Last week, the Omena Women’s Club (OWC) hosted a special tour of the former Timber Shores property led by New Community Visions (NCV) Board President and Vice President, John Sentell and Beth Verhey. Everyone was very impressed by the property and what this project will be preserving. NCV’s partnership with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB) has been an important part of getting to this point. It was recently announced that GTB received a multi-million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to protect key parts of this property as a nature preserve in perpetuity.
The GTB has a robust and fully- staffed Department of Natural Resources and is admired for its expertise throughout the region on environmental stewardship and restoration initiatives. The natural features of the former Timber Shores property, and the surrounding fisheries, are important ecologically as well as culturally and spiritually to the GTB. This special landscape will benefit greatly from their permanent stewardship of the 187 acres that will include the future nature preserve.
The OWC tour group was particularly impressed by what they learned about the Ennis Creek Watershed. Ennis Creek, which runs through the property, is one of only seven designated cold water trout streams in the West Grand Traverse Bay Watershed. They also learned that experts identified over 40 species of birds on the property this spring. Several participants expressed gratitude that this project will ensure that this property is there for future generations.
