2007
George and Sue Lane, 80 acres
Sage Township, Gladwin County

In 2004, the Lanes protected 191 acres of land in Gladwin County by donating a conservation easement to The Little Forks Conservancy. When a neighboring 80-acre property went up for sale two years ago, the Lanes knew that it, too, needed protecting.

When the Lanes acquired the property, they contacted the Conservancy to ensure that it, like their first conserved property, remains natural and undeveloped forever. In September, they donated their second conservation easement.

The property, George said, “contains 1000 feet of the North Branch of the Cedar River.”

Added to the amount of shoreline protected by their first conservation easement, he continued, “There will be more than a mile of river protected.”

One of the Lanes’ concerns for the future of their property, George said, “is the tendency to divide the land into smaller and smaller parcels.”

As the land around his property becomes increasingly developed, he sees this land and his adjacent property becoming “an island of beauty and natural habitat in a sea of more and more fragmented land.”

The property was protected through the Conservancy’s Cedar River Conservation Easement Project. The project was funded through a Clean Michigan Initiative grant from the State of Michigan. The goal of the Cedar River Project is to protect lands that benefit the water quality of the region.