Little traverse conservancy (LTC) serves as a regional land conservancy for five counties centered around the straits of mackinac in northern michigan (charlevoix, cheboygan, chippewa, mackinac, and…

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded a $313,046 Cooperative Agreement under the Coastal Program (CFDA 15.630) to the Little Traverse Conservancy (LTC), a non-profit land conservation organization in Michigan. The funding supports habitat conservation activities within the Straits of Mackinac focal area, including ecological assessments, invasive species removal, and habitat improvements to benefit focal species like the little brown bat and Canada warbler. Key project goals are to develop a deeper understanding of habitats and species on LTC properties, implement conservation actions to maintain or improve existing habitats, and permanently protect additional coastal lands. Project outcomes are expected to include ecological integrity assessments, habitat improvements, and the permanent protection of two significant coastal properties. The grant award period is from January 1, 2025 to October 31, 2026.

Little traverse conservancy (LTC) serves as a regional land conservancy for five counties centered around the straits of mackinac in northern michigan (charlevoix, cheboygan, chippewa, mackinac, and emmet). Of the 70,000 acres that LTC has helped to protect, just over 26,000 acres are owned and operated by LTC and as nature preserves or forest reserves. Almost 60% of the LTC service area falls within the USFWS coastal programs straits focal area and the bulk of the activities related to this project proposal will occur within this focal area. IT is the mission of LTC to protect the beauty and diversity of these preserved lands through stewardship. Given the realities we face today with climate change and the precipitous decline in native biodiversity, just preserving land alone is inadequate for conserving species and their high-quality habitats. The stewardship of nature preserves requires, at a minimum, a thorough understanding of what biotic and abiotic factors exist in that system. This points to the need for a robust databank and deep knowledge of the lands that are being cared for. Thus, this project seeks to address this critical need for more knowledge and more information about the lands LTC manages. In the straits of mackinac focus area, LTC will implement habitat conservation activities that target many of the coastal programs midwest region focal species. Monitoring and inventory actions will be implemented to put the conservancy in a better position to conserve and protect these species for the long term. The goals are to 1) develop a greater depth of knowledge about the habitats and species within LTC properties to conduct more tailored conservation efforts and to monitor the status of our conservation activities, 2) implement conservation activities to maintain or improve existing habitat for known or potential species of conservation concern (program focal species), and 3) protect and preserve more land from development while developing stewardship strategies to care for lands under LTC ownership. The results of this project will include several ecological integrity assessments of higher quality LTC habitats that LTC can interpret for prioritizing future monitoring and conditions evaluations. Project results will include the removal of invasive species as part of a comprehensive process-oriented response to conduct high level conservation. Another specific outcome of this project will be habitat improvements aimed at improving habitat conditions for little brown bats and canada warblers and the many other species that share habitats with those two species. This project will result in the permanent protection of two significant coastal properties. Finally, the survey activities related to this project have the potential to identify new populations of several coastal program priority species or other species of federal or state special concern.