Michigan Conservation Results Report

In 2022, The Nature Conservancy announced the protection of more than 32,000 acres in the Keweenaw Peninsula, known as the Keweenaw Heartlands. We completed this deal in two parts, purchasing 22,772 acres directly from The Rohatyn Group (TRG) in October and acquiring 9,769 acres in December from a conservation-minded buyer who had purchased the remainder.

Surrounded by the blue waters of Lake Superior, the Keweenaw Peninsula is one of the most unfragmented forested and freshwater areas in the United States: a top TNC priority for biodiversity and climate resilience. This acquisition nearly doubled the peninsula’s protected lands, which provide habitat for many iconic species, from gray wolves and pine martens to the migratory raptors and songbirds that can be spotted here on their long annual journeys.

TNC’s success in the Keweenaw Peninsula has depended on collaboration with a diverse group of community leaders, the State of Michigan and many people who love the Keweenaw. Together, we are ensuring that the protection of this one-of-a-kind property can also help the local community shape a stable economic future around the sustainable management of the peninsula’s iconic lands and waters and the outdoor recreation, sustainable timber and other ecosystem services they provide.

To support the community’s planning efforts, TNC hired the consulting firm RES (Rural Economic Success) Associates, LLC. RES led public meetings with more than 300 total participants, held approximately 60 in-depth interviews and surveyed more than 1,800 respondents, to understand what they value most about this land. Between interviews, meetings and surveys, roughly one quarter of the adults in Keweenaw County have engaged in the project to date.

Since The Nature Conservancy acquired the Slate River Forest Reserve in Baraga County in 2021, our staff have been hard at work bringing it up to speed as our newest working forest reserve in Michigan. TNC has developed a forest management plan, begun a carbon project and completed timber inventory on approximately half of the reserve—all important steps to make sure it is managed toward a long-term conservation vision.

Helping our partners protect Michigan’s lands and waters allows TNC to achieve overarching conservation goals while ensuring that the properties are in the right hands for their long-term stewardship. These two efforts demonstrate the high level of cooperation among Michigan’s conservation organizations.

• In July, TNC transferred a 160-acre parcel on Silver Mountain to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). This property includes part of Silver River, an important cold-water tributary that supports a self-sustaining population of brook trout. TNC purchased it on behalf of the USFS in 2019 and held it until they could secure the necessary funding to add it to the Ottawa National Forest.
• In October, TNC provided a loan to the Upper Peninsula Land Conservancy to help them acquire 186 acres near Marquette for the establishment of the Dead River Community Forest. This includes critical floodplains and diverse riparian areas that provide habitat for more than 40 bird species and play an important role in protecting water quality for the local community.

The Nature Conservancy owns and manages more than 30 preserves across Michigan. In addition to protecting Michigan’s unique ecology, these preserves provide opportunities to connect with nature. In recent years, TNC has made a concerted effort to bring infrastructure upgrades and engagement opportunities to our most popular preserves, to support safe and meaningful outdoor experiences and encourage visitors to take action to conserve nature in their everyday lives.

Recent updates include:

• Expanding and relocating the parking lot at Gerstacker Preserve, which connects to a new trailhead with multiple trail route options.
• Beginning updates to the trail system at Ross Coastal Plain Marsh Preserve, which will reopen part of the preserve that has been closed since 2020 due to a massive tree blowdown.
• Completing both Spanish and English language audio tour options for three of our most popular Upper Peninsula preserves—Mary Macdonald Preserve at Horseshoe Harbor, Helmut & Candis Stern Preserve at Mt. Baldy and McMahon Lake Preserve.
• Enrolling all TNC Michigan preserves in AllTrails to make information on preserves, including GPS-linked trail maps, more widely available to hikers.

In 2022, The Nature Conservancy completed the transfer of our North Point property, near Alpena, to a regional conservation partner, Huron Pines. These 1,384 acres were acquired by TNC in 2018 after many years of hard work by partners including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Huron Pines and the Friends of Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary (TBNMS).

While ownership will go to Huron Pines, TNC will hold a conservation easement that limits future development, and the Friends of TBNMS will continue to host programming on the property. Along with the North Point property, TNC also transferred our nearby Thunder Bay Preserve to Huron Pines for consolidated management.

The biodiversity of North Point is outstanding—from four miles of Lake Huron coastline and fertile coastal wetlands to habitat for rare plants and insects. It also lies along one of the most significant flyways in the United States, hosting 200+ migratory bird species every year. With its incredible natural riches, there is also significant potential for stewardship and education, such as school-group tours, research opportunities and low-impact recreation. Such activities encourage a deeper understanding of the importance of conserving special places like North Point.

As we pursue the big conservation wins of tomorrow, it’s also important to reflect on the successes of the past. In 2022, the 10-year anniversary of the protection of the Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area provided Michigan’s conservation community an opportunity to do just that.

In June, TNC and the Land Conservancy of West Michigan co-hosted the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF) board meeting in Saugatuck and celebrated all that has been achieved here together. MNRTF grants contributed to the protection of this special place, which comprises 173 acres of Lake Michigan shoreline and rare interdunal wetlands. It was acquired by the City of Saugatuck in 2011 after more than two decades of a community-led effort, ensuring that its forests and dunes, and the unique species that dwell here, would always be protected.

This also opened up the area to all members of the public for hiking and the enjoyment of its outstanding scenic and natural features, for the first time in more than a century. As we had hoped, the community has continued to use and benefit from the protection of this property, long after it was secured.

Spring of 2022 marked a great field season for TNC’s prescribed fire management. With several key trainings under their belts, and the leadership of new burn boss Bruce Miller, TNC’s restoration team was able to re-introduce “good fire” to three southern Michigan preserves this year. This provides a natural process these savannas and wetlands need to thrive.

Our investment in prescribed fire capacity had impact beyond our preserve boundaries. For example, we were able to support other TNC chapters with their fire programs this year. Staff also led a field-based fire training for students enrolled in the Urban WildFIRE program, a U.S. Forest Service-funded workforce development program for students traditionally underrepresented in STEM careers. 

In March, the Michigan Legislature passed Public Act 53 of 2022, allocating $4.3 billion in one-time funding for state infrastructure. The Nature Conservancy and partners strongly supported the bill, including distributing a floor letter to all members of the House and Senate urging the inclusion of funding for state and local parks. As part of the Coalition for a Strong and Prosperous Michigan, we provided recommendations to address urgent water infrastructure repair and replacement needs across the state, all of which will benefit the health of our Great Lakes and the people who rely upon their waters.

Ultimately, $2.3 billion of the historic state funding included in Public Act 53 of 2022 was designated for the improvement of Michigan’s water infrastructure, with an additional $450 million for state and local parks. These investments were made via the Building Michigan Together Plan, which includes many of Michigan’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds.

While this one-time funding represents an important step, we continue to support the development of ongoing funding streams as well—such as the full endowment of the State Parks Endowment Fund—to ensure long-term investment in Michigan’s lands and waters.

With the Michigan Milk Producers Association (MMPA), TNC is delivering a three-year pilot program to help 30 Michigan dairy farmers implement feed management and production practices that reduce dairy cattle methane emissions and support soil health. Some of the innovative aspects of this program include its individualized approach to each farm operation, its use of feed amendments and its integrated focus on the entire dairy supply chain, including milk suppliers and buyers as well as farmers.

So far, in the first year of the program, TNC has enrolled three farms with a total of 878 dairy cows. These initial participants were supported through a unique and generous partnership with local Rotary Clubs. Their support enabled us to provide a “proof of concept” to MMPA and their milk purchaser partners, in turn helping to unlock additional funding for dairy farm incentives from Nestlé that will support our remaining 27 farms over the next two years.

This August, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack came to Michigan, joining Senator Debbie Stabenow and Congressman Dan Kildee in announcing new funding to assist farmers in implementing nutrient reduction practices, as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

TNC staff were among the guests invited to attend the announcement. During a tour of the Michigan State University Saginaw Valley Research Farm, TNC staff had the opportunity to show Secretary Vilsack, Sen. Stabenow and Rep. Kildee a SoilWarrior strip tillage machine and answer questions about our newest Saginaw Bay-area project promoting strip tillage in sugar beets.

One step on the path to carbon neutrality will require increasing the sustainability of industrial operations across Michigan. In early 2023, The Nature Conservancy will be holding three new regional workshops in partnership with the Michigan Manufacturers Association, building on a virtual Sustainability in Manufacturing series completed in early 2022 that was attended by representatives of 50 companies. Steelcase, Consumers Energy and Hemlock Semiconductor will host these pragmatic workshops at their facilities.

These workshops will focus on providing small- and medium-sized manufacturers with practical resources and guidance on topics such as energy management; how to pursue sustainability certifications; and building a sustainability plan that addresses the environmental, social and governance components of sustainable manufacturing.

How can your average family forestland owner contribute to saving the planet? This is exactly the question we hope to address as The Nature Conservancy in Michigan, along with TNC’s Wisconsin and Minnesota chapters, expands the Family Forest Carbon Program (FFCP) to the Great Lakes Northwoods. This program, a partnership with the American Forest Foundation, gives small forest landowners a pathway to accessing carbon markets while improving the health of their forests.

Participating landowners commit to 20-year contracts to apply one of two management practices that increase carbon sequestration and storage in their forests. The first, Growing Mature Forests, focuses on growing northern hardwood species such as maple, beech and birch for longer periods with fewer harvests. The second, Promoting Diversity in Aspen, focused on increasing the number of trees remaining in aspen stands during certain types of harvests and leaving more habitat around the edge of harvested areas.

We hope to enroll 95,000 acres of small family forestland in Michigan by 2030, with the goal of storing and sequestering 712,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) every year, above business-as-usual scenarios. That’s 712,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases kept out of our atmosphere, a natural contribution to the fight against climate change.

The team at TNC is always looking for new tools to help us better manage Michigan’s lands and waters, including our state’s 20 million acres of forests. Here, we are using revenue from the sale of carbon offsets to apply on-the-ground management practices that increase a forest’s health, diversity and natural ability to reduce atmospheric greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.

These carbon offsets are based on the best available science. TNC’s commitment to tangible and lasting positive impact means that before we launch a carbon project on our reserves, we do all the assessment necessary to assure the carbon offsets we offer are real, verifiable and additive.

This verification process is done by an independent third party to ensure an honest and transparent assessment of the carbon stocks produced by a particular forest. This allows us to do two important things: establish a clear starting point, or baseline, and then track the additional carbon that the forest sequesters and stores over time as a direct result of how that forest is managed.

This assessment was recently completed for our new Michigamme Highlands Carbon Project, which spans 13,660 acres of the Slate River Forest Reserve and the recently acquired northern section of the Wilderness Lakes Reserve. We expect that the American Carbon Registry will be able to begin issuing carbon credits for this project in mid-2023. 

Revenue from these carbon credits will help us fight deforestation, forest conversion and unsustainable management. And, by using our forest reserves to demonstrate the potential of carbon credits to support forest protection and improved forest management, we help other forest landowners join in stewarding healthy, resilient forests for future generations.

For more than a decade, TNC has partnered with the U.S. Forest Service to restore and protect forests along streams and rivers in the Ottawa National Forest, planting trees on more than 1,100 acres. This spring, we continued that tradition by planting more than 44,000 native seedlings, particularly in areas threatened or impacted by pests like the spruce budworm and emerald ash borer.

Healthy, diverse forests have a critical role to play in healthy freshwater ecosystems. They prevent erosion, maintain shade cover over streams and preserve the colder water temperatures that fish and other aquatic species depend on, especially in a changing climate. But Michigan’s northern forests, including those of the Ottawa National Forest, do even more for water. The streams they help filter are headwaters of the Great Lakes themselves—which 40 million people depend on for clean drinking water.

TNC and the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS), a forest management collaborative, have partnered on a series of guides for landowners and foresters designed to help them make climate-smart decisions about the forests they manage.

Released in the fall, Michigan’s new guide, "Climate Change Field Guide for Northern Michigan Forests,"  reflects the best available science with extensive input from foresters, scientists, state agencies and conservation organizations. This information can help landowners and forest managers choose the practices that will safeguard their forests and secure carbon benefits across nine northern Michigan forest types.

The Nature Conservancy is piloting a new performance-based conservation program for Saginaw Bay-area wheat farmers, partnering with Star of the West Milling Company to integrate “nature-based bonuses” directly into existing wheat supply chains. This Sustainable Option Wheat program sets sustainable production standards for wheat growers to follow. When they bring their grain to market, they then receive bonuses (8.5 – 16.5 cents per bushel) based on the number of sustainability practices they successfully apply. TNC tracks the environmental benefits from these practices, including the reduction of sediment and nutrient runoff as well as greenhouse gas reduction.

This pilot program tests multiple factors for long-term success at once: agronomic feasibility, environmental benefit and market feasibility. In the coming years, we hope this will inform a common sense “blueprint” for producing and marketing sustainably raised crops that other grain processors (and commodities) could follow.

This year was the kickoff year for Sustainable Option Wheat, and it took the team just two weeks to fill all the available spots—more than 930 acres, with another 3,000 acres already lined up for the 2023 crop year. The first-year harvest, now verified and sold, produced more than 86,000 bushels of sustainably grown wheat!

The Saginaw Bay watershed is Michigan’s largest and the current focus of our soil health program. However, the lessons we are learning here are relevant in many other agricultural areas. We recently held the first of three planned knowledge-exchange workshops between Saginaw Bay watershed and Western Lake Erie basin partners. This effort, supported by the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation, will allow us to expand the reach of our findings on how to help farmers make a permanent switch to on-farm conservation practices that protect water quality, create healthier soils and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

At this year’s AgroExpo, TNC co-hosted an equipment booth with strip-till manufacturer SoilWarrior. This allowed us to highlight our new Accessing Subsidized Strip-Till Equipment Trial (ASSET) pilot project, which helps sugar beet farmers access technical support and the specialized equipment they need to make the switch to strip tillage without financial risk. Strip tillage is a practice with significant potential benefits for soil health, especially when used with a crop like sugar beets that has historically utilized extensive tillage and left the soil bare and subject to erosion for much of the growing season.

TNC aims to enroll 10 sugar beet farms into this program, a partnership with Michigan Sugar Company, over the next five years.

The Nature Conservancy held our third biennial Soil Health Hero Awards at the Great Lakes Crop Summit in January 2022, honoring four farmers for the work they are doing to advance a thriving, regenerative agricultural system in the Saginaw Bay watershed. An agribusiness award was also presented earlier that month at the Michigan Agri-Business Association’s annual conference.

These Soil Health Hero Awards are an opportunity for TNC to recognize local sustainability leaders and hopefully to inspire and encourage others to follow their example. Some past Soil Health Heroes have also gone on to play a leadership role in local farmer-led watershed groups—connecting with their peers for knowledge-sharing around soil health and water quality. This year’s Soil Health Heroes were no different. Several 2021 winners have already gone on to establish a new farmer-led group within the Cass River Watershed.  

This fall, The Nature Conservancy began working with the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians (Sault Tribe), Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians and Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) to test methods for re-establishing river runs of whitefish that once thrived throughout the Great Lakes.

After spawning whitefish from Lake Huron, the team took the fertilized eggs to the Sault Tribe hatchery. Approximately 100,000 of those eggs were placed in the Carp River, near St. Ignace, in November, with another 100,000 added at a later stage of development in January. In the spring, we will track the emergence of larval whitefish. Depending on what we learn here, we plan to add additional restocking experiments in other Lower Peninsula and Eastern Upper Peninsula rivers in the coming years.

By “overwintering” whitefish eggs in rivers, we hope to help the fish imprint on their upstream habitat and return as adults to spawn. Ultimately, this could give them a head start on survival and help address declining whitefish populations in the Great Lakes.

The kiyi, a relative of the whitefish, once thrived throughout the Great Lakes. Now, they can only be found in Lake Superior. Since 2017, TNC has worked with the Sault Tribe and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to collect spawning kiyi in late December and January, to gather the data needed to determine the feasibility of catching and rearing this fish for possible reintroduction in the lower Great Lakes to strengthen a vulnerable food web.

As we work to publish our findings on kiyi, we are also working with the Sault Tribe, Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians and USGS to begin to spawn and experimentally raise kiyi in tribal hatcheries and USGS facilities. This requires collecting spawning fish from Lake Superior in the winter, which we were unable to do last winter due to challenging weather conditions. This winter, we hope to be more successful.

Since 2018, TNC has worked with scientists from the MDNR and the Sault Tribe to survey Michigan rivers for whitefish in the fall, with six tributaries surveyed in 2022. While the team has found many species during their survey efforts, including an extraordinary number of steelhead trout and walleye, no tributary-spawning whitefish have yet been detected in Michigan outside of the Escanaba and Cedar Rivers, both Green Bay tributaries. These data show the need for restoration efforts and demonstrate a low risk of our experimental restocking efforts interfering with any existing populations.

There is growing recognition of the importance of Great Lakes reef habitats as native fish spawning and nursery habitat, due in part to The Nature Conservancy’s work in this area over the last decade—including our 2015 reef restoration in Grand Traverse Bay. However, most Great Lakes reefs have never been studied, and so we know very little about them, including their size, habitat features, how they’ve been impacted by development or invasive species, or what fish are using them.

To answer those questions—and help begin prioritizing reefs for protection and restoration at a Great Lakes scale—TNC is working with partners in Lake Michigan and Lake Erie to assess the status of underwater reefs. This includes fall surveys to assess fish spawning activity, spring surveys to assess what larval fish are emerging, summer surveys of invasive species, and mapping habitat features and conditions.

In Michigan, TNC worked closely with MDNR, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, USGS and Central Michigan University to assess the status of 15 underwater reefs in eastern Lake Michigan in 2022. We are continuing this work in 2023. We are also coordinating communication with the related projects in Green Bay and Lake Erie so that we are learning from each other and using comparable methods.

After three years of nurturing (and several years of hard work before that) a garden is flourishing in Sacred Heart Church’s parking lot. Here, The Nature Conservancy worked with the church to replace part of its pavement with pollinator-friendly plants and engineered features that slow or capture stormwater runoff—green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) that enabled the church to cut its drainage charge in half through Detroit’s Green Credit program.

This June, TNC and Sacred Heart Church held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of this landmark project—and the people who made it happen. This marks the end of TNC’s formal involvement in this project, which has included providing volunteer stewardship training and maintaining the gardens for their first several growing seasons. Going forward, the church’s Garden Club will make sure the gardens continue to thrive.

Nature-based GSI, like the installation at Sacred Heart Church, helps communities reduce local flooding, protect clean water and beautify their neighborhoods. This project will continue to be an impactful demonstration of the importance of GSI as TNC encourages Detroit developers to take it up as a standard practice for stormwater management.

To provide a more robust picture of the potential of GSI to Detroit project developers, The Nature Conservancy is compiling data and information that includes interviews with GSI practitioners, case studies of GSI projects, and the costs and benefits of existing stormwater management projects.

As part of this study, which is supported by the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation, TNC assessed 14 stormwater management projects in Detroit. We found that, while the cost per gallon managed varied greatly across projects, green alternatives could be cost-competitive with traditional “gray” infrastructure in at least some cases. This helps us provide counterexamples to common perceptions of barriers to GSI, such as high costs.

The Eastern Market Stormwater Management Network Plan has begun to pick up momentum after the City Council approved zoning changes that are essential to its implementation. This plan was developed in partnership with the City of Detroit, Eastern Market Partnership and Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and with support from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation. The plan includes GSI greenways—connected natural areas that also manage stormwater—in the city's expansion of the Greater Eastern Market area.

Now, TNC is working with the first wave of project developers in the expansion area to ensure they can adhere to the stormwater design guidelines of the Network Plan and provide examples of successful GSI installations that others can follow. TNC has formalized our partnership with the first business and is providing them with technical stormwater design support as they develop the final plans for their new light-industrial development.

By incorporating GSI into neighborhood greenways, these Greater Eastern Market businesses will be able to manage the maximum amount of stormwater, qualify for a significant drainage charge credit and contribute to attractive greenspace that benefits the community.

How do we ensure that investments in natural climate solutions, such as carbon projects in Michigan’s forests, are connected with the communities most impacted by a changing climate? To address this gap, TNC has been supporting a local grassroots organization with the launch of a new Legacy Home Repair Program in the Greater Eastern Market neighborhood of Detroit in 2022.

Through this project, forest carbon revenue from TNC reserves in the Upper Peninsula has been used to fund necessary upgrades and repairs to eight owner-occupied homes so far, with repairs selected by the homeowners. Participation in this program will also help homeowners become eligible for other energy-efficiency programs.

Science is always more impactful when it is shared. At The Nature Conservancy, we conduct collaborative research and share our learnings widely; we also learn from the efforts of others. Sometimes, that research is carried out right here on TNC’s Michigan’s preserves.

Since 2003, we have hosted 41 partners conducting research at 19 preserves across both the Lower and Upper Peninsulas, with researchers from multiple universities and organizations. This year, a record 12 new partner projects were launched on our Michigan preserves. For example, at the Zetterberg Preserve at Pt. Betsie, University of Louisville researchers are studying the composition, health and connectivity of interdunal wetlands, and at Ives Road Fen Preserve, a survey of dragonfly species by the University of Michigan is now underway.

The on-the-ground data and academic analysis provided by these studies can help TNC, and others, improve our land and water conservation and management decisions.

Saginaw Bay and its watershed face numerous challenges to water quality, including excess nutrients and sediment in runoff, which degrade habitat conditions and contribute to harmful algal blooms and unhealthy beach conditions. However, there is a critical data gap on water quality over time, which means that local and regional decision makers lack the information they need.

In response, TNC has convened partners to form the Saginaw Bay Monitoring Consortium, which is developing and implementing a coordinated monitoring framework for the watershed. With key federal funding recently approved, the consortium has begun to purchase and install new stream gauges and sampling equipment. While TNC will not be involved in collecting this monitoring data, we will make that information publicly available through an online dashboard that we are currently developing.

Providing more comprehensive and current information will ensure that everyone impacted by the health of the Saginaw Bay watershed can understand just how water quality is changing here—over time and at scale—and better align complementary efforts to protect it.

TNC’s “Great Lakes to Great Lakes Initiative” was launched in 2014 to help share knowledge between the North American Great Lakes and African Great Lakes and better address challenges faced by both freshwater systems. This knowledge exchange continues today.

In May, a delegation of nine scientists traveled from Africa to the Midwest to conduct research and share their work, through the African Women in Science program. This program, led by the International Institute of Sustainable Development-African Center for Aquatic Research and Education Program, supports and guides African women scientists to catalyze positive change on the African Great Lakes and their tributaries and helps ensure more female scientists' perspectives are part of conversations surrounding fresh water.

The cohort, consisting of teachers, fisheries experts, a meteorologist and PhD students, spent two weeks meeting with their North American counterparts, including TNC staff, and learning about methods for addressing Great Lakes issues. At the Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting in Grand Rapids, the world’s largest gathering of aquatic experts, the visiting scientists presented their research and participated in roundtable discussions. Inforum also hosted a leadership training for the visiting scientists.

Patterns of tree regeneration—the small seedlings and saplings that may eventually become the new forest canopy—tell an important story for Michigan’s forests. This year, TNC’s current Essel and Menakka Bailey Conservation Fellow, Dr. Catherine Henry, added to that story with new research on the factors that impact tree regeneration and the resulting diversity of tree species.

Using U.S. Forest Service data, she also analyzed changes in regeneration over time. The results highlight some concerning trends, such as the declining regeneration of key species like sugar maple in northern hardwood forests. But they also highlight opportunities to improve species regeneration—for example, using timber harvests to promote tree diversity by allowing species with various light preferences to thrive.

Data-driven research such as this continues to help TNC refine our management of our 47,000+ acres of working forest reserves across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Long-time TNC volunteer Chuck Pearson was recently recognized for his commitment to conservation as “Volunteer of the Year” with the annual Abby Mahan Gartland Award from Heart of the Lakes, a statewide honor. Chuck has dedicated thousands of volunteer hours helping to maintain TNC’s Ives Road Fen Preserve, where he leads volunteer workdays, provides guided hikes to local high school and college classes, and shares his knowledge with TNC staff. Thank you, Chuck, and congratulations!

Autumn, a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in public policy, is passionate about conservation work and the ways in which environments and communities interact. As a Conservation Fellow at TNC, a position supported by the DTE Energy Foundation, she is contributing research, analysis and fieldwork to a range of conservation projects.

A third-year law student at Michigan State University College of Law, Echo made a career change to pursue her interest in environmental and conservation law after previously teaching high school history and economics. The analysis of the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act she completed as an intern with TNC—an opportunity sponsored by Jeff and Cynthia Littmann—has helped us better anticipate the bill’s potential impact in the Great Lakes.