Partners, community, and commitment combine for conservation success
For 50 years, the Land Conservancy of West Michigan has sought to permanently protect natural areas through acquisition and stewardship. In West Michigan’s forests, prairies, and shorelines, protecting habitats also means we’re nurturing the relationships that make conservation possible. Our community conservation projects are excellent examples of the power of these relationships.
One of the ways the Land Conservancy protects natural land is by assisting local communities and governments in their efforts to create parks and preserve open space. We work in partnership with these groups by identifying important natural areas, negotiating transactions, writing grants, and coordinating and assisting project fundraising. We call these types of projects “community conservation projects.” They’re unique among our suite of land protection tools because they allow us to do big things as a small organization.
“What they allowed us to do early on was to take on projects that were way beyond the scope of an organization with so few professional staff and resources,” said April Scholtz, former Land Protection Director (1993-2022).
Our First Project
The Land Conservancy’s first-ever project was a community conservation project. Then known as the Natural Areas Conservancy of West Michigan (NACOWMI), the organization advocated for the addition and permanent preservation of 300 acres of duneland to Saugatuck Dunes State Park.
“This was when the Land Conservancy was still an all-volunteer organization,” said former Executive Director Julie Stoneman (2000-2008). “It was a great example of the Land Conservancy putting its energy and resources—and at that time, all volunteer resources—behind making sure that that particular place within Saugatuck Dunes State Park was a protected natural area.”
The volunteers worked with the community to influence the State of Michigan to dedicate money to purchase that property added to Saugatuck Dunes State Park.
“But they also got it legislatively dedicated as a natural area so that the state park system could not, for example, put in a big parking lot or a campground, which they might have wanted to do,” April said.
Since then, the Land Conservancy has strategically engaged in community conservation projects to ensure the protection of over 2,600 acres of natural land in West Michigan.
“When we partner, especially with local communities, we can do so much more,” April said.
Our Biggest Project
Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area protects a stretch of dune land north of Oval Beach, with trails through rolling dunes, views of the Lake Michigan shoreline and Ox-Bow lagoon, and unique plants, birds, and wildlife.
For much of the 20th century, these 173 acres were private and inaccessible to public use. In the early 2010s, they were at risk of being developed, devastating the globally rare natural communities found there.
“We were looking for ways to help the little City of Saugatuck and our little organization protect land from a billionaire’s development scheme,” April said. “And it turns out that we needed a lot of different partners.”
Among those partners were The Nature Conservancy’s Michigan chapter, a community of both permanent and seasonal residents, local units of government, regional foundations, businesses, and local environmental and historical organizations. The Land Conservancy coordinated the work of all the partners, took the lead on securing grants for the City, conducted a fundraising campaign, and owned the property for two years until grants enabled the City’s purchase of the land.
“It took repeated efforts and repeated efforts, multiple grants by the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund, which recognized the importance of this project, before it finally concluded and we’re able to dedicate it,” April said.
The nearly $25 million project was completed in 2011.
Longstanding Relationships, Greater Impact
Community conservation projects can connect communities and organizations, and they have also helped to connect protected natural land.
In collaboration with Ottawa County Parks, the Land Conservancy has helped to create a nearly 2,500-acre corridor of protected natural land along the Lake Michigan shoreline spanning from Norton Shores to Grand Haven.
Beginning in 2005, the Land Conservancy worked with the Ottawa County Parks Department and the Grand Haven, Spring Lake, and Ferrysburg communities to protect 500 acres and turn it into North Ottawa Dunes County Park.
“What I loved about the project was its connectivity to, at that time, three parks. You had this extension, this nearly five miles of critical dune land, backdune area, connecting P.J. Hoffmaster State Park [in Norton Shores] to Ferrysburg,” Julie said.
In 2018, Ottawa County Parks had an opportunity to extend that corridor further south to Grand Haven with Ottawa Sands. The acquisition of that property, formerly used for sand mining, did not come without its challenges.
“There was a landowner who was willing to essentially do a fire sale on this property so that he could get the resources he needed to manage some other business aspects that he had,” April said.
The catch? It had to be sold all at once.
“He would not sell the property in pieces. He would not do a phase one and phase two, which we had learned from the Trust Fund would be required, because the amount of money we were asking for was so large,” April said. “What Ottawa County really needed was a conservation organization that could be nimble—that could take a big risk.”
The Land Conservancy of West Michigan could be that partner. Ottawa County applied for a grant for half of the property, asking the Land Conservancy to purchase the other half and hold it until they could apply for a second grant the following year.
“Ottawa County did a management agreement with us, and they managed it as an entire property until they were able to actually finish the purchase with us,” April said. “It was very exciting to be able to allow them to take on a project that would have fallen through. . . . and to be able to save that project for them.”
Today, Ottawa Sands stands as an example of how a park can integrate ecological protection and management with accessibility.
“I walked Ottawa Sands with my wife last Saturday,” said former Executive Director Joe Engel (2015-2020). “It was Valentine’s Day, 2026. The sun was out. It was 45 degrees. There were probably 200 people at Ottawa Sands hiking, taking it in, and it was stunningly beautiful.”
Join us for our summer event series, the Explorathon, to see and feel the impact of 50 years of keeping nature nearby. Learn more at naturenearby.org/50th-anniversary.