Raisin Valley Land Trust
Preserving natural areas, rural and historical features of the River Raisin Watershed

Summer 2005RVLT Home PageVol. 13, No. 2

Manchester’s New Backyard

anchester has a new backyard. Washtenaw County's Leonard Preserve is quietly inviting you to visit, to look around. Two hundred and five acres. Fields, woods and wetlands - The River.

A few of us remember families who worked and played on those acres.

It has changed, and will continue to. Now that it belongs to all of us, what will we make of it? It belongs to Washtenaw County, but really, it belongs to us - those who visit, pay attention, and nurture it. It is a live canvas.

Can we add some trails and convert some of the cultivated areas into something more closely resembling what it once was? Can we let our spirits guide us into making this "passive" preserve into something that is an inspiration for many generations to come? Every kid should have the opportunity to know and love a place that is full of nature and magic, removed from the day-to-day structure of their homes. A place to run and hide, to get lost - and found. And those kids grow up to yearn for the same thing.

County parks staff are deciding where trails should go, and making plans to plant trees to increase the riparian buffer, to plant prairie grasses in one of the old fields, and to burn in some areas to help restore some of the native prairie species.

Through its membership in the Stewardship Network, the RVLT will be participating, at least as volunteer laborers, in the work to be done on the Leonard Preserve. If you would like to join us, please contact Sybil Kolon at 734-428-8108 or skolon@rvlt.org.

If you'd just like to wander on your own, the entrance is just beyond the dead end of North Union Street (near the west end of town). The access road and small parking lot have just been completed. A sign will soon be put up at the parking lot and the gate will be moved just north of the parking lot to limit access to the farmstead and 40 acres described below. Until a trail from the parking lot to the existing trails within the preserve is completed, you may use the access road that goes toward the house, turning right to follow the split rail fence. A map will soon be available on the county's web site.

Activities at the Leonard Preserve.
Sunday, August 21, 10:00 a.m
In Search of Prairie Wildflowers and Grasses
Saturday, Oct. 15, 10:00 a.m. to noon
Workday to remove Woody Invasives,
12:30 p.m. to 2:00
Hiking the Hills of the Leonard Preserve.

But what about the house?

The farmstead was purchased by The Nature Conservancy to help facilitate the county's purchase of the adjacent 205 acre preserve (the county NAPP millage cannot be used to buy or maintain buildings). It is currently for sale (see listing at www.surovell.com).

The terms of the sale will include a conservation easement that would protect natural features, while allowing for the development of a comfortable modern living space.

Meanwhile, a new committee of the RVLT has convened to consider ways to acquire the property as a resource for the Manchester community. We imagine a place that would at once preserve the history of the location through all of its uses, and present advanced ideas for new land uses. In practice, it would serve as a common meeting and teaching place for a wide variety of groups or organizations. If you would like to help make this dream a reality, contact landuse.museum@umich.edu.

 
 

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