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Land donation to give access to shoreline treasure

News Photo by Julie Riddle Julia Butch, Huron Pines land protection coordinator, displays and describes newly donated property on the North Point Peninsula on Thunder Bay on Wednesday.

ALPENA — Special places need protection, but they need love, too, say those newly entrusted with the care of 1,400 acres on Thunder Bay’s north shore.

Thanks to a land acquisition announced this week by environmental organization Huron Pines, Alpena residents will have new access to protected land the organization says they want to share with the community while protecting it for the future.

Global conservation organization the Nature Conservancy recently handed Huron Pines the reins to a swath of land on the peninsula forming the northern boundary of Thunder Bay.

That land, rich with endangered plant and animal species and rare ecosystems, can give locals a glimpse of the treasures that make up their Alpena-area coastline, said Heather Huffstutler, Huron Pines development director.

This summer, Huffstutler led tours of some portions of the property for visitors sailing in on Viking cruise ships. The visitors marveled at the delicate coastal fens and conifer wetlands of the peninsula and photographed the protected flowers and hundreds of bird species that call the peninsula home.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Julia Butch, Huron Pines land protection coordinator, stands on a boardwalk protecting delicate environments as she describes newly donated property on the North Point Peninsula on Thunder Bay on Wednesday.

Once used as hunting property, the land given to Huron Pines will take the name North Point Nature Preserve. Its new owners will welcome residents to come visit it, following guidelines to protect its specialness, Huffstutler said.

Only by seeing their treasures up close can people truly value them and learn how to care for them, she said.

The new preserve will ensure residents can always experience their world “right there in the wild on the shores of Lake Huron,” Huffstutler said.

Purchasing the tract of land in 2018 from a group of owners who used the land for hunting, the Nature Conservancy collaborated with Huron Pines and the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary to decide how best to use the land.

The local organizations have been working for more than a decade to find funding to buy the land and set up a management plan for it, Huffstutler said.

Courtesy Art A map displays a portion of the North Point Peninsula, on the northern edge of Thunder Bay, recently donated to Huron Pines in this graphic provided by Huron Pines.

The Nature Conservancy’s gift means Huron Pines can now focus on the best stewardship of the property, which Huffstutler called one of the most ecologically significant regions in the Great Lakes basin.

The donated property, crossing the neck of the peninsula, includes a coastal fen with thin soil so fragile a single footprint could injure it, Huffstutler said.

Elegant but carnivorous sundew and pitcher plants snack on insects in their specialized habitat. Threatened Pitcher’s thistle and dwarf lake iris brighten sand dunes as the Hine’s emerald dragonfly, once thought to be extinct, flits across groundwater-fed wetlands.

Those treasures need protection, but people also need to see them, Huffstutler said.

The science- and research-focused Viking Expedition cruise ship, Octantis, which stopped in Alpena several times this summer, attracts passengers with a sciency bent, Huffstutler said. Many of those passengers — mostly U.S. residents who had never encountered the Great Lakes before — eagerly explored the North Point Peninsula under the guidance of Huffstutler.

“They were overwhelmingly all in agreement that this is a place worthy of protection,” Huffstutler said.

Showing off the preserve’s alpine-like forests and dune shoreline, she shared some history of the land, including use by Native Americans.

Locals don’t know enough about that history, but Huron Pines is working with its tribal partners to learn more, including about the possibility that the peninsula served as a sacred place of meditation because of the spiritual significance of its east-pointing shoreline, Huffstutler said.

The cruise passengers’ reactions will help steer Huron Pines’ decisions in how to make sure locals get their fill of it, Huffstutler said.

She hopes for a spring or early summer grand opening, once Huron Pines builds the boardwalks and overlooks it hopes will allow residents to see the peninsula’s special natural features without hurting them.

Guests will be welcomed to visit the preserve during scheduled events or on guided tours, sharing the land with wildlife, including 200 species of birds, some of which use the peninsula as a crucial migratory stop.

In partnership with Huron Pines, the marine sanctuary will offer educational opportunities at the preserve, like the outings they provided to some Alpena Public Schools students this fall.

The preserve’s shoreline offers a launching point for students to kayak, snorkel, and otherwise explore nearby shipwrecks and learn about the local fishery, said Jeff Gray, superintendent of the marine sanctuary.

The Nature Conservancy, which participates in conservation projects across the word, prioritized the North Point acquisition, raising millions of dollars for its purchase in what Gray called a “herculean” effort that demonstrates the land’s importance.

“It’s a pretty big deal,” Gray said, hoping access to the natural riches on the preserve might inspire a younger generation to consider futures taking care of nature.

Such inspiration sparked the enthusiasm of Julia Butch, land protection coordinator in Huron Pines’ Alpena office.

Growing up across from a nature preserve now owned by Huron Pines planted a fascination with nature that blossomed into a career that now lets her help take care of Huron Pines’ newest acquisition.

On a drive deep into the preserve on Wednesday, she gushed about the magic of the property’s woods, pointing out favorite plants and squealing at animal tracks she’s sure belong to a bobcat.

Such riches should be shared even as they’re protected, she said.

If nobody ever sees them, “it’s like, what are you preserving them for?” Butch said.

Huron Pines anticipates the transfer of a 150-acre plot of land near Birdsong Bay, south of Partridge Point, from the Nature Conservancy in the near future.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.

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