Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy

Home
United States
Traverse City, MI
Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy

We protect significant natural, scenic, and farm lands - and advance stewardship – now and for future generations. Get outside! www.gtrlc.org/preserves

We serve a regional community that includes Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska and Manistee counties in northwest Lower Michigan We've protected 46,000 acres of land including dozens of parks and natural areas for you to enjoy!

08/26/2026

We invite you to join us for our 2026 Priority Landscapes Learning Series at the McMullen Family Conservation Center. Highlighting the Ridge Nature Preserve–which will open to the public in 2027–these engaging, expert-led discussions will give you an opportunity to learn more about how we fulfill our mission through a variety of lenses. We hope you will join the conversation.

Wednesday, September 16 at 5:30 p.m.
Restoring the Mitchell Creek Watershed: A Collaborative Success Story in the Making with GTRLC’s director of stewardship, Chris Garrock, and project partners from Conservation Resource Alliance, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and The Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay
Details & Registration: https://gtrlc.my.salesforce-sites.com/es/event/home/plls09162026

Wednesday, September 23 at 5:30 p.m.
Priority Landscapes: How We Identify and Protect “The Best of the Best” with Claire Herman, GTRLC land protection specialist, and Matt Cowall, executive director of the Traverse City and Garfield Township Recreational Authority
Details & Registration: https://gtrlc.my.salesforce-sites.com/es/event/home/plls09232026

Wednesday, September 30 at 5:30 p.m.
Listening to the Land: Management Decision-Making with Consideration to People, Plants and Animals a conversation with GTRLC land stewards Chris Garrock, Steve Lagerquist and Angie Bouma, moderated by Vivian La, IPR’s climate solutions reporter
Details & Registration: https://gtrlc.my.salesforce-sites.com/es/event/home/plls09302026

Thursday, October 1 at 10 a.m.
Culminating Hike at the Ridge Nature Preserve with GTRLC’s Angie Bouma, Steve Lagerquist, Charlie MacDonald and Kate Pearson
Details & Registration: https://gtrlc.my.salesforce-sites.com/es/event/home/plls10012026

We hope to see you!

08/22/2026

Over a decade in, things are still growing strong in the organic garden at Maple Bay Farm! With the help of approximately 25 regular volunteers who invest hundreds of hours tending the 1-acre plot, they plant, nurture and harvest 6,000–7,000 pounds of produce annually. It’s then distributed to where it’s needed most across the region by our incredible partners at Food Rescue of Goodwill Northern Michigan.

As if this isn’t wonderful enough, there’s more to this story.

By using more sustainable crop management practices, the gardeners are building soil health and reducing the garden’s carbon footprint by avoiding petroleum-based fertilizers and other practices. Minimizing tilling and maintaining a composting program that utilizes leaves from the Village of Elk Rapids, bedding and manure from GTRLC’s invasive-species goat herd barn cleanouts, and other natural additives all contribute to improving soil composition.

Using non-toxic inputs means cleaner food and water, and as soil health increases, so does food production. Healthy soil also retains water, carbon and nutrients more effectively—another big plus, especially as we experience more extreme and drought-prone weather.

By any measure, the Maple Bay Farm organic garden is an asset in the community and we are grateful for the hard work and care these GTRLC volunteers contribute.

Visit Maple Bay Farm: https://www.gtrlc.org/recreation-events/preserve/maple-bay-farm-house-management-summary/

08/20/2026

GTRLC’s offices are located in the heart of Mitchell Creek Meadows: The Don and Jerry Oleson Nature Preserve, which puts us and our visitors in intimate contact with nature every day. There are innumerable practical benefits to this arrangement, but it’s also just really neat. For example, we share a wall with a demonstration dune garden that has hosted a good number of monarch butterflies this year. We were even able to capture one emerging from its chrysalis in this time-lapse video.

After a caterpillar forms a chrysalis, it takes roughly 12–15 days for an adult butterfly to emerge. At that magical moment, the butterfly hangs from the chrysalis shell and pumps fluid from its body into its wings to inflate them. This fluid is called hemolymph and is comparable to blood in vertebrates. Once inflated, a protein called chitin arranges into stiff structures needed for flight. Monarchs can make short flights after a couple of hours and are fully flight-capable within 24 hours.

This butterfly is likely a member of the monarch super generation, which can live up to eight months compared with summer monarchs, which live only a few weeks. This generation is beginning its incredible transnational odyssey to Mexico this time of year and we wish them safe travels!

Visit Mitchell Creek Meadows: https://www.gtrlc.org/recreation-events/preserve/mitchell-creek-meadows-the-don-and-jerry-oleson-nature-preserve/

08/14/2026

Northern Michigan’s landscapes, with their clear blue waters and verdant forests, have long captivated the imaginations and refreshed the souls of those who experience them. Among those who have been inspired by the region’s enchantment is a long history of artists. Continuing that legacy is Dana Falconberry, the 2026 featured artist in GTRLC’s ongoing artist collaboration series.

We invite you to a special opening reception and artist talk for The Composition of Habitat: Ecological Sentinels as Art, featuring Dana’s work. She has created a series of gorgeous original artworks inspired by in-depth conversations with GTRLC stewardship staff and time spent hiking The Ridge, a recently protected property set to open to the public in 2027. Each piece captures the beauty and significance of our region’s native flora, habitats and critically protected lands.

An acclaimed visual artist and musician who divides her time between northern Michigan and West Texas, Dana Falconberry works primarily in acrylic and chain-stitch embroidery, combining the two into ethereal landscapes that center the experience of native plants and wildlife. All of her work draws on the natural world, sometimes incorporating fantastical elements to “hint at the many magics of this world we humans have yet to understand.”

Please join us at the McMullen Family Conservation Center on Wednesday, August 26, at 5:30 p.m. for a mix-and-mingle reception, artwork unveiling and artist talk with guest host Dana Black. This opening will be the first opportunity to view and purchase original artwork, prints and other merchandise inspired by and highlighting our mission.

Event Registration: https://gtrlc.my.salesforce-sites.com/es/event/home/danafalconberryreception

08/12/2026

Arcadia Marsh Nature Preserve is one of the most beautiful and diverse nature preserves under GTRLC’s care, so every visit is magical. But when the marsh is in full summer bloom, it’s time to make room on the calendar for a visit. That time is now.

Join us for a walk along the universally accessible boardwalk at the marsh with volunteer leader Paula Dreeszen, who will highlight the colorful array of marsh wildflowers during peak blooming and butterfly-viewing season.

August 19 | 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Hike details and registration: https://gtrlc.my.salesforce-sites.com/es/event/home/springwildflower081926

08/11/2026

This year, the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy is celebrating 35 years of protecting and stewarding the lands and waters that make our region so special, including the nature preserves where you can experience the joy and wonder of our region’s natural landscapes firsthand.

As we look ahead to the next 35 years, we want to hear from you! We’re curious how you use our preserves, what draws you to them, and how time outdoors supports your health and well-being. We’re also working to understand accessibility better, so if you’ve never had the chance to visit a preserve, we’d love to hear that, too—your responses will help us understand how to make these places more inclusive and accessible for everyone.

If you have a few minutes, we’d be grateful if you’d share your thoughts in this brief survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WTSVXPN

Your anonymous input will help us care for these places wisely and enhance future visitor experiences.

Thank you, as always, for being part of this work. We’d love to hear from you by Friday, September 11.

08/07/2026

We’re thrilled to announce that the fundraising goal for the proposed Ridge Nature Preserve—or as we’ve come to call it, “The Ridge”—has been met, and this incredible property is now permanently protected!

Not long ago, this 306-acre property in East Bay Township faced a proposal for more than 1,100 homes that would have damaged its forested ridge, home to an active Bald Eagle nest, 7,100 feet of stream frontage and 64 acres of water-filtering wetlands that are critical to our region’s drinking water.

This monumental achievement wouldn’t have been possible without the collaboration of East Bay Charter Township, which secured an impressive $4.8 million grant from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund to purchase a conservation and public use easement on the property. And of course, people like you, whose dedication to our lands and waters made the difference when it mattered most.

When this community understands what’s at stake, you show up, and together we’ve made a lasting impact.

While the preserve is not yet open to the public, our stewardship team and volunteers are already on site, laying the groundwork for an outstanding trail system we can’t wait to share with you. In the meantime, please join us for weekly trail-building workdays on Fridays—find details and sign-up information on our website.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support, which makes all of this possible. Stay tuned for an update on the preserve’s opening in 2027.

We look forward to seeing you there soon!

Project Information: https://www.gtrlc.org/activeprojects/the-ridge/

Sign up for trail-building workdays: https://www.gtrlc.org/recreation-events/events/

07/30/2026

We are pleased to partner with the Traverse City National Writers Series to bring Dr. Marc Berman—founder and director of the Environmental Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Chicago—to Traverse City. Dr. Berman, author of Nature and the Mind: The Science of How Nature Improves Cognitive, Physical, and Social Well-Being, uses science to show that spending time in natural environments can significantly improve our ability to direct attention. Like exercise, eating vegetables, or spending time with friends, taking a stroll through a park is good for us in a deep, essential way.

Join us this Sunday, August 2nd, for two special events.

One will be an engaging conversation with Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy Board Member Terrie Taylor at Milliken Auditorium in the Dennos Museum Center. Doors open at 6 p.m. with live music, and the conversation begins at 7 p.m. The evening will include a Q&A session and an author signing immediately afterward in the lobby. Purchase your tickets here: https://nationalwritersseries.org/author-event/dr-marc-berman/

You are also invited to join Marc for an on-the-ground experience earlier in the day at GTRLC’s Conservation Center at Mitchell Creek Meadows: The Don and Jerry Oleson Nature Preserve from 1-2:30pm Register here: https://gtrlc.my.salesforce-sites.com/es/event/home/berman08022026

We look forward to seeing you!

07/27/2026

Led by TART Trails and in partnership with GTRLC, East Bay Charter Township, and Norte Youth Cycling, the Three Mile Trail is a community-driven project that will close critical gaps in East Bay Township's non-motorized network, safely connecting neighborhoods, schools, businesses, and natural areas to the region's 100+ mile trail system.

Building on the existing trail along Three Mile Road, the project will extend connections along the Three Mile–Hammond corridor and through Mitchell Creek Meadows: The Don and Jerry Oleson Nature Preserve.

If you'd like to learn more about this project, join us on July 28, 2026, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. for the Three Mile Trail Public Open House at the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy's Conservation Center at Mitchell Creek Meadows: The Don and Jerry Oleson Nature Preserve.

We hope to see you there!

Event Details:https://traversetrails.org/event/three-mile-trail-public-open-house/

07/20/2026

If you haven’t heard already, we are thrilled to let you know about an extraordinary land protection opportunity: we’re working to safeguard Camp Hayo-Went-Ha, the largest remaining undeveloped property on Torch Lake.

This beloved camp has been on our radar for decades and ranks in the top 6% of all land we’ve evaluated for protection. We recently signed a purchase agreement for a conservation easement that protects the land’s ecological and scenic values forever, while keeping it in private ownership and letting the camp continue operating as it has for over 120 years. The easement covers roughly 354 acres and 6,058 feet of shoreline, including the forested ridge, natural waterfront and filtering wetlands that have kept this stretch of Torch Lake as pristine and beautiful as it’s always been.

Additionally, the initiative allows the camp to create a board-designated long-term fund, strengthening its ability to ensure that young people can experience YMCA Hayo-Went-Ha Camps for generations to come.

We have been quietly fundraising and have already secured $10 million of the total project cost, which includes the permanent stewardship of the easement, leaving $4.5 million left to raise.

Needless to say, this effort represents an incredible opportunity for the Conservancy, Hayo-Went-Ha Camps and everyone who cares about water quality and giving kids the life-changing, outdoor experiences this historic camp has long provided. After many years of hoping this time would come, we’re so glad it’s finally here.

Stay tuned for updates on our progress!

Learn More: https://www.gtrlc.org/activeprojects/camp-hayo-went-ha-conservation-easement/

Address

2846 3 Mile Road N
Traverse City, MI
49684

Telephone

+12319297911

Website

http://www.gtrlc.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy:

Want your organization to be the top-listed Non Profit Organization in Traverse City?