213 ACRES PROTECTED FOREVER

BY DIANNE FARNER,
DEPUTY DIRECTOR

When I visit the big lakes, I often find myself looking out across the water. We have these Great Lakes, and they are hard to ignore. However, on my last visit to the Hess preserve, I found myself looking inland, discovering all the small treasures along the shore, the dune line, the swales, and the cedar swamp. The yellow ladyslippers were in bloom, the tamarack were sprouting their downy needles, and the preserve was alive with birds. I found what could be a shorebird’s nest, fish bones littered around, and could not think of a better place and time to explore Northeast Michigan. Moments like these remind me why we do this work, why protecting places like the Hess Nature Preserve is imperative. 

It is official. The Hess Nature Preserve Coastal Expansion Project is complete, and Hess has grown from its original 12 acres to 213 acres of permanently protected coastal forests and wetlands. That is comparable to the size of a football field, growing to the size of downtown Traverse City. 

This project has been years in the making. Phase One added 40 acres of wetland, forest, and wildlife. Phase Two brought in 158 acres of dune and swale complex, connecting the first 40 to Hess, thereby creating a large habitat corridor. Phase three added the lakeshore parcel, extending the preserve’s protected shoreline by another 580 feet. Together, these three phases have turned a small but special piece of land, into a significant protected coastal landscape in our region.

Hess has always held rare and important habitat, dune and swale ecosystems, a coastal fen, and threatened plant species you will not find in many other places. This tract includes four natural community elements of the Lower Peninsula shoreline: limestone cobble shore, coastal fen, wooded dune and swale, and interdunal wetlands, which all converge in this single spot. If you are lucky on a visit, you might spot the federally threatened Houghton’s goldenrod blooming along the water’s edge. The potential for other threatened species living in this habitat is high, which could include the Hine’s emerald dragonfly, the eastern massasauga rattlesnake, and other rare species. This expansion means all of that, and the undeveloped shoreline surrounding it, is now protected permanently. It will never be developed. It will always be wild. 

Hess Nature Preserve is open to the public, and we cannot wait for you to experience it for yourself. The current trailhead begins off Evergreen Highway a short distance from the parking area. This trail leads to the shoreline, where visitors can access the new shoreline parcel along the beach. The opposite side of Evergreen Highway remains untouched while we design a  sustainable trail system that respects the sensitive nature of the dune and swale system. While this area is open to the public, there are no current trails and access is limited. If you choose to explore this area, be respectful of the neighbors and stay within the boundary signs of the preserve.

None of this would have been possible without the generosity of our community. Special thanks to the Carls Foundation for a $200,000 challenge grant that our donors met in full, and to the Walter’s Family Foundation, Wege Foundation, Consumers Foundation, the Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation, Community Foundation of North East Michigan, Walmart Foundation, and the Bass Pro Shops & Cabela’s Outdoor Fund for their support along the way. And thank you to every donor, member, and neighbor who believed this shoreline was worth protecting. This preserve belongs to all of us now. Our work here does not stop with the acquisition. In the coming year, we will be installing boundary signs, designing trails, and working on a grand opening event scheduled for next summer, with a smaller celebration event planned this fall. We will keep you updated right here in Currents, as those plans take shape.

We hope you will come see this land for yourself soon. Two hundred and thirteen acres of Lake Huron coastline, protected forever, because our community showed up for it.