of Conservancy friends that have helped to move our mission forward. Stay home if you can, stay safe, until we see each other again! Also…if you are a social media user, please take a minute to post your favorite photo of Leelanau and tag it with #leelanautogether.

Docent Ann McInnis led a big group to see the wondrous lady slippers at Houdek Dunes Natural Area in May, 2019. Docents are the BEST ambassadors for the Leelanau Conservancy, and connect so many people to our natural areas and our mission. Photo by Marilyn Kiegley, one of our talented volunteer photographers.
Our beloved Board of Directors. Photo by Eric Munson, taken at the 2019 30th Anniversary Rally. Where would be be without this group? Their time, talent and expertise, as well as their constant encouragement and support of our staff is a gift day in and day out. We miss gathering with you around our conference room table!
We miss the students! We start working with all ages around this time of year and can’t wait to be out there again with you, planting trees, spreading mulch and pulling garlic mustard. Photo by Mark Smith.
We can’t say enough about our Wildflower Rescue Committee. For so many years this enthusiastic and independent volunteer group has rescued thousands of wildflowers from the bulldozers and raised an astounding amount of money for our mission.
We miss all of our partners who donate time and money, who help to make our events successful, like the team from Baia Estates and Arbor Brewing who donated beverages for our 2019 30th Anniversary Celebration. Photo by Eric Munson
Our mailing crews lighten our load and have a good time while they work, under the direction of staffer Gayle Egeler, who always bakes something delicious. We miss having coffee with you and seeing your smiling faces.
We miss our water samplers and our AmeriCorps members. We miss being out in beautiful places with all of our stewardship volunteers.
We miss our Sustainers and the events that bring us together. We look forward to gathering when it’s safe for large groups to assemble again.
Finally, we miss each other. Our staff has weekly meetings online, but getting together on Zoom just doesn’t compare! Executive Director, Tom Nelson, is not in this photo because he took it–last year when we visited the new Cedar River Preserve addition.

When the dangers of this Pandemic and getting together have passed, we will need our volunteers more than ever. Take the pledge now to volunteer later by filling out this form. Questions about volunteering? Contact Lindy Kellogg [email protected]. She will connect with you to learn about your interests and availability.