Little Forks Conservancy Hosts Second Annual Earth Day Exploration
Celebrate Earth Day and explore Midland’s Whiting Forest with the Little Forks Conservancy. Come learn how protecting the environment impacts the quality of our water and what you can do to help. Between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 19, Little Forks Conservancy invites you to walk the forest’s trails and enjoy refreshments at the Visitor Center.
Located just north of the Grace A. Dow Library on Eastman Avenue in Midland, Whiting Forest features seven different types of forest, a spacious Visitor Center, hiking trails, a 21-foot tall observation tower, ponds and more.
After exploring the Forest, join LFC in the Visitors Center and listen to the wistful sounds of hand-crafted Native American flutes, played by the members the Chippewa Valley Flute Circle. Enjoy refreshments and learn what you can do to conserve our wonderful natural resources.
A silent auction to benefit land conservation in mid-Michigan will be held during a special opening celebration Friday, February 29, from 6 to 9 p.m. Guests can bid on beautiful artwork donated by local artists while enjoying refreshments and hors d’oeuvres in the gallery.
Be sure to visit the other events taking place in the Midland area that day. Venture out to Chippewa Nature Center for Green Gardening Day on Saturday, April 19 from 10 am to 4 pm. This free event will feature master gardeners, horticulturists and naturalists who can answer questions and give advice so you, too, can have a green thumb! There will also be gardening fun for kids, including crafts and planting projects. If that’s not enough, the Midland Center for the Arts is hosting an expo from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. This event is in cooperation with the American Chemical Society-Midland Section and offers booths of hands-on activities for families. Youth films from the Environmental Film Festival will also be showing at the Center’s expo.
Whiting Forest is located at 2303 Eastman Avenue in Midland. For more information, contact The Little Forks Conservancy at 989-835-4886.
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Neighbors Conserve Clare County Farmland Together
Two neighboring properties were protected on the same day when Jon and Elizabeth Ringelberg and Gerald and Pamela Schmiedicke placed conservation easements on their lands.
Friends and neighbors for decades, the Ringelbergs and the Schmiedickes are passionate about conserving farmland in Clare County. Active members of the Clare County Planning Commission, Jon Ringelberg and Gerald Schmiedicke have seen firsthand how development affects a community.
Schmiedicke said, “There’s been so much road front development that it’s just been gobbling up farmland.”
He added, “We’ve both been committed to the idea of farmland preservation since the beginning” of the initiative for an ordinance to preserve farmland.
Schmiedicke continued, “The County passed an ordinance [for farmland preservation], but failed to pass a millage to fund it. That’s when we decided to enter into the agreement with Little Forks.”
Together, they signed conservation easements to protect a total of 150 acres of forest and farmland in Grant Township. A conservation easement is a voluntary, legal agreement between the landowner and The Little Forks Conservancy on the uses of the property that best preserves its natural condition forever.
Land Protection Specialist Elan Lipschitz noted, “Both the Ringelbergs and the Schmiedickes’ conservation easements are consistent with the Clare County Farmland and Open Space Ordinance, which supports the protection of farmland in that region.”
Purchased from the estate of two sisters, the properties have been used for agriculture for over 100 years. The Ringelbergs and Schmiedickes have continued to farm the property. Lipschitz said, “Thanks to the Ringelbergs and Schmiedickes, the long history of agriculture in the area will be preserved forever.”
Each spring the Ringelbergs and Schmiedickes work in their woods, tapping their maple trees to harvest sap to produce maple syrup. They actively manage their woods for optimal maple sap production.
“We’ve used horses [to harvest trees] since the 1980’s, when I purchased my first team of horses,” Schmiedicke said. “It does less damage. There’s less pollution, less noise.”
“We’ve got a good cross-section of species, but it’s predominately hard maple,” Schmiedicke said.
On the Schmiedickes’ farm, they boil down the sap and distribute the maple syrup regionally. “This is a great example of an economic use of the property,” said Lipschitz, “that is consistent with the terms and conditions of a conservation easement.”
Ringelberg explained, “There have been sugar bushes in this area for 100 years. It’s a little known reason why people settled here.” He added, “The conservation easement allows that potential to remain here.”
A benefit of conservation easements for the Ringelbergs and Schmiedickes was the ability to tailor the agreement to meet their individual conservation goals. The Ringelbergs excluded a portion of their property along Dover Road, Ringelberg said, “to keep things the way they are but to allow some planned development.” They also reserved a small area for a home site within the farmland.
The Schmiedickes placed a conservation easement on their entire 80 acres, while allowing some building within a small section of their property. Schmiedicke said, “The building restrictions were important to me. I wanted to preserve the contiguous nature of the farm – keep it one big plot rather than being divided into pieces.”
In both cases, the most important part of the properties – the natural lands – were protected. “Their projects are an example of how conservation easements are a perfect tool,” Lipschitz said, “because it allows the landowner to determine that the uses of the property will be sustainable for the future.”
Ringelberg said that he sees the conservation easement as a way to “essentially create smart planning and protect [the property] as farmland.”
He added, “It’s one way to keep the country looking like the country.”
To learn more please contact our office at (989) 835-4886.
Over 1000 feet of Cedar River protected
A mile-long stretch of the North Branch of the Cedar River will be protected forever thanks to George and Sue Lane of Midland.
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.
“After I saw the property,” George said, “I realized it was a gem.”
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 land 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.”
In addition to the river, the property features healthy vegetated banks along the river and wetlands that provide great habitat for wildlife. The property includes a high ridge above the river with a dramatic view of the surrounding area.
“From that high ridge,” George said, “you have beautiful vistas to the south and east.”
Land Protection Specialist Elan Lipschitz said, “This parcel is not only important to George and Sue’s vision for their land, it is also a critical piece in the larger conservation of Gladwin County.”
The property was protected through the Conservancy’s Cedar River Conservation Easement Project. A conservation easement is a voluntary, legal agreement between the landowner and The Little Forks Conservancy on the uses of the property that best preserves its natural condition forever. 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.
Although there were many things to consider when placing a conservation easement on their property, George concluded, “It gives us a good feeling to accomplish all these magnificent things just by signing a piece of paper.”
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