Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy Acquiring Wooded Wetlands in Arenac County
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Preservation of the ecology of the Saginaw Basin, the largest watershed in the state, is the mission of the Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy.
Saginaw Bay Land Conservancy Area
Michigan has lost 50 percent of its wetlands. Who is doing anything about this creeping ecological disaster? A non-governmental non-profit organization, the Saginaw Bay Land Conservancy (SBLC), that's who.
SBLC is purchasing a wooded wetland in Standish Township, Arenac County, in its latest initiative toward fulfilling its mission of conservation of land, water and quality of life in the Saginaw Basin.
"We are thinking not only of protection of the land but also how that land protection can have a positive impact on water quality," said Charley Curtiss, co-founder and president of the SBLC.
SBLC covers the entire Saginaw Basin, largest wetland area in the state, comprised of about 8,900 square miles in all or parts of 22 counties.
The Standish purchase was reported by Sally Wallace, executive director of the SBLC, speaker at a recent meeting of the Rotary Club of Bay City. SBLC is headquartered at 4044 S. Three Mile Road, Bay City.
Loss of wetlands is one of the biggest threats to the future of the Great Lakes, Wallace states.
Besides saving wetlands, shoreline, lakeplain prairies, forests and non-restorable bogs and fens, SBLC also works to preserve farmland and in historic preservation.
Land easement donations which qualify may be treated as charitable gifts for federal income tax purposes, the SBLC executive explained. The value of the gift may be deducted at an amount up to 30 percent of the donor's adjusted gross income (AGI) in the year of the gift. Gifts in excess of the AGI may be carried over as long as five years. Because a conservation easement lowers the property's fair market value, reductions in local property taxes and estate taxes also may result, she said.
"A conservation easement binds the current landowner and all subsequent owners, allowing your vision of your land -- and your desire to protect it -- to last forever," SBLC asserts.
This latest purchase follows the conveyance last year of a 28 acre parcel with 2,200 feet of frontage on Saginaw Bay to Hampton Township. The property has expanded the Finn Road Park and the township received a grant from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for construction of trails and park facilities.
SBLC participates in several grant programs that provide funding for purchase of land or conservation easements and has partnerships with the Michigan departments of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Quality as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Ducks Unlimited. SBLC also works with local governments in securing Natural Resources Trust Fund funding for purchase of land for public recreation or open space preservation.
Curtiss said the SBLC seeks to expand its membership and raise funds to pay for staff time, supplies and overhead. He said grants cover, for the most part, only direct costs for land or conservation easement acquisition.
"With financial support from the folks who benefit from what we do, we can continue our work with these programs along with expanding our outreach to private landowners interested in the voluntary land protection tools we offer," said Curtiss.
For more information, the SBLC website is at www.sblc-mi.org. Telephone is 989-686-0220. The Saginaw office is at 7400 Bay Road, Saginaw, MI 48604, telephone 989-249-4652.
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