Introducing Leelanau, Protected: A Campaign for Today and Tomorrow, the Leelanau Conservancy’s most ambitious effort yet.
Something Big is Happening
Over the past year, supporters like you helped the Leelanau Conservancy protect Sugar Loaf, one of the peninsula’s most iconic and beloved natural landscapes. That moment showed the entire community what’s possible when people decide that something is worth fighting for.
Sugar Loaf is only the beginning.
We’re proud to share that we’ve embarked on the most comprehensive campaign in the Conservancy’s history. Our goal is $75 million, and because of the generosity of early supporters, we’re already more than halfway there, with $66 million committed.
Leelanau, Protected is already making a difference. We want you to be part of what comes next.
What We’re Working Toward
Land Protection
Leelanau’s natural lands and working farms of Leelanau are precious and irreplaceable. Leelanau, Protected ensures we can move quickly to protect them and provide forever care, no matter what pressures arise.
Ecological Restoration
Protection is only the first step. Through active ecological restoration, we’re investing in the long-term health of Leelanau’s forests, wetlands, and shorelines. Leelanau, Protected will help us build resilience for a changing climate and give wildlife the habitats they need to thrive.
Access to Nature
The outdoors is for everyone. We’re expanding trails, improving access, and creating experiences that welcome people of every background and ability to connect with the natural world.
Greatest Needs
Support for our greatest needs gives the Conservancy the freedom to move quickly, respond boldly, and be ready to move when opportunity knocks or when a conservation challenge can’t wait.
$66 Million Raised. $75 Million Within Reach.
Early donors have already made extraordinary commitments to this campaign. Their generosity has given us a running start and a powerful reminder that Leelanau knows what it has and that it’s worth protecting.
Why Now?
Development pressure is the highest it’s ever been. In a rapidly changing world, we must prioritize land protection while we still can.
The Leelanau Conservancy has spent more than three decades proving that when a community cares, remarkable things happen. Leelanau, Protected is the most dedicated expression of that belief yet, and of what’s possible when the love people have for this place turns into something that lasts.
Critical Priorities Ahead
Suttons Bay Forest
For years, the trails winding through Suttons Bay Forest have been a gift to this community. The Leelanau Conservancy is working to permanently protect this 184-acre natural area, nestled between the Village of Suttons Bay and Lake Leelanau, so that these trails will remain accessible to all. The property sits in a vital wildlife corridor, harbors remarkable biodiversity — including rare vernal pools that are home to amphibians, salamanders, and fairy shrimp. Protecting it means expanding trails, improving public access, and ensuring this beloved place remains open to everyone, forever. We’ve raised $1.26 million toward our $2.65 million goal, leaving $1.39 million to raise by the end of August. Read more about Suttons Bay Forest here.
Keeping Leelanau Farming
Farmland is part of what makes Leelanau unmistakably itself. Through a $5 million investment in farmland protection, Leelanau, Protected is working to permanently protect local farms, ensuring they remain out of the path of development.
Be Part of Leelanau’s Future
You don’t have to wonder whether your support makes a difference here. You can see it — in Sugar Loaf’s peak, local farmstands full of fruit, trails that lead to unimaginable beauty.
There is more to do, but we can do it together.
Contact Us
Reach out to us to learn more. Together, we can ensure Leelanau thrives today and tomorrow. Whether you make a gift, share our mission with others, or support the Leelanau Conservancy in other ways, your involvement makes a difference.
- Paris Morse – Development Director pmorse@leelanauconservancy.org | 231-994-3212
- Pohai Muller – Leadership Giving pmuller@leelanauconservancy.org | 231-464-7347
- Emma Stoppani – Major Gifts & Legacy Giving estoppani@leelanauconservancy.org | 231-974-2138
