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News from the Keweenaw Peninsula May 26, 2006  Text © 2006 Bryan Tyler. Photos © 2005 Michele Anderson and © 2006 Evan McDonald, Jeremiah Mason and Al Toczydlowski and courtesy Keweenaw Land Trust. Reprinted with permission.

Keweenaw Land Trust marks decade of  land, water conservation

By Bryan Tyler

HANCOCK -- Ten years have passed since the Keweenaw Land Trust (KLT) began as a group of hopeful volunteers working with minimal recognition to protect the area’s quality of life through conservation, while trying to convince the public of their cause. In the past decade, KLT has completed a number of key accomplishments in support of its goal and has created a strong connection with the Keweenaw community.

The latest opportunity offered by KLT will be coming up on July 16, 2006, as Wisconsin’s Flagship, the Denis Sullivan, returns for the second year as a "floating classroom" for land and water conservation.

Founded in 1996 as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, KLT works to protect the natural environment by establishing nature preserves and by arranging land protection agreements, known as conservation easements, with local landowners. Designed to keep the land in good condition, these mutual agreements define appropriate activities for the land parcel contained in the easement. While KLT becomes responsible for upholding the agreement, the property is still in the possession of the landowner, who retains rights identified in the agreement.

"What’s more, the agreement struck between KLT and the landowner is one that will continue even after the property has left the hands of its current owner," said Evan McDonald, KLT executive director. "The easement is amended to the deed of the property so the easement donor can be assured the land will always be cared for."

Over the years, KLT has become responsible for 2,235 acres of land on six easements in the area, with another 373 acres on four KLT-owned preserves that are open to the public.

A spring evening at the Keweenaw Land Trust's Paavola Wetlands Preserve has the pond alive with the sounds of birds and frogs. KLT recently expanded the preserve, which has a trail system available for educational hikes through the marshland. (Photo © 2006 Evan McDonald. Reprinted with permission.)

For the first seven years, KLT was a completely volunteer organization, mostly because members simply didn’t have the resources to hire staff. It wasn’t until fall of 2003 -- through grant funding and money saved from member donations and fundraisers -- that KLT had enough money to hire Evan McDonald as executive director of the trust. At the same time, KLT could afford its first office at the Entrepreneurial Center in Lake Linden. The Trust hired a second staff person in 2004 when Patricia Toczydlowski became project specialist.

In October of 2005 KLT moved to its current location in the E. L. Wright Building, 801 N. Lincoln Drive in Hancock.

In October 2005, Evan McDonald, Keweenaw Land Trust executive director, and Patricia Toczydlowski, KLT project specialist, move furniture into the current location of KLT's office in the E. L.Wright Building, 801 N. Lincoln Drive in Hancock. (Photo © 2005 Michele Anderson)

"This is a good location for us, because it’s closer to where most of our volunteers live," McDonald said. "It’s really facilitated our work."

In terms of accomplishments, the Manitou Island Light Station Preserve, near the Keweenaw Tip,  is one of KLT’s successes, McDonald added. He noted the federal government has initiated a country-wide effort to dispose of lighthouses, many of which have fallen into disrepair, are expensive to maintain, are remote and are an all-around burden for the government.

"With new technology, essentially a tower with solar powered lights on it, you don’t need a lighthouse, you don’t need a lighthouse keeper, you don’t need all the staff that used to be involved in maintaining lighthouses," McDonald explained.

This view of the Manitou Island Light Station from the rocky shoreline shows the tower and light keeper's building on the left and the fog signal building on the right. (Photo © 2006 Jeremiah Mason. Reprinted with permission.)

When the Manitou Island Lighthouse was put up for disposal, KLT stepped up to take responsibility for the land and buildings to preserve the historic site. The only dock on the island is located on the shoreline of this preserve and is substantial enough to be accessed by fairly large boats. Part of the reason KLT pursued this project was so the island would remain a site of interest for Keweenaw residents and visitors, who can continue to use the island for day trips and camping trips.

Today, KLT is forever on the lookout for land-protection opportunities and is constantly expanding its coverage with a number of projects currently in the works. One of this year’s biggest projects is a land purchase to expand the Paavola Wetlands Preserve, which began as 40 acres with a diverse habitat in north Houghton County. The site has a trail system, which wends through the marshland and is available for K-12 educational outings.

The Paavola Wetlands expansion is especially significant because this will be the first project where KLT is raising money to expand one of its existing preserves. The original preserve divided Paavola pond in half, but now KLT has purchased the other half of the pond on 75 acres with secured loans and is currently fundraising to repay that debt.

"It’s good when we can expand acreage and build upon areas that are already protected because of the benefits for recreation and wildlife habitat," said McDonald. "Many animal species need a pretty large range to be viable in a location, so with more land connected and protected, it creates what’s called a natural corridor for those animals to move around in. In this case, owning the other half of the pond makes good sense."

Tall ship Denis Sullivan to return in July 2006

In addition to its land-protection responsibilities, KLT also invests in educating the community about conservation of land and water resources. This summer, for example, KLT has partnered with Discovery World at Pier, Wisconsin, to bring back the tall ship Denis Sullivan this July for the second consecutive year. The ship participates in the Land to Sea Expedition, a program promoting water and land conservation.

New recruits learn the traditional rigging techniques for the Denis Sullivan's mainsail while sailing in Keweenaw Bay in summer 2005. (Photo © 2006 Jeremiah Mason. Reprinted with permission.)

The Denis Sullivan is a re-creation of a three-masted Great Lakes schooner, much like the ones so heavily relied upon as cargo vessels in and around 1880. However, since the ship contains a complete scientific laboratory, two computer workstations, modern communication and navigation equipment, the Denis Sullivan is far from old-fashioned. It  can best be described as a "floating classroom." Weighing in at 97 tons and towering to a height of 95 feet at the mast, the Denis Sullivan is sure to attract the attention of the sailing community and the general public.

During the 2005 Keweenaw voyage of the Denis Sullivan, crew member Mark Gleason, second from right, prepares to submerge the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) with video cameras as Patrick Selep, right, first mate, handles the tether. (Photo © 2006 Al Toczydlowski. Reprinted with permission.)

The Land to Sea Expedition will feature a five-day cruise, during which 18 participants will be included in an exciting hands-on learning experience, working as full-fledged members of the ship’s crew. Not only will participants be given the opportunity to take water samples, learn about water chemistry and lake ecology, but they will also be trained in traditional sailing techniques and will be expected to contribute during the ship’s voyage.

"Their mission of promoting awareness and appreciation of the Great Lakes overlaps very well with our mission," said McDonald of the Expediton. "Here in the Keweenaw we’re surrounded by Lake Superior, so part of what makes it so enjoyable to live here is the beautiful landscape and beautiful Lake Superior. The water needs to be clean and the ecosystem needs to be healthy for the land to be healthy, and the land has to be healthy for the water to be healthy."

A crew member leaps from the Sullivan's deck into the clear, and surprisingly warm, water of Bete Grise Bay on the south shore of the Keweenaw Peninsula during the ship's summer 2005 voyage. The Keweenaw Land Trust holds a conservation easement on 1,040 acres at Bete Grise South, the dune-swale wetlands preserve recently purchased by The Nature Conservancy and the Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District from owner International Paper/Lake Superior Land Co. KLT is one of several partners working to protect those coastal wetlands.* (Photo © 2006 Jeremiah Mason. Reprinted with permission.)

In addition, teachers can earn ongoing education credits from Michigan Tech by taking part in the Land to Sea Expedition. The price for general participation is $890 or $1050 with two MTU Course Credits. The intended course will take passengers from Houghton along the Keweenaw Peninsula to Manitou Island Light Station then to Isle Royale and back again. The trip should provide excellent insight into all that KLT has tried so hard to protect. For more information on participating in the Land to Sea Expedition or on becoming involved with the Keweenaw Land Trust, contact the KLT office at 906-482-0820 or check out their website at www.keweenawlandtrust.org.

Editor's notes: The author of this article, guest writer Bryan Tyler, is a student at Michigan Technological University, majoring in Scientific and Technical Communication. He has written articles for the Michigan Tech Lode since August 2004. This article was written as a project for "Special Topics in Professional Writing,"  an in-depth journalism course taught in the Spring 2006 semester by MTU Department of Humanities Professor Craig Waddell. * Read more about Bete Grise South in the July 19, 2005, Keweenaw Now article, "Ceremony marks Bete Grise preservation," by Michele Manarolla.