2015

Our first field season on the property, 2015, focused primarily on learning what resources we had, how the resources had been managed over recent years/decades, and setting management priorities. Key projects our first season included:
  • Setting up shop . . . a "lodge" (originally constructed in 1934 and added on and improved into the '90s) was modestly renovated as a field office and bunkhouse;
  • Regaining access . . . because the property was in receivership (due to a prior owner's bankruptcy) the site had received minimal care for several seasons. Job one was blazing a trail to allow for access around the marsh;
  • First battle of an ongoing conflict . . . aerially sprayed a 90-acre monoculture of Phragmites, an invasive cane that has changed the game of marsh management on the Great Lakes.



Headquarters -- modest as it is, this single-story bunkhouse serves as our field office -- a great shelter from the elements and as a convenient location for on-site meetings and planning