Land Stories The tales behind some of our favorite preserves By Anna Faller Looking for reasons to leave your house? Consider this your open (air) invitation. While we all have our favorite parks and hikes, as summer edges in and more tourists and townies descend, it’s worth keeping a few lesser-trod landscapes in your back pocket. Here we highlight three of our favorite protected lands, selected not only for their sheer size or slightly out-of-the-way location that offer a little extra isolation but also for the unique tales of the faces and families behind them.
ELIZABETH B. HOFFMAN NATURE PRESERVE/ DIANE AND RICHARD DENARDIS FAMILY NATURE PRESERVE COMPLEX
Land conservation is a community effort. At least, that’s the name of the game in northern Michigan. “We get quite a few donations,” says Anne Fleming of Little Traverse Conservancy. “Most of the land that we’ve protected is because somebody has come to us and said, ‘We would really like to do something with this [because] it means so much to us.’ It’s people who just love that land.” But few have been as committed to land conservation as LTC contributor, Elizabeth B. Hoffman. Known as “Betty” to the LTC, Hoffman has helped realize more than a dozen land protection projects to date. But up until recently, she’s preferred to stay anonymous. “She’d done a lot of lands before this one,” says Fleming, “and we’d ask, ‘Betty, can we name this one after you?’ And she’d always say no, that she didn’t need the name.” Then an easement opportunity near her home became available. “We finally
convinced her with this one,” says Fleming. “I think it meant a lot to her, because it’s right down the road from where she lives.” Located along US-31 in Charlevoix County’s Inwood Community, the original 138 acres of the Elizabeth B. Hoffman Nature Preserve had previously been part of a separate conservation easement — one which Hoffman herself helped pioneer. (A conservation easement is a legal tool that private landowners can enact to guarantee the preservation of a particular plot of land. “If they’re concerned about what will happen to it in the future,” says Fleming, “[an easement] limits the amount of development that can happen.”) So, when the original owners were looking to sell, Hoffman was only too happy to lend a hand. In 2017, Betty Hoffman donated the funds that let the Little Traverse Conservancy acquire the original acreage; and in late 2019, she
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added another five. But the complex wasn’t quite complete. Because the LTC monitors every parcel they protect, one of their primary criteria for conservancy is land connection. “If [a parcel] is on land that’s already protected, “says Fleming, “then you’re expanding that protection — you’re doing what’s called ‘ecosystem management.’ The bigger, the better!” In 2018, Diane and Richard DeNardis, a couple of northern Michigan lovers, funded the purchase of the 63acre parcel immediately adjacent to the Hoffman preserve. The result? A whopping 206 total acres of pristine forest, fields, and protected farmland. Set snugly along the US-31 corridor, one of the LTC’s most significant preservation projects, the Hoffman and DeNardis Family Complex features the characteristic hills and lowlands of the region, as well as the breathtaking lake-
views they provide. The complex also includes several glacial erratics (rocks from other places deposited by glaciers as they moved through the region), and the healthy mix of meadows and hardwoods means a variety of habitats for local wildlife. But it’s the variety that sets this complex apart. Featuring just over 1.5 miles of accessible trail on the Hoffman Preserve, visitors can enjoy a lengthy hike before breaking for a pint at Bier’s Inwood Brewery, or exploring the family’s infamous art gallery, both of which are just steps away. A real multi-tasker of an estate, this complex is a Michigan must-see. Find it: From the intersection of M-66 and US-31 at the south end of Charlevoix, travel 5.5 miles south on US-31. Parking is on the left (east) side of the road, just north of the art gallery. www.landtrust.org
