Overview
- Barry Lonik has been a leader in Washtenaw County’s land conservation movement for over 30 years. He founded what is now the Legacy Land Conservancy (formerly the Potawatomi Community Land Trust) and led it for a decade. He also spearheaded efforts to establish public funding for land preservation, which has been approved 15 times by voters across the county, securing over $250 million for open space and farmland protection. Programs like the Washtenaw County Natural Areas Preservation Program (NAPP) have leveraged millions in grants and partnerships, protecting over 9,000 acres, creating 34 nature preserves, and maintaining over 40 miles of trails (Source: Washtenaw County).
- Barry currently staffs the five township-funded land preservation programs (Ann Arbor, Scio, Webster, Dexter, and Northfield) and consults on conservation projects through his firm, Treemore Ecology and Land Services. His work has helped permanently protect over 10,000 acres, including significant properties like the Heller property (71 acres in Webster Township) and the Carpenter dairy farm (470 acres in Barry County). These conservation easements ensure the land remains agricultural while also providing environmental benefits such as watershed protection (Source: The Sun Times News).
- Many of Barry’s projects focus on preserving centennial and sesquicentennial farms, ensuring they remain in agricultural use. Some of his proudest achievements include protecting the 478-acre Braun farm near Saline, the 286-acre Braun farm in Ann Arbor Township, the 160-acre Aprill farm in Scio Township, and the 100-acre Renz farm in Scio Township. Additionally, Barry has worked to transition preserved farms to young farmers, supporting the next generation of sustainable agriculture near Ann Arbor. While specific stories of these farmers are not widely documented, this effort is crucial in maintaining local food production and preventing farmland loss (Source: The Sun Times News).
- Barry recently celebrated his 100th land preservation project, marking a major milestone in his career. His work has had lasting environmental benefits, protecting local watersheds, preserving biodiversity, and ensuring sustainable farmland use for future generations. However, conservation efforts still face major challenges, including development pressure, funding limitations, and balancing growth with preservation. For example, in Scio Township, land preservation groups have struggled to compete with developers offering high prices for farmland. Additionally, urban expansion near Ann Arbor has made it more difficult to maintain large, contiguous areas of protected land (Source: Washtenaw County).
- Barry attributes the success of local conservation efforts to strong voter support for funding proposals and collaborative partnerships across the county. Beyond conservation, he fosters a strong community through music, hosting 27 concerts last year at his home, “Rancho Tranquilico,” a two-acre property near Dexter. Since 2019, ticket sales have surpassed $100,000—all of which goes directly to musicians. While not directly linked to conservation, these concerts help strengthen community ties, which are essential for long-term preservation efforts (Source: We Love Ann Arbor).
Transcription
David Fair: Land preservation efforts in Washtenaw County and Southeast Michigan have helped save acres upon acres of farmland and, along the way, have helped limit development and in the battle against the climate crisis. I'm David Fair, and this is 89 one WEMU's Issues of the Environment. When it comes to local land preservation efforts, there is a name that stands out, and that name is Barry Lonik. Some 30 years ago, Barry was instrumental in creating natural areas preservation programs in our community. He was founder and first executive director of the Legacy Land Conservancy. Barry currently staffs the five township-funded land preservation programs in Washtenaw County's Ann Arbor, Scio, Webster, Dexter and Northfield Townships. And he consults and leads on conservation projects through his firm Treemore Ecology and Land Services. Barry Lonik, good to have you back on the WEMU airwaves!
Barry Lonik: Great to be with you again, David!
David Fair: Well, the impetus for our conversation today is that you've reached a personal milestone. You recently marked the 100th land preservation project in your career! Congratulations to you on that! That's quite something!
Barry Lonik: Thank you! I'm very pleased by that! Actually, there's two landmarks. I also passed 10,000 acres of land that I can say I was responsible for conserving.
David Fair: Well, let's go one by one and cover both of those things. The 100th land preservation project was a 71-acre parcel in Webster Township, but known to many as the Heller property. Tell me about this particular piece of land and what its preservation means to the surrounding area.
Barry Lonik: The Heller property has been in that family ownership for quite a long time now, I think since the 1930s. And they want to keep it in the family as well. It's got a mix of some really good quality farmland on it but also has some beautiful natural features on a really nice woods, two headwater streams that eventually work their way into the Huron River. We actually found a threatened species on the property as well. So, it's just a nice combination of natural features and farmland adjacent to other properties that we've already conserved through other means. So, really a great piece!
David Fair: Now, as you mentioned, you passed another milestone back in December, surpassing 10,000 acres of preserved land. And, again, congratulations! Does getting to that number give you pause for reflection on three decades of work in this arena?
Barry Lonik: Absolutely, it does! Yeah! I mean, it's really the collective effort of everybody in this community of ours from the folks at the Ann Arbor Greenbelt program and the Washtenaw County Natural Areas Preservation Program and all the voters who have supported these millages that have been on the ballot now over 15 times. So, it's really a collective effort for everybody.
David Fair: Well, we'll get into more of that detail in just a moment, but I want to ask you something personal once again. When most of us, or at least when I drive around, I often fail to pay attention to the landscape around me--just getting to where I'm going. I'm curious as to when you drive around and you see a family farm or some open space, how do you take it in?
Barry Lonik: Oh my gosh! Yeah, with a great sense of pride! And in many cases in Webster and Ann Arbor and Scio Townships which have had functional programs now for over 20 years, we do place signs on the property. So, when you drive by, you can say, "Wow, that's a conserved farm! That's always going to be there!" And I get to drive around and say, "That was one that I conserved!" And it's a great feeling!
David Fair: Yeah, I can feel the smile coming through the phone line.
Barry Lonik: (laughs)
David Fair: We're talking with land preservation and conservation with Barry Lonik on WEMU's Issues of the Environment. Now, we obviously can't talk about preservation without talking about money. It can be expensive to purchase some of these properties. And through your decades of work, you've been a driving force in securing public funding for land preservation and conservation easements. To date, those efforts have helped raised over $250 million, if I'm not mistaken. How are those efforts and that money contributing in the battle against climate change?
Barry Lonik: And that's just in Washtenaw County, by the way, David, $250 million of funds that our voters have committed to. Yeah. And so, it's really been part of our focus here in recent years is conserving natural areas in particular that are storing carbon for us now and will continue to store carbon going into the future and also conserving farmland that does also store some carbon in the soil and provides opportunities for new carbon storage, either through better farming practices or converting some of those lands into natural features on them. We're also focusing much more these days on on water quality, recognizing that the City of Ann Arbor gets about 80% of its drinking water from the Huron River at Barton Pond. And so, we're looking more for properties that have water features on them and conserving them. And for all of these, it's properties that don't get covered by pavement where we don't have the opportunity to store carbon, either in the soil or above ground as trees and also has a negative impact on water quality by having pavement run right off into our waterways.
David Fair: Are there prospects on the horizon that may add to our ability to protect those waters?
Barry Lonik: Yeah. Actually, you did an interview with Susan Lacroix, one of my colleagues from Legacy Land Conservancy, just a couple of weeks ago about the Resource Conservation Partnership Program Grant award that we have received from the Federal Natural Resources Conservation Service. Of course, all those federal funds are somewhat in question right now, but that would provide an opportunity for us--a great opportunity for us! It's $25 million nearly of federal funds that would be committed for conservation easements here in Washtenaw County and some surrounding areas as well. And that would just be huge for us to be able to match what we've raised through our local millages.
David Fair: And, you know, we would like to give credit where credit is due. And you mentioned partners and you've mentioned the voting public who has supported these endeavors. What do you think it says about the sense of community in Washtenaw and surrounding counties to develop these kinds of partnerships that have made such a difference in land preservation and conservation easements?
Barry Lonik: Yeah, I think that's really the key message, David, is people around here got information through some of our early educational efforts and our early campaigns and said, "That makes sense to us, and we can afford 50 bucks or 100 bucks to be able to support these efforts." And that's just provided the basis for us to go after all these terrific farms and natural area properties. And then beyond that, it's also the way that the county parks and the greenbelt program and the townships and the land conservancies have all worked together to identify and pursue some of the best quality natural areas and farmland that we have in our area.
David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU's Issues of the Environment. And we're talking with Barry Lonik about his ongoing land preservation projects and programs and the impact it makes in our community. And I do want to come back to money for a moment. With the demand for more housing, including affordable housing, the competition for available space is only growing. Is it becoming increasingly difficult to purchase land against what a developer might be able to afford or offer?
Barry Lonik: You know, a lot of times, these are properties that have been in the same family ownership for a long time, like the Hellers as a great example. And those folks who don't want to see a subdivision on their property. So, a lot of what we do is lay the groundwork by contacting those folks, building relationships with them over a number of years and then we're ready when the family says, "Okay, we're ready to do this. We don't want to see a subdivision on our property. We want to conserve this land." And we've got the funding then to be able to achieve that goal for them, as well as the community.
David Fair: Well, when it comes to funding, you mentioned that there is a lot of uncertainty on what federal funding may look like. What are you most specifically concerned about with the current federal administration and its potential impacts on reliably securing funding toward your end?
Barry Lonik: Yeah, we've received tens of millions of dollars. My own claim is $19 million of federal funds through this program called Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, which is a matching grant program for up to 50% of the appraised value for a conservation easement. And I know that my colleagues here in the county have also received lots of money from that. And then, I mentioned the RCPP Grant award, the $25 million. We've had a couple of other RCPP's in the past for smaller amounts of money. But that's all in flux right now. We just don't know whether those funds are going to be available to us this year or going forward. And that would have a dramatic impact on things. We're fortunate to have these local millages. But it's our ability to leverage funds from federal and state sources in particular that have made our dollars go that much further. So, if those funds, those federal funds disappear, it's going to be harder.
David Fair: The uncertainty is going to continue for some time. And then, reality will set in one way or the other, and we'll have to move forward accordingly. But I do want to end on a more positive note. And once again, in your 30 or so years of work, you've really made a difference: over 10,000 acres and you've just marked 100 preservation projects completed. So, my question is, what is the goal for the next decade?
Barry Lonik: Well, as you may know, Ann Arbor Township just recently renewed its millage for another five years, Webster for ten years and Scio for another ten years. So, we're really focusing on all of those communities and, in particular, on what are the highest quality properties remaining out there, whether they be farmland or natural areas or a mix of them. And where can we fill in blocks of land that we've already started? You know, one of our goals long ago was to create these thousand-acre blocks, and we've got a number of them around the county at this point. What can we add on to them? Where can we create more blocks? That seems to be the number for both natural areas and farmland that make things viable, either as a natural system or as an agricultural system. And then, again, the focus on water quality, making sure that our streams are protected and the natural areas to go along with them: the woods, the wetlands and so forth. That's really the focus for the next decade.
David Fair: Well, Barry, thank you so much for the conversation this today, and congratulations on 100 land preservation projects and 10,000 acres preserved!
Barry Lonik: Thanks, David! Great to be with you!
David Fair: That is Barry Lonik. He is founder of the Legacy Land Conservancy and continues his work as president of Treemore Ecology and Land Services. For more information, stop by our website at wemu.org. Issues of the Environment is produced in partnership with the office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner. And you hear it every Wednesday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station 89 one, WEMU FM, Ypsilanti.
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