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Late in June the Leelanau Conservancy closed on an 80-acre parcel adjacent to the Cedar River Preserve, growing the property to a total of 546 acres. This piece of land has been on the Conservancy’s priority list for nearly 30 years when founders Ed and Bobbie Collins first dreamt of protecting the unique, undisturbed property filled with rare plants and incredible wildlife habitat.

With the Leelanau Conservancy’s Wildflower Rescue Plant Sale just 10 days away, volunteers were on a mission to dig 500 trillium plants in just over an hour. Four workers met up in Northport to car-pool to the Garthe Farm, where owners Gene and Kathy Garthe met them with open arms.

The Leelanau Conservancy’s new three-mile mountain bike trail at Palmer Woods Forest Reserve has officially opened.  Nearly 150 people attended an opening ride and party on Sunday, Nov. 4 in cold, wet conditions to ride the first public flow-style mountain bike trail in Leelanau County.

Exciting news for mountain bikers in Northern Michigan: work to expand Palmer Wood’s Forest Reserve’s trail system with single-track mountain bike trails is slated to begin next month. Flowtrack Mountain Bike Trails, LLC, a professional trail-building company from the Upper Peninsula, has been hired to lead the design and construction of the new trails.

July 15-19 is Water Week at the Glen Arbor Arts Center (GAAC). As part of its exhibition “New Views: Water = Life = Art,” the GAAC offers three events that examine water from different perspectives.

The Leelanau Conservancy has announced that work to expand Palmer Wood’s Forest Reserve’s trail system is slated to begin at the end of this summer. A professional trail-building company will be hired to lead the design and construction of the first new loop added to the existing network of hiking and ski trails.

The Leelanau Conservancy is launching an all-out war on invasive garlic mustard and needs your help. Garlic Mustard is a European native with no natural enemies in Michigan.

The Leelanau Conservancy is getting ready to kick off Earth Week, its annual week-long celebration in honor of Earth Day. Earth Week will begin Monday, April 16, and conclude on Earth Day, Sunday, April 22.

The Leelanau Conservancy, For Love of Water and the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail are three of more than 50 grant recipients that will be named throughout the month of December in what has become a much-anticipated philanthropic drive for Cherry Republic to protect Michigan’s environment and farmland.

Many a nature lover was introduced as a child to the outdoors by a parent or teacher. The outdoors can be just the back yard, but the crucial thing is awakening what Rachael Carson called in her wise and lovely essay of that title A Sense of Wonder. Pheasant hunting with his father first kindled it in local naturalist Rick Halbert. As a teacher and volunteer, he’s spent his life connecting people and nature. A botanist, he knows, loves, and fosters the native plants of our region.