The Leelanau Conservancy early this week was able to wrap up its fourth farmland preservation project of the year - just in time for a 2007 tax deduction for the property's owner.

FIFTEEN ACRES of vines are already in production
for use at 45 North, a new winery scheduled to open
this summer, while 30 more acres are expected to be
planted in the next two years.

Steve and Lori Grossnickle of Indiana purchased their 100-acre Suttons Bay Township farm in 2006 from Dean and Cindy Robb.  Since then, they’ve established a new winery called “45 North” that is scheduled to open to the public in June.

They’ve also been working since 2006 with the Leelanau Conservancy to donate a conservation easement on the land that will restrict it from development and keep the land in farming while providing tax benefits to its new owners.

The tax benefits are spelled out in federal farm laws that expired Dec. 31 – just days after the Grossnickles finalized their deal with the conservancy.  A 2007 federal Farm Bill containing similar tax breaks remained unsigned at the beginning of 2008 but was expected to become law sometime next month.

TAKING PART in a discussion in front of wine
tanks are (from left) Eric Grossnickle, Steve
Grossnickle and winemaker Shawn Walters.
The Leelanau Conservancy announced it has
preserved a 100-acre farm that is home to a
new winery, 45 North.

The Grossnickle farm has frontage on M-204 and is adjacent to the new Leelanau County Government Center. In addition to its agricultural and scenic values, the land also takes in 2,200 feet of frontage on the north branch of Beaudwin Creek, according to a news release from the Conservancy.

“The water in that creek ends up in Lake Leelanau and in our Leugers preserve on the Narrows,” said Conservancy land protection specialist Tom Nelson.  “The stream and the wetlands on the property are all part of an ecosystem we’re trying to protect.  There’s a whole lot of conservation value in this land. We’re grateful to the Grossnickle family for helping to protect the rural character of Leelanau County,” Nelson was quoted as saying.

An ophthalmologist, Steve Grossnickle and his family have been vacationing in the Little Traverse Lake area of Leelanau County for the past 40 years.  Grossnickle said his love for the peninsula is what inspired him to want to permanently protect the 100-acre farm.

Fifteen acres of the farm are already in production and 30 more acres will be planted in the next two years, according to conservancy officials.  An 8,000 square-foot wine production facility is already in operation on the site, processing one hundred tons of local fruit last year, much of it for other winemakers.  Plans for 2008 call for doubling that amount.

Last month, “45 North” received a special land use permit from Suttons Bay Township to open a wine tasting room on the property.  The tasting room will be located on an old barn that will be rebuilt on the property.

Between its latest project and the nearby Newton/Spinniken Farm, the conservancy has protected 1,100 feet along M-204 that takes in a much wider panorama of orchards, vineyards and open space visible from the state highway.  Conservancy officials said that the two Bardenhagen family farms in East Leland that were permanently protected in mid-December bring the conservancy’s farmland protection work for 2007 to nearly 500 acres.

“We’ve had one of our best land protection years to date,” said Brian Price, the conservancy’s executive director.

Price reported that in the last week of 2007, the conservancy was “working feverishly to close a number of other land protection projects.”