Home    Happenings   August 2004

Happenings in the Keweenaw Peninsula August 2, 2004 Text © 2004 Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District. Photo © 2003 and courtesy Gina Nicholas. Reprinted with permission.

Conservation District, KLT to celebrate Dan's Point preservation Aug. 7

HOUGHTON -- The public is invited to the Joseph and Mary Lizzadro Lakeshore Preserve Dedication Ceremony at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 7, at Dan's Point on Hwy M-26 between Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor. The Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District (HKCD) has recently acquired 24 acres and 643 feet of rugged Lake Superior shoreline known as Dan's Point.

The Keweenaw Land Trust (KLT) holds a conservation easement on this property to ensure its protection for nature for future generations. The easement provides for noninvasive public access, education and conservation.

This Lake Superior shoreline at Dan's Point, a  24-acre parcel with a high quality bedrock plant community, is now the property of the Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District, with a conservation easement from the Keweenaw Land Trust. The property is named the Joseph and Mary Lizzadro Lakeshore Preserve in memory of Gina Nicholas's grandparents. Nicholas is contributing the match for the grant money awarded to fund the purchase. (Photo © 2003 Gina Nicholas. Reprinted with permission.)

"We welcome public participation in this event and hope it will be an opportunity to learn about the natural history of the Lizzadro Preserve and about land conservation in general," said Evan McDonald, KLT executive director.

The public is invited to attend the Dedication in order to learn about the preserve and the natural features of this special place on the Keweenaw Peninsula. In addition to a short ceremony, there will be interpretation of the geology, plants and other natural features of the site, refreshments and a walk around the property for those who wish.

The land purchase was funded by a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Coastal Zone Management (CZM) grant and by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The grant money is 75 percent of the $323,900 project. Gina Nicholas contributed a 25 percent local match of $65,000 in consideration that the property be named the Joseph and Mary Lizzadro Lakeshore Preserve in memory of her grandparents.

For more information contact Evan McDonald, KLT, at 296-9720, or Sue Haralson, HKCD, at 482-0214.

Editor's Note: See also our 2003 article, "Township, conservation groups seek to preserve Lake Superior dunes, shoreline, wildlife habitat," which includes more information about this and other land preservation efforts in Eagle Harbor Township.