Thumb Land Conservancy: Wandering with Chris Walker

TLC Philosophy

The Thumb Land Conservancy (TLC) was formed in 2008 to provide an organization dedicated to filling the gap of natural area preservation in Michigan's Thumb. Although much attention has been given to a few areas near Lake Saint Clair and along Saginaw Bay, the interior of the Thumb has been largely ignored.

There is a general misconception that little is worth saving north of Detroit because of urban development and agriculture. While much of the landscape has been drastically altered, many high quality natural areas remain. Some habitats are nearly pristine, resembling conditions that existed before European settlement about 200 years ago.

Regardless of condition, the extensive destruction makes preservation even more critical in the Thumb. Small, degraded habitat fragments can be restored and expanded, and often serve as isolated havens for rare plant species. We believe all natural landscapes are important locally because they reflect a unique combination of history and features particular to that location. Many benefits of nature are obtained and enjoyed only locally. We believe it is especially important for children to have natural areas nearby where they can play, grow, and learn.

TLC is carrying on a tradition in the Thumb. In 1952, Macomb and Saint Clair Counties were the birthplace of what became the Michigan Nature Association (MNA), the first statewide land preservation group in Michigan. MNA was led for many years by the late Bertha Daubendiek of Kenockee Township in Saint Clair County, and is one of the few organizations that has protected land in the Thumb, with 18 sanctuaries here.

TLC Sanctuaries

Since forming in late 2008, the TLC has acquired three sanctuaries totaling about 68 acres: the 18-acre Dead End Woods Sanctuary in Fort Gratiot Township; the 38.5-acre Gerrits Sanctuary in Ira Township; and the 11.5-acre Peltier Beach Ridge Sanctuary in Fort Gratiot Township. So far, all TLC preserves are in Saint Clair County only because opportunities have arisen there. Our goal is to eventually protect land in every county of the Thumb.

Please contact the TLC if you are interested in donating land or a conservation easement. The TLC will try to help you protect any land you are interested in.

17.6 Acres in Fort Gratiot Township, Saint Clair County

The Dead End Woods Sanctuary was acquired by TLC from the Saint Clair County Drain Commissioner, Fred Fuller, in December 2008. As a condition for obtaining a wetland permit from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for the Huffman Drain and Bunce Creek drain project, Fred agreed to preserve nearly 12 acres of wetland in the Dead End Woods as mitigation by placing a conservation easement on the property. As mitigation options were being considered, the owner of one of the Dead End Woods parcels approached Fred with an offer to sell the land at a reasonable price. The MDEQ confirmed the presence of a large amount of wetland on the property and found that it is a high quality habitat. Fred then acquired adjacent land with additional wetland to fulfill all of the mitigation for the current phase of the drain project. As a means of satisfying MDEQ requirements for long-term monitoring and stewardship of the wetland, the two Dead End Woods parcels were then transferred to the TLC, relieving the Drain Commissioner from further responsibility for this land.

At 44.5, the Floristic Quality Index calculated for the Dead End Woods ranks well above 35, indicating a natural area of statewide significance. Some higher quality or interesting species that are not routinely encountered in natural areas of the region include Maidenhair Fern, Spikenard, Richweed, Hazelnut, Black Ash, Butternut, Spicebush, Tulip Tree, Cardinal Flower, Indian Pipe, Black Gum, Sycamore, Christmas Fern, Broad-leaved Goldenrod, Foamflower, and Eastern Hemlock.

38.5 Acres in Ira Township, Saint Clair County

On July 16, 2009, the TLC acquired its second nature sanctuary, the Gerrits Sanctuary, a generous donation from Lois Gerrits, the widow of the late Dr. James F. Gerrits. The closing was held at the Law Offices of Timothy J. Lozen, with attorney Anna Kovar and TLC executive board members William Collins and Terry Gill present. Ullenbruch Flowers and Gifts of Port Huron kindly donated a nice bouquet of flowers to express our appreciation to Mrs. Gerrits.

The Gerrits Sanctuary is 38.5 acres of southern mesic and southern swamp forest with old-field to the north. Crapaud Creek flows through the north end of the property, which is located only about ¾ mile north of Anchor Bay and Lake Saint Clair. Such coastal habitat is critical for migratory birds and insects that move along the Great Lakes.

The sanctuary is located along the east boundary of the City of New Baltimore and Macomb County in Ira Township, Saint Clair County. Although development has taken a toll on nearby land, the forest on the sanctuary is mature, contains many high quality woodland species, and is part of what appears to be the largest and least fragmented forest tract remaining along the Great Lakes coastline from Ohio north through the Algonac area, excluding Grosse Ile near Detroit, and Walpole Island on the Ontario side.

Dr. Gerrits was well known in Saint Clair County. He was co-pilot of a bomber in World War II, and later a fighter and test pilot. Because of his war experiences, he became an outspoken critic of war. He and Lois twice voluntarily went to Vietnam in the 1960’s, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and Catholic Church, to provide civilian medical care to the people of both South and North Vietnam. Lois shared several stories about those times after our closing. The TLC will feature more about Dr. and Lois Gerrits in the future.

11.5 Acres in Fort Gratiot Township, Saint Clair County

On June 28, 2010, the TLC acquired its third preserve, the 11.5-acre Peltier Beach Ridge Sanctuary in Fort Gratiot Township, Saint Clair County. The sanctuary is located south of Metcalf Road, along the east side of the Detroit Water Board property. The parcel was given to the TLC by Ray and Nancy Peltier to satisfy State of Michigan wetland mitigation requirements for an expansion of the Hamzavi Dermatology office in Fort Gratiot. As with our first preserve, the Dead End Woods Sanctuary in Fort Gratiot, the Peltier Beach Ridge Sanctuary is protected by a State of Michigan conservation easement. In accepting ownership of the mitigation property, the TLC agreed to be responsible for all monitoring, management, and long-term stewardship.

The Peltier Beach Ridge Sanctuary is a high quality wetland and upland complex with a unique geologic history, unique plant and animal community, significant Great Lakes coastal habitat, good restoration potential, and a great addition to the TLC preserve lands. The sanctuary is a small part of a much larger and ecologically unique beach ridge and swale landscape, a long, narrow formation within about 1 mile of the Lake Huron shoreline, extending from Port Huron into Sanilac County. The landscape began forming about 11,500 years ago as the last stages of the Wisconsinan glacier melted back and early Lake Huron was about 30 feet higher than today. About 1,500 years later, the melting glacier uncovered a new outlet from the Georgian Bay and the water dropped over 400 feet. The massive weight of glacial ice depressed the earth’s crust for thousands of years, but as it melted, the crust slowly rose and continues today. By 4,500 years ago, the drainage outlet from Georgian Bay raised such that early Lake Huron filled to the Lake Nipissing stage and back to the old shoreline of 7,000 years previous. Great Lakes drainage was gradually limited to the Mississippi River through the old Chicago outlet, and then to the Saint Clair River which rapidly down-cut and lowered the Great Lakes to modern levels, leaving a series of beach ridges as the water dropped.

The landscape consists of a series of mostly forested upland sand ridges and mucky wetland troughs or swales between. In Saint Clair County, the sand ridges average about 40 to 50 feet wide and 3 to 4 feet above the adjoining swales. The swales are usually about as wide as the ridges, but some are a few hundred feet wide. The beach ridge and swale landscape provides not only unique habitat, but also a record of Michigan’s post-glacial past.

On the Peltier Beach Ridge Sanctuary, wetland swales are covered by Silver Maple, Green Ash and Black Ash, the larger ash trees now all dead due to the Emerald Ash Borer, Eastern Cottonwood, and American Elm. The upland beach ridges are covered largely by Black Cherry, Bigtooth Aspen, and American Basswood, with scattered Black Oak, possibly hybridized with Northern Pin Oak, and a few Northern White-cedar. The lower ridge bases are lined with Paper Birch and covered by an unusual concentration of Alternate-leaved Dogwood.

Unique species on the sanctuary include Purple-flowering Raspberry, Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchid, and the Eastern Hog-nosed Snake. Purple-flowering Raspberry is the Lower Peninsula’s equivalent of the Upper Peninsula’s Thimbleberry, thought to be native to only 7 shoreline counties in Michigan. Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchid grows in a variety of habitats, but in Saint Clair County is largely restricted to the moist ridge bases and mucky swales of this landscape. The Eastern Hog-nosed Snake is a special reptilian inhabitant that prefers the more open sand of dunes and disturbed ground such as along the south end of the sanctuary. When aggravated, the snakes flatten their necks like a cobra, and then sometimes rolling over and play dead with their mouths hanging open. They can look imposing, but are harmless.

One of the most critical functions of this coastal forest habitat is the support it provides to an abundance of migratory birds as they move north and south along the Lake Huron shoreline. The spring and summer breeding bird population is very abundant and diverse in this area, especially the forest warblers. Several species of warblers have been identified on the Peltier Beach Ridge Sanctuary.

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Wandering with Chris Walker

Bill Collins, Executive Director, Thumb Land Conservancy

On July 16, TLC Board Member, Chris Walker and I journeyed to Tuscola County for the day with the aim of photographing natural features and points of interest for future TLC guides and presentations. Home for the summer with his mother near Lexington, Chris and I agreed we should meet up for an excursion before he headed back to Minnesota State University, Moorhead, where he teaches photography as an Assistant Professor in the School of Communications and Journalism.

Chris Walker's faculty listing on the Minnesota State University web site. That must be his faculty face because the Chris I know looks more mischievous, and cynical perhaps.

Without a specific plan, other than a few spots I wanted Chris to photograph, we basically covered northwestern Tuscola County, looping from the Caro area, north to Saginaw Bay at Bay Park, and back down. We decided on Tuscola County because we don’t get up there as much as we’d like, and with impressive features like the Cass River, glacial moraines, extensive forest, and the Saginaw Bay, I hadn’t given Tuscola County due attention. I’ve often passed through on M-46 on my way to and from northern Michigan. Occasionally, I’ve worked near Caro, Vassar, and up on the Saginaw Bay, and have done some exploring, but there’s never enough time. Since moving to the Brown City - Marlette area in 2004, I’ve discovered the Vassar and Tuscola State Game Areas, Juniata, Wahjamega, Indianfields, Cork Pine, and lakeplain prairie remnants near Quanicassee, just to name a few.

Our approximate route.

Chris Walker and I first met in July of 1978 while working on Boy Scout summer camp staff at Silver Trails Scout Reservation near Jeddo. I had my choice of working on the rifle and archery range, or with Chris as his assistant teaching nature. As a kid growing up in the woods around my parents’ home in Fort Gratiot, I was fascinated by nature, but had little formal education and knew next to nothing. My enthusiasm was my greatest strength. So there I was, at the age of 15, working at Silver Trails for the summer, helping Chris teach merit badge courses in environmental science, bird study, botany, forestry, and soil and water conservation. In our spare time, Chris taught me almost every tree, shrub, and wildflower on the camp, and several forest birds by call. I remember the specific plants he taught me, and even where they were located on the camp – American Beech, Sugar Maple, Yellow Birch, American Basswood, Black Cherry, Eastern Hemlock, Tuliptree, American Hornbeam, Witch-hazel, Spicebush, Poison Ivy, Virginia Creeper, Spotted Jewelweed, Blue Cohosh, Solomon’s-seal, Wild Leek, Hepatica, Bloodroot … at least I already knew White Trillium, Red Trillium, Mayapple, and Yellow Trout-lily from the woods back home but probably not the actual names. The bird calls – Ovenbird, Eastern Wood Pewee, Eastern Phoebe, Barred Owl, and more. Chris was so encouraging, I picked up on everything quickly. We worked together again in 1979, Chris the Nature Director and me the Assistant. In the summer of 1980, I was the Nature Director and received my famous nickname, “Yoda”. Except for two years, I continued working on summer camp staff through 1986.

In the off-season, Chris and I often wandered southern Sanilac and northern Saint Clair Counties. He always had an itinerary with somewhere, something, or someone to visit and photograph, and I was always an eager tag-along for the day. Usually, it was birds. Sometimes a particular wildflower in full bloom, or special tree, a mushroom, an old barn, an old Chickadee lady, and so on. I remember sitting with his parents in the living room of their home near Lexington, watching slide shows of Chris’s latest finds. His parents made me feel like an adopted member of the Walker family.

As I recall, it was in 1979 that Chris introduced me to the Blue Water Audubon and then BWA President, Bob “Bio Bob” Collins, who would be my teacher at Saint Clair County Community College a few years later, my first formal education in biology. Bob was not related, but had the same name as my father and occasionally we would receive a phone call at our house from someone looking for Professor Bob Collins. My mother was quite surprised when one day, Chris and the other Bob Collins showed up at our house. Blue Water Audubon opened a whole new world of birds and people I had no idea existed. At the first meeting I attended, BWA voted on a resolution regarding proposed oil drilling in the Pigeon River State Forest. This felt like a very important group. There I was introduced to Bill and Harriet Davidson, who traveled the world, sometimes just to see one species of bird.

In 1979 and 1980, I helped Chris with PBb – Project Bluebird, maintaining a few hundred Bluebird nest boxes across southeastern Sanilac and northeastern Saint Clair Counties. You get an idea of Chris’ warped sense of humor if you consider that, only a few years before, Michigan experienced a widely publicized environmental catastrophe caused by the accidental contamination of livestock feed, and subsequently most of us in Michigan, with PBB – Polybrominated Biphenyl, a fire-retardant and potential carcinogen. Everyone in Michigan knew about PBB. I guess the Michigan United Conservation Clubs of Michigan didn't mind the name, because they awarded him the Youth Conservationist of the Year award in 1980 for his PBb work.

Chris turned his lens toward me a few times, and thankfully so. In May of 1983, Chris had me, my sister Pam, and my brother Dan, pose together in the Port Huron State Game Area during the annual Blue Water Audubon spring bird banding. This is the absolute best photo of the three of us together.

Me, Pam, and Dan in the Port Huron State Game Area for the Blue Water Audubon spring bird banding, May 1983. Photo by Chris Walker.

Future wetland ecologist and consultant, me, circa 1983-84. On an oxbow pond along the east side of Black River, just south of Jeddo Road, near Silver Trails Scout Reservation. Photo by Chris Walker.

Forward to our July 16 trip to Tuscola County. Chris and I hadn’t cut loose like this since the early 1980’s. We’ve both kept ourselves extremely busy, but we set aside this day for a Walker and Collins Ride Again reunion. I’d rather not be 35 years older, but otherwise, not much has changed. He still has an expensive camera and I still have a cheap one. I trust that I will get Chris’ photos when his university schedule slows down, maybe around Christmas. You can view some of his long-term projects on his web site at http://www.ChrisWalkerPhoto.com or, if he’ll friend you on Facebook, you can see his very latest work there.

In the meantime, here’s a few that I took with my cell phone:

To the owners of Pennywick Tree Farm: If you are still wondering who those strange individuals were hanging around your Santa, it was us.

Chris started by sitting down on the job.

OK. Chris was sitting to photograph my favorite hand pump water fountain at the Cass River Roadside Park along M-46.

The Cass River at the Cass River Roadside Park along M-46.

The Cass River with almost-blooming Joe-pye-weed at the Cass River Roadside Park along M-46.

Chris Walker on the banks of the Cass River at the Cass River Roadside Park along M-46.

On a moraine ridge top at Lobdell Road and Hunt Road in Fremont Township, Tuscola County.

Chris shooting a Red-winged Blackbird.

Chris shooting near the bottom of a moraine ridge on Lobdell Road in Fremont Township.

To the Dietz family, owners of these roughly 100-year old farm buildings along the north side of Blackmore Road: You have a ready-made museum and minor tourist attraction waiting to happen here with some very interesting structures and artifacts.

Some of the structures are rough, but just need a little TLC.

Blackmore Road heading up a moraine ridge.

The mid-afternoon heat apparently got to Chris, revealing an inner jerky-smoking boss man persona I had not encountered before. I had no choice but to become his wiseguy sidekick yes-man. Strangely, he still retained an extensive knowledge and appreciation of the natural world.

The Cass River at Caro.

Saginaw Bay at Bay Park.

Chris shooting on Saginaw Bay at Bay Park.

Saginaw Bay at Bay Park. Industrial structures in Bay City are visible on the horizon.

Chris shooting frogs at Bay Park.

Saginaw Bay at Bay Park. The sign is a reminder that all road ends along the Great Lakes are public access points. Improving access is an issue that the TLC would like to work on in the future.

The Cass River just northeast of Vassar.

Chris shooting Wild Bergamot near the Cass River.

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