Pitcher Plant in Snow

Lake Superior Magazine's
2004 Achievement Award

Honoring:
The Nature Conservancy

Often when searching for an appropriate nominee for our annual Lake Superior Magazine Achievement Award, we try to find a successful model - either individual or organization - that can be replicated elsewhere around the lake and is improving the well being of the lake and its residents.

This year, the model that we’ve chosen is an organization that already has representation in each of the Lake Superior states - Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota - and also has a partnership blossoming with a group in northwestern Ontario as well as with other land trusts around the lake.

“The Nature Conservancy’s regional offices in Marquette, Michigan, Ashland, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota, consistently undertake preservation projects in the Lake Superior basin with attainable and well thought-out goals,” says Editor Konnie LeMay. The Conservancy has purchased more than 40,000 acres toward those ends.

We admire many aspects of The Nature Conservancy approach. Rather than spreading resources too thinly, the Conservancy chooses tightly-defined goals - specific plants, animals and landscapes that need protection - then puts its energy into targeted projects to achieve those goals.

The Conservancy often uses a combination of outright land purchase, cooperative agreements and education to meet its goals. Its efforts usually build understanding and unite groups rather than causing further divisions. It also reasonably considers human land uses that will build economic stability (and hence a safer “environment” for the environment) while meeting its conservation goals. It often allows compatible public access and use of its lands.

One example of its admirable work is The Conservancy’s efforts in preserving the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Seeing shoreline development as a threat to ecosystems, plants and animals in the area (the boreal forest, peatlands, alpine bistwort, pale Indian paintbrush, rayless mountain ragwort, black bear, peregrine falcon and tawny crescent), the regional office has worked to acquire land, encourage conservation management of public and private forests and engage the community in natural resource management. Currently it counts more than 10,000 acres in conservation management including five miles of lake shoreline.

This is just one of numerous examples of The Nature Conservancy’s work within the Lake Superior basin. Another of its larger targeted areas within the basin is the 7,465 acres of the Sand Lake/Seven Beavers Preserve, at the headwaters of the St. Louis River about 35 miles north of Two Harbors, Minnesota. The Conservancy purchased this area about three years ago, and will emphasize management and restoration, continuing to pay taxes on the land and allowing trail access.
In the Chequamegon Bay, Wisconsin, watershed, the Conservancy has protected more than 26,000 acres, most of which will be transferred to other organizations for preservation and management.

For the variety of successful conservation efforts specifically in our region, we are delighted to honor The Nature Conservancy’s regional offices in Duluth, Marquette and Ashland with the 2004 Lake Superior Magazine Achievement Award.

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