Land conservancies operate throughout the state of michigan and are responsible for managing 134,409 acres, hold easements on another 131,315 acres, and steward some of michigans most treasured…

The U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service awarded a $300,537.92 Project Grant to the Little Traverse Conservancy Inc., a non-profit organization based in Michigan. The grant, funded through the Fish and Wildlife Management Assistance program (CFDA 15.608), will support the development of an ecological conditions assessment program to inform conservation management activities on over 30,000 acres of land owned and managed by the Little Traverse Conservancy and Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy. The project aims to: (1) provide the two land conservancies with critical information for wildlife and habitat management decisions; (2) identify high-quality and at-risk habitats; (3) train staff to institutionalize the assessment program; (4) create a framework for communicating the natural heritage value of the managed lands; and (5) share the program's processes with other conservation professionals in Michigan. This effort will build the conservancies' capacity to conserve species of greatest conservation need, including the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake and Hine's Emerald Dragonfly.

Land conservancies operate throughout the state of michigan and are responsible for managing 134,409 acres, hold easements on another 131,315 acres, and steward some of michigans most treasured natural biodiversity. Regional land conservancies are small non-profits with limited staff capacity. They formed with an initial conservation focus on land acquisition and providing public access to nature the capacity to address the ecological restoration of these lands has been limited. However, many of these organizations have now grown in capacity to better address fish and wildlife conservation needs. How these organizations manage their lands can have considerable impact on the conservation of a regions native biodiversity. Working from the southern border of michigan, around the straits of mackinaw, and to the shores of lake superior, this project directly involves 25,000 acres managed by the little traverse conservancy (LTC) and 5,000 acres managed by southwest michigan land conservancy (swmlc). The intent of this project is to develop an ecological conditions assessment program to support and inform conservation management activities. Project participants will tailor existing, vetted-methodologies and metrics for application by land conservancy staff in assessing michigan ecosystems. Both LTC and swmlc will work closely with the michigan natural features inventory (mnfi) staff to gather ecological data and build the program database. The mnfi ecologists will train conservancy staff in the computer and field-based inventory procedures so that that conservancy staff are equipped for long-term program management and can implement sustained conservation actions over time. Inventory results will be shared with the public and guides for developing a similar ecological inventory program or for implementing the program s procedures will be shared with the conservation community a priority of this project is to share the program processes documents that result from this project and be a resource for other conservation professionals. This project will establish a deep repository of ecological knowledge for private lands and access to this knowledge will lead to improving habitats and increased cross-jurisdictional collaboration to conserve fish and wildlife populations. This program will equip two conservancies with the knowledge they need to conserve species of greatest conservation need (sgcn), including for this projects model target species, the eastern massasauga rattlesnake (sistrurus catenatus catenatus) (EMR). Along with EMR, secondary species, such as the federally endangered hines emerald dragonfly (somatochlora hineana) (HED) will benefit. For example, there is a lack of knowledge of the limiting factors in HED habitat affecting populations. Setting up baseline habitat quality assessments, tracking changes over time, and combining that data collection with rare species inventories may elucidate some of those factors affecting HED success. Acquiring that knowledge would aid LTC and swmlc in management of HED, but IT would also benefit other land managers seeking to conserve HED populations.objectives: 1) provide LTC and swmlc with critical information for making well-informed decisions onthe management of fish and wildlife species and their habitats found on conservancy lands 2) identify the habitats of high ecological integrity and at-risk high-quality habitats 3) train LTC and swmlc staff in protocols to ensure the program is institutionalized and continued into the future 4) create a framework for conservancy staff to communicate to their board and the public about the special natural heritage they manage and 5) transfer program insights and process to other interested conservation professionals in michigan.upon completion of this project LTC and swmlc will have an ecological database of their lands and an establishedpathway to continued data collection. Rare species data will be entered into mnfi database.