For the last 30 years, the Cadillac Area Land Conservancy has worked to protect and preserve land across the state of Michigan.
According to the land trust's website, the conservancy aids in the management of both private and public property in Missaukee, Osceola, Wexford and northern Lake and Mason counties. In total, the nonprofit protects almost 3,000 acres of land. It owns 252 acres, and the remaining 2,155 acres are under conservancy easements.
Chris Gentry, director of CALC, said that the conservancy has a long history rooted in community service.
“We started off as a totally volunteer organization and stayed that way for 25 years,” Gentry said. “A couple of us are now part time trying to help cover the busy work that goes into maintaining and managing all these things. But we're still very solidly entrenched in volunteer commitment, volunteer passion, and volunteer expertise.”
Gentry said the conservancy partners with landowners to preserve their land for future generations. Preservation efforts are often inspired by family legacy as well as environmental benefits.
“The broad picture is we're involved with preserving the Northern Michigan feel and lifestyle of abundant natural resources, wildlife and forests [as well as] protecting wetlands and waterfronts to help preserve water quality and wildlife diversity,” Gentry said.
Gentry said the nonprofit provides landowners with the resources they need to identify the value of their land and preserve it.
“We're working with communities to identify the open space that makes our areas unique,” Gentry said. “We look at joining private lands via conservation easements with public lands. In our area, there's lots of national and state forest land, but the areas between those public properties are fragmented, quite severely in some cases, with private ownership. [In] terms of having enough wildlife cover and habitat for a successful diversity of wildlife, they need the corridors to get from open space to open space.”
A conservation easement, Gentry explained, is a partnership between the conservancy and private landowners. Certain development rights are donated to the conservancy to prevent the land from being subdivided or developed in ways that harm the land’s natural features.
These easements can bolster biodiversity, preserve family heritage and create scenic destinations for the public to enjoy.
“Anytime we take on a conservation easement or a nature preserve property or whatnot, we're taking on a perpetual commitment,” Gentry said. “That means we're going to be ensuring that the original intent of donors is maintained well into the future and forever.”
Gentry said that even after 30 years of hard work, the conservancy has no plans to slow down.
“We have 12 potential conservation easements under development,” Gentry said. “The plans are to develop those out and keep on going. We also know we have some potential property coming our way down the line in the future and planning for new nature preserves.”
