Ann Arbor's Greenbelt may get most of the headlines when it comes to rural land preservation, but the Washtenaw Land Trust is the real big dog.
Case in point: the Trust just took 25 acres near Whitmore Lake under its protection. Significant, yes, but a drop in the bucket for a non-profit that controls the development rights to 3,711 acres across Washtenaw County. The trust has added 91 acres so far this year, but it expects to grow that number significantly in the coming weeks.
"There will be much more by the end of the year," says Susan Lackey, executive director of the Washtenaw Land Trust. "We do as much in the last week and a half of a year as we do in the balance of the year."
That meant about 1,000 acres in the waning days of 2007. Most of the donors were in a last minute rush to earn valuable tax credits - similar to the way people make charitable donations during the holidays to get tax breaks.
And that's one of the big differences between the Trust and the greenbelt. While the greenbelt will spend millions of dollars to acquire development rights around Ann Arbor, the Trust protects rural acres through donations all around Washtenaw County.
"For us (paying for development rights) is more the exception than the rule where it's the opposite for the greenbelt," Lackey says.
Both are similar in that they are located in Ann Arbor. The Trust is in the New Center building adjacent to the railroad tracks and Huron River in a space once occupied an old scrap yard on the city's north side.
Jerry Norblom and Barbara Michniewicz made the most recent donation of development rights for 25 acres to the Trust. The property is composed of wetlands, a mature hard wood forest and old tree farms. The Washtenaw Land Trust now protects 334 acres in Webster Township. For information send an email to info@washtenawlandtrust.org or call (734) 302-LAND (5263).
Source: Susan Lackey, executive director of the Washtenaw Land Trust
Writer: Jon Zemke
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.