Joint efforts pay ecological dividends

By RACHEL IOVAN
Capital News Service
LANSING — State and federal agencies, conservation groups and residents have been teaming up to increase the amount of environmentally important land protected in Michigan.
Donations of natural areas, land easements and land trusts have been growing in recent years, according to conservation groups.
Amy Trotter, the resource policy manager for Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC), said, for a piece of land to be placed under easement, a government agency or conservation group must own the development rights. That means the owner keeps the property but cannot build on it for a specified amount of time.
Trotter said land easements are typically under contract for 10 years or longer.
The main reason why securing development rights is gaining popularity is that it’s cheaper than purchasing land outright to preserve it.
She said the state and environmental groups sometimes approach landowners to see if they are willing to sell their development rights for conservation purposes.
“They’re getting the conservation value but they don’t have to buy the land outright,” said Trotter.
Patrick Brown, the head of the biology department at Northern Michigan University, said those ecosystem management techniques became more common in the early 1990s, when groups started to look at what land should be protected for public use.
“The idea was to try to come up with ways the public could enjoy natural areas without spoiling them,” said Brown.
Much of the recently protected land in a more-than-250,000-acre Upper Peninsula conservation isnear state and national parks and forests, Brown said. That increases the buffer zones between parks and industrial or developed areas.
The deal was completed in September after eight years of effort.
Pamela Larson, the communications director for the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy based in Portage, said there’s been steady growth in land conservation since the late 1970s when the federal government granted tax credits to people who donated land or sold easements for conservation.
Larson said landowner education also raises interest in easements.
“As people become more concerned about the health of the environment or they start to see landscapes disappearing, they realize they have to do something to protect the wildlife,” said Larson, “Instead of a parking lot that leaches oil into our watershed, there could be an open field or a forest.”
The Southwest Michigan group protects 7,000 acres in Allegan, Barry, Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and Van Buren counties, primarily through easements.
Larson said an important part of the organization’s work is giving community talks to get the word out about land donations and easements. “We teach people that they don’t have to sell their land for development.”
Tom Bailey, the executive director of the Little Traverse Conservancy based in Harbor Springs, said there’s been a steady increase in gifts of land to his organization in the last few years.
The group protects more than 40,000 acres in Mackinac, Chippewa, Emmet, Charlevoix and Cheboygan counties. More than 28,000 of those acres are owned outright or under easements.
“Most land donations are from people with a deep love of land conservation and nature,” said Bailey, “When you see these areas where kids used to play become subdivided or have ‘no trespassing’ signs, people realize that something has to be done.”
For example, the conservancy this month announced a gift of 25 acres in Petoskey adjoining the Bay View Woods under the will of a long-time resident.
“She donated a highly desirable piece of land with a great lake view” so the public could enjoy the wildlife, said Bailey.
The breaking-up of habitats creates a big problem for environmental quality, MUCC’s Trotter said. “Land fragmentation is the top threat to a healthy ecosystem” so keeping large plots whole protects wildlife.
“When the housing boom comes back, which it will, the large chunks of quality habitat are the first at stake,” she said.
NMU’s Brown said fragmentation also restricts the movement of animals, which can threaten their survival.
And Bailey said that when it comes to protecting wildlife, bigger is always better. “As large parcels get broken up, it’s harder to protect the natural features of the land.”
Land conservation can bring economic benefits and promote tourism as well.
Bailey said unfragmented land increases property values in nearby communities because natural areas improve overall quality of life for residents. “It’s a very well-known fact that our natural resources are what people come here to enjoy.”
NMU’s Brown said logging can continue on some privately owned land, if it’s done in an environmentally responsible manner, which is how most commercial forestland in the state is managed.
He said consumers want to buy lumber that has been removed in an environmentally responsible way, so more loggers are harvesting in accordance with strict standards.
© 2010, Capital News Service, Michigan State University School of Journalism. Not to be reproduced without permission.