Grand Traverse Band, New Community Vision, re-acquire Mashkiigaki on former Timber Shores property

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Photo courtesy of NCV

UPDATE: The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and the New Community Vision (NCV) nonprofit have reacquired land historically known as “Mashkiigaki” (formerly called Timber Shores)—which totals more than 200 acres along West Grand Traverse Bay between Suttons Bay and Northport. The Band gets more than 188 acres, including 1,800 feet of pristine shoreline; NCV gets 24 acres along M-22. The transfer deeds were recorded on Dec. 26.

New Community Vision has worked for two years to acquire and preserve the former Timber Shores property, which developers unsuccessfully tried to turn into a giant RV park until they were stopped by a ballot referendum in 2022. NCV is collaborating with Peninsula Housing to develop attainable housing on its portion of the land. Mashkiigaki is one of the largest undeveloped coastal properties in the Grand Traverse region.

The effort to acquire the property benefited from an $11.9 million dollar federal grant the Grand Traverse Band received earlier this year from the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The grant was provided through NOAA’s FY 23 Transformational Habitat and Coastal Resilience grant opportunity—which was funded by the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.

“This preservation would not have occurred if GTB’s Natural Resources Department had not ‘stepped up’ to apply for the NOAA grant when it became clear by August 2023 that NCV was short of its $10 million fundraising goal,” Bill Rastetter, tribal attorney for the Grand Traverse Band, wrote to the Glen Arbor Sun.

Rastetter added that 170 years ago Mashkiigaki was the epicenter of the Grand Traverse Band’s ancestors’ existence (including three villages between present-day Omena and Northport). In 1872 the U.S. Secretary of the Interior illegally terminated the Band’s status as an Indian tribe receiving governmental services, in effect terminating the GTB’s existence. Lands promised to the Band in the 1836 and 1855 treaties were “lost” (illegally taken), including the specific Mashkiigaki site, Rastetter stated.

According to the Grand Traverse Band’s grant application, “It is impossible to discuss Tribal-benefits … without properly underscoring the enormity and interconnectedness of land acquisition, conservation, sovereignty, and restoration for GTB. In the time since the first Anishinaabek settlements along Grand Traverse Bay and the Boardman-Ottaway River, 87,000 acres of Treaty-protected Tribal land have been lost. Reservations were promised in the 1836 Treaty of Washington and the 1855 Treaty of Detroit, but the 87,000 acres set aside in 1855 were illegally transferred, leaving GTB without a land base. … by 1980 when GTB’s federal relationship was restored, all of the promised reservation lands were gone.

“One-hundred-and-eighty-eight acres is merely a drop in that bucket, but (with) tremendous significance nonetheless,” Rastetter added.

“The Mashkiigaki property is 187 [188] acres of sacred ancestral property located between two historic Anishinaabeg villages, Wazakoo [Wakazoo] (now known as Northport) and Ahgosatown,” states a tribal report. “In the 19th century, the Mashkiigaki property was a setting with abundant fish and deer, medicines, berries and other plants. Tribal Elder and former Councilwoman Eva Petoskey describes the property’s importance to the Anishinaabeg way by stating, ‘Reconnecting with this land, and restoring it, taking care of the water and fish, the white pine, tamarack, and cedar trees, and the plants, will strengthen our way of life. The stars, sun, moon, sky, trees, plants, animals, earth, rocks, and water are our relatives and teachers. Those of us in the middle between the ancestors and the children, have an obligation to protect the land, water, and our rights for future generations.'”

 

Original story published July 22, 2024

From staff reports

New Community Vision’s (NCV) two-year effort to acquire and preserve the former Timber Shores property between Omena and Northport will benefit from a multi-million dollar federal grant to the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB) as part of an overall $11.9 million funding recommendation announced last Thursday by the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The grant is being provided through NOAA’s FY 23 Transformational Habitat and Coastal Resilience grant opportunity—which is funded by the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.

NOAA announced the news on July 18. NCV, which launched as a non-profit in 2023 with a vision to re-think how the former Timber Shores property could benefit both current and future generations, has focused on acquiring the property in order to preserve more than 200 acres—including 1,800 feet of lakeshore—as a public nature preserve for the community while using 24 acres in an upland section of the property for affordable housing—an acute issue facing the region. NCV is collaborating with Peninsula Housing to develop attainable housing with community input. Launched in 2022 by Larry Mawby, Peninsula Housing is a community land trust based in Suttons Bay with a mission to provide affordable workforce housing in Leelanau County.

A significant portion of the NOAA grant will be earmarked to integrate with NCV’s ongoing fundraising campaign to acquire the former Timber Shores campground—one of the largest and highest-profile, undeveloped coastal properties available in the Grand Traverse region—specifically for land preservation and restoration. Other allocated grant monies will support GTB’s river restoration efforts on the Lower Boardman-Ottoway River.

The land between Omena and Northport, which sits along West Grand Traverse Bay and was once the site of Timber Shores campground, was later considered for a luxury condo development with a private marina. More recently, developers sought to turn it into an RV park and campground, but faced local pushback and were stopped by a 2022 ballot referendum that opposed the RV park.

According to NCV, the former Timbers Shores property was part of the ancestral homeland of the Grand Traverse Band for more than 300 years. It is called “Mashkiigaki” (pronounced Mashkeegaki) and is historically, culturally and spiritually significant to the Band. Mashkiigaki (Mashkeegaki) means “the place of the medicines” and represents the importance of these wetlands as a traditionally significant location for hunting, fishing, gathering, and collecting medicines. That land was taken from the Band in an 1855 treaty and transferred to non-Native settlers and lumber firms.

“The name for this land is Mashkiigaki, which means marsh lands, but it also means the ‘place of medicine’ because this is where, in times past, tribal members would find food and medicine and connect with the earth,” GTB River Restoration project manager Naomi Louchouarn said at a June event. “To collaborate with NCV and everyone in the area is important for the ecological restoration of this place, but also for the restoration of the irreplaceable cultural and spiritual connections to the land as well.”

NCV needs to raise an additional $2 million to reach its fundraising goal and acquire the Timber Shores property. It hopes to reach that goal by the end of the year, after which the group will transfer the land to the Grand Traverse Band for restoration and preservation.

“We are deeply grateful for our close partnership with the Grand Traverse Band. Their expertise and leadership in the stewardship of natural habitats throughout our region reinforces the importance of preserving this special lakeshore property,” said NCV president John Sentell. “This close partnership is key to not only preserving and restoring the property, but connecting all people in the community to the wonders of this remarkable natural asset again.”

The NOAA grant award will also provide substantial funding for long-term restoration of this parcel’s vital coastal, wetland and fish habitats.

“This is the largest, most significant site available for conservation and restoration located on West Grand Traverse Bay. Coastal resiliency, essential fish habitat, critically rare ecosystems, spectacular vistas—it has it all,” said Sentell.

Acquiring the property will preserve and restore critical ecosystems, including strengthening native fisheries, broadening ecosystem resilience, and advancing priorities within the Coastal Grand Traverse Bay Watershed Plan by preserving and restoring 187 acres of critically sensitive habitat including: 0.75 lineal miles of a Lake Michigan tributary, Ennis Creek, within the property contributing the to the broader health of the 5.3 lineal miles of the full creek; 1,800 feet of Laurentian Great Lakes shoreline; 20 acres of Ennis Creek riparian wetland corridor; 42 acres of fractured wetlands and artificial marina created in the late 1970s for the former campground called Timber Shores.

When coupled with the protected Gull Island offshore, the protection of this parcel creates a virtual “land and water nature preserve” on West Bay, said NCV.

The portion of the overall NOAA grant to the Band for land acquisition will be coupled with critical matching funds secured by NCV through private donations.

“With this grant recommendation from NOAA, we are incredibly close to success. As of now, thanks to donations and monies already pledged, raising an additional $2 million more will get this deal done,” Sentell added. “The importance of protecting this site forever will benefit our broad community and the health of our entire region. As a community, we simply must get this done now.”

The landowner has told New Community Vision that if they are unable to make the purchase, plans for an RV campground could move forward again.

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