Sometimes, ‘professional’ language just doesn’t cut it.

“The first time I saw, I knew it was a magical place. The sun was filtering all golden through the leaves and the forest floor was green with moss and ferns . . . it was like a fairy kingdom!” Even though Hilary Hunt, SWMLC’s Director of Land Protection, knows the correct scientific terms with which to describe a piece of land, these are the glowing words she chose to describe her first impression of the amazing forest at a new conservation easement that protects land and water in the Paw Paw River Headwaters area.

Located in eastern Van Buren County, the 79-acre property contains a healthy and diverse 40-acre woodland, 33 acres of floodplain forest, and a whopping full-mile of headwaters frontage. Unspoiled by development or pollution, these darkly beautiful headwaters are where the Paw Paw River gets a nourishing start before taking its long journey through southwest Michigan.

The property teems with life. Its large trees offer nesting sites for a wide variety of birds – from scarlet tanagers to thrushes to pileated woodpeckers – and the wild, wet floodplain forest produces ample songbird food in the form of mosquitoes and other insects. The moist conditions are a paradise for amphibians, and provide refuge for shy creatures such as snakes and mink. Silver maples (often criticized for not being good landscaping trees) dominate the floodplain forest along with other trees that like wet feet, such as swamp white oaks and tulip poplars. Interesting understory trees like musclewood, paw paw, and witch hazel enjoy the dense shade – and unusual plants like lizard’s tail, cardinal flower, and ferns galore form strange gardens in the moss and mud.

The headwaters that are protected by this private conservation easement are filtered, cleansed, and fortified by the wetland plants and minerals in the muck soil. They provide a nourishing start to the Paw Paw River, which is recognized as part of one of the largest and most significant watersheds in southwest Michigan.

Earlier this year, SWMLC was generously awarded grant funding by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) that allows us to purchase conservation easements like this one in the headwaters of the Paw Paw River. This is the first of five proposed projects that collectively protect this part of eastern Van Buren County, an area that has been recognized as a ‘hub’ ( a “large, biodiverse reservoir of uninterrupted natural land”) where focused conservation efforts will make the biggest impact in SWMLC’s recently completed Nature’s Network, Climate Resilience Strategic Conservation Plan – and part of our long-term conservation efforts within the Paw Paw River Watershed.

To date SWMLC has protected over 3 ½ square miles of land along the Paw Paw River through 18 conservation easements and preserves. In fact, this property is so strategically located that it lies within a five-mile radius of more than 1196 acres of protected land, including: Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery (78 acres), Almena Township Forest and Hunting Land (322 acres), the Kal-Haven Trail Sesquicentennial State Park, Michigan Audubon’s Martha Mott Preserve (80 acres), and SWMLC’s public preserves Portman Nature Preserve (78 acres) and Wolf Tree Nature Trails (69 acres), and limited access preserves Sand Creek Preserve (115.8 acres), and Paw Paw River Preserve (258 acres). Though the borders of all these protected properties don’t touch, they still provide a growing body of safe havens for plants and wildlife, and help protect the quality of drinking water for everyone in the region.

Here at SWMLC, we are humbled when we consider the positive impact that protected land like this makes for future generations of people and wildlife. And it’s even better when the conserved land also resembles a fairy kingdom!

PLEASE NOTE

To protect the landowner’s privacy, we have not disclosed the name or location of this new conservation easement. Though the property will be protected forever by a conservation easement held by SWMLC – it is private property and NOT open to the public. Please respect the landowner’s privacy. Thank you!

– photos, Hilary Hunt, SWMLC Director of Land Protection

– text, Amelia Hansen, SWMLC Communications Specialist