Recover, Restore, Rewild
LAGRANGE VALLEY, CASS COUNTY, MI
Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy is excited to announce that we are working with the Edward Lowe Foundation and other community and conservation partners to conserve an amazing 425-acre property in Cass County, which will become our largest nature preserve to date.
At the former Lake LaGrange, our goal is to Recover and Restore its native landscapes, allowing it to Rewild over time, making it stronger and healthier for the future.
SWMLC has already been awarded Endangered Species Act (Section 6) funding to help us conserve LaGrange Valley, but we still need to raise $250,000 to match those federal dollars, and to begin to create a stewardship fund that will care for the property over the long term.
We are currently seeking additional grant funding and expect to launch a public fundraising campaign in Summer 2023. We will need your help to protect this amazing, wild land and the special animals and plants that need it to survive!
Please check back for updates!
Formerly known as Lake LaGrange, the spectacular LaGrange Valley property includes a huge, high-quality, intact wetland that is adjacent and across the street from Edward Lowe Foundation’s wild, 2,000-acre Big Rock Valley. Dowagiac and Talkie Creeks meander through prime fen habitat and a number of upland islands graced by very large and beautiful hardwood trees, where a pair of bald eagles has nested in recent years. The property is home to not one – but two – species that are on the federal endangered species list, as well as numerous others listed by the State of Michigan as rare or threatened.
Despite centuries of settlement, farming, and development in southwest Michigan, parts of Cass and St. Joseph Counties are still home to a wealth of expansive and wild acreage, protecting biodiversity and rural character important to the sense of place and ecology of the region. Within Nature’s Network, SWMLC’s Climate Resilience Strategic Conservation Plan, the La Grange Valley property was identified as a high-quality biodiversity hotspot in close proximity to the Jones Conservation Area Hub, as well as the Edward Lowe Foundation’s 2000-acre Big Rock Valley.
While we haven’t yet conducted full botanical or wildlife surveys at LaGrange Valley, it is likely that it shares many of the same species as the adjacent Big Rock Valley, including several state-threatened fen plants, turtles, and snakes. We are told that the collective population of federally-endangered eastern massasaugas at LaGrange Valley and the adjacent Edward Lowe Foundation property may be the most genetically diverse in Michigan. Creating and maintaining a connection between these two populations could be key toward the long-term survival of Michigan’s only rattlesnake. The presence of these rare, native species indicates habitat that is extremely high-quality and capable of sustaining many sensitive species that can be easily impacted by habitat degradation or fragmentation.
LaGrange Valley will become even healthier over time with good stewardship, including addressing the tall invasive grass called phragmites (or common reed) that has rapidly spread throughout the wetland as water levels have decreased. Removing this invasive plant will reduce the likelihood that it will spread to nearby properties, thus helping to preserve property values and promoting a healthier local landscape overall.
The property was once the site of Lake LaGrange, an artificial body of water that was created when Dowagiac Creek was dammed back in the early 1800’s. The dam was removed in 2005 and the LaGrange Valley property was allowed to revert to its natural state: a 110-acre wetland complex surrounding the intersection of Talkie and Dowagiac Creeks, and adjacent to the protected 2,000-acre Big Rock Valley, owned by the Edward Lowe Foundation. When the wetland returned, several species that need wetland habitat to survive (including two that are on the federal endangered species list) began to come back – including Blanding’s, spotted, and eastern box turtles; and Kirtland’s, eastern massasauga, and gray rat snakes; plus a number of rare native plants.
Previously, despite its large size and the existence of several islands bearing tall mature trees, bald eagles had avoided nesting at former Lake LaGrange because humans could reach every corner of the lake via boat. Now, mucky and thick with poison sumac, the wetland is the perfect barrier to humans, providing the eagles with the peace and privacy they so desperately need for hunting and raising their young.
We are very excited about protecting the spectacular LaGrange Valley property and further supporting the bald eagle’s recovery. We think that the presence of bald eagles on the property is a sign that the habitat is robust, and a good omen that the other native, rare, threatened and endangered plants and animals that call this place home will recover just as strongly as bald eagles did.
Conserving the ecologically important LaGrange Valley not only preserves native landscape and the special plants and animals that live there, it is also a significant step toward ensuring the continued water quality of Dowagiac Creek and its ability to support cold water fisheries upstream and down. In addition, conserving this land will help to create vital connectivity along Dowagiac Creek that is essential to the strength and resiliency of the local landscape and the larger region, as a whole.
SWMLC has already been awarded Endangered Species Act (Section 6) funding to help us conserve LaGrange Valley, but we still need to raise $250,000 to match those federal dollars, and to take create a stewardship fund that will care for the property over the long term.
We expect to launch a fundraising campaign in July 2023 – so please stay tuned for ways that you can help protect this amazing, wild land and the special animals and plants that need it to survive!
Drone photo, courtesy of Edward Lowe Foundation.
Header amd eagle’s nest photos, Jarod Reibol, Edward Lowe Foundation.
Other photos and illustrations, Amelia Hansen, Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy.
