Land Protection Strategies

The Nature Conservancy protects land based on specific goals and science-based criteria, including protecting biodiversity and creating connected corridors of protected lands and waters. The Conservancy protects significant natural areas around the state in the following ways:

• Acquiring land through donation and purchase (these lands become nature preserves);
• Partnering with private landowners to create conservation easements on their land;
• Assisting municipalities, counties, the state of Michigan, and the National Forest Service in the creation of protected parks and natural areas; and
• Assisting landowners in the management of their own private property.

Our experienced and dedicated land protection team works closely with landowners and other stakeholders to determine land protection strategies that meet both their and the Conservancy’s goals. Once land has been preserved, we ensure the long-term health of it by employing a comprehensive ecological restoration plan.

Learn more about our preserves by browsing the list below.

Want to see more? Watch videos of our beautiful preserves.

Preserves

(Arranged geographically, north to south)

Keweenaw Peninsula/Upper Peninsula
Helmut and Candis Stern Preserve at Mt. Baldy
Bete Grise Wetlands Preserve
Mary Macdonald Preserve at Horseshoe Harbor

Central Upper Peninsula
Anne and Cameron Waterman Preserve at Mt. Benison
Echo Lake Nature Preserve
Laughing Whitefish Lake Preserve
Haunted Forest Preserve
Two Hearted River Forest Reserve
McMahon Lake Preserve

Northern Lake Huron
Carl A. Gerstacker Nature Preserve at Dudley Bay
John Arthur Woollam Preserve
Maxton Plains Preserve
Grass Bay Preserve

West Michigan
Zetterberg Preserve at Point Betsie
Ross Coastal Plain Marsh Preserve
Paw Paw Prairie Fen Preserve

Southeast Michigan
Grand River Fen Preserve
Nan Weston Nature Preserve at Sharon Hollow
Ives Road Fen Preserve
Erie Marsh Preserve