Transcription
Rebekah Warren: This is 89.1 WEMU. For more than three decades, Issues of the Environment has explored the environmental challenges and opportunities that affect our communities, our state and our planet. I'm Rebekah Warren, and today, we're looking at what it takes to protect land permanently and why that work matters long after the original conservationists have stepped away. In January of this year, the Raisin Valley Land Trust completed a six-year transition, transferring its remaining assets and conservation easements to Legacy Land Conservancy before formally dissolving. The result is continued protection for approximately 600 acres of natural habitat across 16 properties in Washtenaw, Lenawee and Jackson counties. That achievement represents decades of grassroots organizing, volunteer service and a recognition that protecting land is about much more than acquiring property. It also requires the long-term commitment and resources to ensure those protections endure. Joining me today is Sybil Kolon, a long-time local conservationist and one of the co-founders of the Raisin Valley Land Trust. Sybil has spent decades working to protect Michigan's natural resources, including land in the River Raisin watershed. Sybil, welcome to Issues of the Environment!
Sybil Kolon: Thank you, Rebekah. I really appreciate covering this topic. It's near and dear to my heart.
Rebekah Warren: Sybil, you and your colleagues spent more than 30 years building the Raisin Valley Land Trust and protecting land parcel by parcel. In January, that chapter came to a close when the organization transferred its conservation responsibilities to Legacy Land Conservancy. Can you walk us through why that transition became necessary and how you reached the decision that Legacy was the right organization to carry your important work forward?
Sybil Kolon: We formed Raisin Valley Land Trust. Woody Kellum and I were the incorporators back in 1992, and that was an outgrowth of a more local Manchester group that we had formed, and we had decided that we wanted to do something more long-lasting. And we were just, at that point, learning about conservation easements and how those can protect land basically in perpetuity. So, there was an effort back in 2018 to consolidate some of the smaller land trusts, larger ones, that was started by Heart of the Lakes, which is a Michigan group that kind of works with all the Michigan land trusts, and they were doing that in southeast Michigan. And that effort started, and we were paired with Legacy Land Conservancy at that point. But it kind of paused for a while, and then never got restarted because I think there were some leadership changes at some of the groups. A year later, in 2019, Woody and I got the okay of our board to explore with Legacy, directly between the two of us, making that process happen, because we basically were all volunteer. We were having some issues with some of the easements that we had. It requires a lot of money. It requires lawyers. You know, we were very committed to continuing, making sure that those conservation easements would continue, and Legacy was the logical group.
Rebekah Warren: I want to pick up on this theme about enforcing conservation easements and why that can be challenging. I think many people think of land conservation as simply purchasing a property or establishing a conservation easement and then simply leaving the land alone. But the experience of the Raisin Valley Land Trust showed that protecting land permanently can be much more complicated. As your organization grew, some easement violations became difficult for a small, volunteer-led board to address. What does long-term land stewardship actually involve?
Sybil Kolon: Basically, you establish a relationship with the landowner. You have to work through the whole process with them to establish a conservation easement, basically a deed restriction, that will guide the use of that property in perpetuity. There can be some allowances for some development or expansion of a house or building a pole barn or that kind of thing, but the conservation values of the natural resources, those can continue. The owners can continue to own and enjoy and operate the property, but they cannot develop the property. They've basically given away or potentially been paid for their development rights. And so, Raisin Valley Land Trust or any land conservancy, when they sign an easement like that, we are taking responsibility forever. And so we, on an annual basis, would go out to these properties and walk the property. We have a baseline environmental, baseline assessment that basically determines and documents the condition of the property at the time. Obviously, nature is going to continue, trees are going to grow, that kind of thing. So we would go in annually and make sure there were no problems. And usually, those problems didn't start to occur until after the property changed hands. So it's very much a long-term process. And we began to realize that we just, our board was mostly older. We were able to pull in a few younger people, but we just didn't have the capacity. And it became apparent to us that we needed to find a home for those easements. So, Legacy was the logical choice.
Rebekah Warren: This is 89.1 WEMU. You're listening to Issues of the Environment. I'm Rebekah Warren, and my guest is Sybil Kolon, longtime conservationist and co-founder of the former Raisin Valley Land Trust. Sybil, these properties that are now under Legacy Land Conservancy's stewardship represent much more than just protected acreage. Many are connected to the health of the River Raisin watershed, where forests, wetlands and other natural areas help manage water as it moves through the landscape. For people who might not think about the relationship between land conservation and water quality, can you help explain how protecting these natural areas can help reduce erosion, filter runoff from agricultural lands and lessen flooding downstream from these properties?
Sybil Kolon: Yeah, sure. Because anytime you develop property, you put roofs, you put cement driveways, anything like that is going to decrease the infiltration of water into the ground and impermeable surfaces. And so the water starts running off, it collects contaminants and often will get to the surface water directly, as opposed to going into the groundwater and recharging more naturally. And I tell people all the time: What you do on the land influences what happens with your water. Everybody's very concerned about the water, but they don't always think about what they do. Driving a car with leaky oil or anything like that is going to reach the water supply one way or the other.
Rebekah Warren: And the River Raisin eventually flows toward Lake Erie, connecting these local landscapes to the Great Lakes, making that even more important.
Sybil Kolon: Right. And the River Raisin, as well as the Huron and the Maumee, drain into the western Lake Erie basin, which has become a very big concern. I remember, I think it was close to 10 years ago now, that the cyanobacteria blooms happened in Toledo, and they couldn't use their water supply. And even up here, we were running out of bottled water because everybody was coming up to get bottled water. So yes, I've been involved not just in the Raisin Valley Land Trust, but in other efforts to help control those pollutants getting into our water supply.
Rebekah Warren: Sybil, one particularly meaningful example of your commitment to conservation is Iron Creek Preserve. You and your husband donated approximately 80 acres of family land to Legacy Land Trust in 2024.
Sybil Kolon: Yup.
Rebekah Warren: Sybil, that land was in your family since 1948. What made you decide to protect it permanently? And what do you hope people experience when they visit Iron Creek Preserve?
Sybil Kolon: Initially, we were — we put it into our living trust that it would become a preserve when we die. And then, about five or six years ago, coincidentally, about the same time we were wrapping up RVLT, I started thinking, "Why should we wait?" And so it took time. But again, working with Legacy, they always, you know, they always make sure they're doing things right. It takes time to do that. And they have to work through a lot. And I did say before that it was 600 acres that RVLT had preserved, but actually it was over 700 acres. I had to look that up because I was seeing different figures. So not a ton. But now we are able to turn over all those easements and all the money assets that we had mostly to Legacy Land Conservancy. And the Iron Creek Preserve was just something that was hard to explain, but it was the right thing to do. And I enjoy running, running into people, walking on the preserve. There aren't a whole lot of people out there. So, for the most part, I still have a lot to myself, so I'm the best of both worlds.
Rebekah Warren: Sybil, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your story of the Raisin Valley Land Trust and the continuing efforts to protect so much Michigan natural heritage.
Sybil Kolon: Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Rebekah Warren: Thank you! For more information on our conversation today, visit 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 here every Wednesday. I'm Rebekah Warren, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU Ypsilanti.
About Sybil Kolon
Even with RVLT’s portfolio safely transferred to Legacy, local land defense continues. Kolon remains an active volunteer and partner with the River Raisin Watershed Council, and she serves on the Manchester Township Land Preservation Committee and The Stewardship Network. Currently, she is the president of the Irish Hills Concerned Citizens, a nonprofit leading community opposition to a proposed 625-acre gravel mine in Norvell Township. Located directly adjacent to Watkins Lake State Park and County Preserve, the proposed site threatens to bring heavy industrial truck traffic and noise to rural roads—a reminder that protecting the rural character of southern Michigan is an ongoing effort.
Resources
LLC: "A Milestone Years in the Making"
River Raisin Watershed Council
Irish Hills Concerned Citizens Group
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