George and Sue Lane’s legacy: A nature preserve in Gladwin County STEVE GRIFFIN For the Daily News George A. Lane, in parallel with a sterling career as a chemist at The Dow Chemical Company, pursued trout fishing and conservation with similar focus, expertise and passion. Pictured are George and Sue Lane. (Photo provided)
That led to his role as a founder and longtime member of Midland’s Leon P. Martuch Chapter of the international conservation group Trout Unlimited. And to his deep affection for his property and cabin along the North Branch of the Cedar River in Gladwin County. When Sue (Pulkiner) Haske married the widowed Lane in 2000, she brought a passion for conservation and nature that she traced to her spiritual roots and her long marriage to the late Gary Haske, a legendary and lifelong Midland hunter and angler. So, as the Lanes explored their "second act" together, they not only enjoyed George’s cabin refuge on the Cedar and the natural setting on which it stood, they became more and more committed to preserving its natural charms and setting the stage for others to enjoy and be inspired by them. Both Sue and George, long my friends, are gone now, but their conservationist visions live on in the George and Sue Lane Preserve. The Little Forks Conservancy and TU’s Martuch Chapter were to hold a
The Little Forks Conservancy and TU’s Martuch Chapter were to hold a ribbon-cutting in late August to celebrate creation of the Conservancy’s preserve: 270 acres boasting 2.5 miles of trails and nearly a mile of frontage on the Cedar’s North branch. Soft-opened in 2018 and further developed since, it is the conservancy’s first project outside of Midland County, fulfilling a longheld goal of the group. 8
The George and Sue Lane Preserve can be accessed from a parking area located on Shearer Road approximately one-third mile south of M-18. For more information visit www.littleforks.org. (Photo by Steve Griffen/For the Daily News) Senior Scope | September 2021
