Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy (SWMLC) announces that, through a combination of pledges and gifts from hundreds of donors, it has met the $125,000 Challenge from the Carls Foundation toward the protection and stewardship of the 457-acre LaGrange Valley Wetlands (former Lake LaGrange) property.
Thanks to the generosity of many conservation-minded people, and the Carls Foundation, SWMLC has the additional $250,000 it needs to purchase, protect, and care for this special property in perpetuity.
Formerly known as Lake LaGrange, the spectacular LaGrange Valley Wetlands property includes a huge, high-quality, intact wetland and is home to two species that are on the federal endangered species list, as well as numerous others listed by the State of Michigan as rare or threatened. Despite centuries of settlement, farming and development in southwest Michigan, parts of Cass and St. Joseph Counties are still home to a wealth of expansive and wild acreage, protecting biodiversity and rural character important to the sense of place and ecology of the region.
LaGrange Valley Wetlands, identified as a “biodiversity hotspot” in SWMLC’s Climate Resilience Strategic Conservation Plan, is adjacent and across the street from Edward Lowe Foundation’s wild, protected, 2,000-acre Big Rock Valley, and near the Jones Conservation Area Hub. Dowagiac and Talkie Creeks meander through the prime fen habitat and several upland islands are graced by very large and beautiful hardwood trees, where a pair of bald eagles continues to nest.
The funds raised this summer will enable SWMLC to match the Endangered Species Act funding to acquire the property and begin to build a much-needed stewardship fund to take care of the property over the long-term. Once acquisition is complete, the next step for SWMLC will be restoring the property which will mean removing the most aggressive invasive plant species (such as the non-native wetland grass called ‘phragmites’) that pose a serious threat to LaGrange Valley Wetlands’ rare and threatened native plants and animals, as well as to neighboring properties. The final goal for SWMLC will be rewilding the property over the long-term, which means helping the landscape return to its natural, wild state – including the plants and animals that have historically lived there.
“We are so excited to finally announce that we have raised the funds we need to protect this special property forever,” stated SWMLC President and Executive Director Mike Larson. “We are incredibly grateful to the Carls Foundation and to all of the generous people who gave to make this project happen.”
The LaGrange Valley Wetlands will be SWMLC’s largest nature preserve to date. Due to the extremely high-quality nature of this habitat and its ability to sustain many sensitive species, it will likely become one of SWMLC’s limited access “refuge” preserves. SWMLC is exploring the future possibility of a public viewing area to provide people with scenic views into the preserve to help connect them with the property, but without disturbing the many rare plants and animals that live there.
“SWMLC is overwhelmed by the support of the community and our dedicated partners including the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Edward Lowe Foundation, the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi, the Department of Natural Resources, the Cass County Conservation District, Cass County Parks and Recreation, and several individual community members,” emphasized Mike Larson. “It is only with the foresight and passion of so many people that we are able to protect this place for countless future generations. We hope that hundreds of years from now, bald eagles will still soar overhead, rattlesnakes will sun themselves on an open bank, and brown trout will continue to swim through the cold clear water of the Dowagiac Creek.”
To learn more about the LaGrange Valley Wetlands project or Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy, please see SWMLC’s webpage at https://swmlc.org.
