Land conservancy offers to swap 40 acres of Lake Dubonnet for 80 in Hoosier Valley
Dec. 3—TRAVERSE CITY — Swapping one bit of land for another will allow Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy to protect a bit of the Boardman/Ottaway River watershed.
That's the plan behind a proposed swap that state Natural Resources Commission members will consider when it meets Thursday. The land conservancy is offering 40 acres of land near Lake Dubonnet, plus $22,000, in exchange for 80 acres near Chum's Corner.
Conservancy spokeswoman Jennifer Jay said, in an email, the smaller parcel's former owners gifted it to the conservancy in summer 2021.
That square of land is surrounded by state forest and sits north of Lake Dubonnet, a dammed pond with two state forest campgrounds on its west shore, maps show.
Jay said the land conservancy accepted it with the idea of offering it in exchange for other state-owned land the Department of Natural Resources deemed surplus. It's something the department does periodically for parcels that are separated from other state-owned lands, have minimal natural resource values or both, according to the DNR.
What the conservancy wants in exchange may not look like much from maps and aerial pictures — the 80-acre rectangle is crossed by two roads and a short length of railroad tracks. It sits just west of a power transmission line corridor on one side and a new subdivision on the other.
But it's also crossed by a half-mile of an unnamed coldwater stream that feeds the Boardman/Ottaway River, plus wetlands and a steep ridge that would be sensitive to development, said Chris Sullivan, the conservancy's director of land protection.
"Not only are there those water quality considerations in that creek and the implications they have for the Boardman, but those forested wetland creek corridors like that are important wildlife habitat and migration corridors," he said.
Sullivan said swaps like these are a common tool the nonprofit uses when the DNR determines it no longer makes sense to keep isolated pieces of property.
Rather than "roll the dice" when the land goes to public auction, the conservancy offers another piece of land the state may want in exchange, Sullivan said. It must pay the difference in value if there is one — hence the extra $22,000 on top of land valued at $160,000.
The swaps can be complex, Sullivan said. Another in 2021 involved trading a handful of properties, including land on the Jordan and Betsie rivers, in exchange for 80 acres on the Cedar River in Antrim County.
The conservancy placed a conservation easement on the land on Cedar River and resold it, and plans the same for the 80 acres in Hoosier Valley, Sullivan said. That easement for the latter would allow a single home site.
"That would have no appreciable impact on the conservation value of that property, but it would prevent a bunch of residential development on steep slopes on either side of that stream," he said, adding the homes' septic systems and lawn fertilizer would hurt the stream.
Proceeds from reselling the land would go to the conservancy's land protection fund, which pays for the surveys, appraisals and other due diligence behind land acquisitions.
Selling the land makes more sense than holding onto it, Sullivan said. For one, the conservancy has limited resources for managing its preserves. Plus, the land's slopes and wetlands would make it a poor spot for hiking trails. It's also not far from Hoosier Valley's wide swaths of state forest.
Staff with the DNR recommended approving the transaction, according to a memo.
