Conservancy protects biggest remaining undeveloped Lake Michigan shoreline Up North

An acquisition for more than $3.1 million by the Little Traverse Conservancy ensures preservation for the biggest piece of undeveloped, unprotected Lake Michigan shoreline in the northwest corner of the Lower Peninsula.

It will be called Enji-minozhiiyaamigak, "The Place of Peacefulness" in the language of the Anishinaabe Native Americans: 56 acres of forest and trail, leading to a quarter mile of undisturbed Lake Michigan shoreline on Little Traverse Bay. The recent conservancy acquisition is located in Bayshore just north of U.S. 31 highway off Townline Road and Division Street, between Charlevoix and Petoskey.

The land was purchased from the trust of a family that wishes to remain anonymous and held the tract for generations, said Emily Hughes, chief development officer for the Harbor Springs-based Little Traverse Conservancy.

Rolling hills and a trail to the shoreline

In an era where such prized lakeshore property skyrocketed in value, and typically gave way to expensive condominiums and grandiose lakefront homes, the family kept the Lake Michigan acreage between Petoskey and the Bay Harbor resort natural and forested.

"The family we worked with really enjoyed going there and camping," Hughes said. "The sellers wanted to protect it, and we really wanted to protect it as well.

"It's really a sanctuary — the woods are absolutely beautiful, rolling hills and an existing trail that already goes down to the shoreline, which is pretty spectacular. You can see it's just not been touched other than by people walking it. To be able to protect that is very meaningful."

But coming up with the necessary money for such prime property wasn't easy. The conservancy sought $3.15 million for the land purchase and an additional $500,000 to create the conservancy's first owned and maintained universally accessible trail on the new preserve.

"We took quite a few people to the property to give them a sense of whether this was something they wanted to protect," Hughes said. "And I was kind of getting to the end of the list of people who could make such a significant gift — we are talking about a large, seven-figure gift."

150 donors made the acquisition possible

Hughes took her friend and fellow conservancy member Jennifer Adderley of Harbor Springs to the property, and she became a believer in preserving it. The Terence and Jennifer Adderley Foundation made an undisclosed but "very significant gift" to get the project rolling, and soon other contributors came aboard.

The lead contributor, who requested anonymity, came up with the idea for the Anishinaabemowin name for the area, and all signs at the area will be in the Native American language first and English second, Hughes said, a way to honor the history of the land and the Bay Shore Band of Odawa Indians who for generations roamed it.

Brynne and Bob Coletti of Harbor Springs and Naples, Florida, offered a quadruple match to contributions to add the universally accessible trail component. All told, some 150 contributors helped bring The Place of Peacefulness into being.

The conservancy is not doing its traditional type of preserve opening as it begins work on the accessibility trail, with an expected completion by next fall, Hughes said.

The preserve will feature signs marking it and the trailhead on U.S. 31, with a nearby parking area.

"If you are in a wheelchair, or a parent or grandparent pushing a stroller, or you are using a walker, or let's say you are on crutches ... you can know that you will have a predictably flat surface that's consistent," she said. "It's not like a woods trail; it's going to be more of a crushed aggregate kind of stone − firm, not exactly a sidewalk, a little more woodsy than that."

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The trail will wind approximately a half mile through the forested land before arriving at an overlook that will be constructed with full views of Little Traverse Bay. A stairway will allow visitors to access the quarter mile of shoreline.

"It's really beautiful for us to have the vision of protecting the place, and for the lead, anonymous donor to have that greater vision of accessibility," Hughes said.

Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Group protects biggest undeveloped, unprotected Lake Michigan stretch