Claire Wood, communications director for the Leelanau Conservancy in Leland, moved to the county in her 20s and she now calls the area home. She says that her job combines her love for storytelling with the great outdoors, and she is a member of several nonprofits and a committee.
Wood grew up near Lansing and graduated from Michigan State University. Both her parents worked in education, so they had time for family field trips in the summer. The Sleeping Bear Dunes and Manitou Islands were regular vacation spots for the Wood family, which is how Claire was introduced to the county.
After graduating, Wood started her career at McGraw Hill, a large educational publisher, in Chicago. She said that she enjoyed working for the company, but city life was not a good fit for her. Although she would continue freelancing for McGraw Hill, Wood’s next gig took her back to Michigan and out of corporate offices.
She applied for AmeriCorps, a national service program that provides disaster relief, educational assistance, and other services. Through AmeriCorps, Wood worked as a full-time volunteer in Grayling surveying and studying the Au Sable River in partnership with the nonprofit organization Trout Unlimited. Wood says she found her true calling on the banks of the Au Sable.
“There’s something about working with your hands and just being outside that feels really natural to me. So, when I was able to go to Grayling and work in the field there, that was the happiest I had pretty much ever been in my life; being on the river every single day,” Wood said. “I knew at that point I wanted to make my career in helping save the planet.”
Wood spent a lot of time on the Au Sable River over her oneyear enrollment with AmeriCorps. She helped put in fish habitats, carried out erosion surveys, studied invasive species, monitored the river’s water levels, and worked with Trout Unlimited volunteers in conserving the river for native fish species.
“I was in the river every single day, walking the river, and just observing, learning a lot about how a river functions and the natural world,” Wood remembers. “It made me understand how much peace nature brings to me. It was very healing – I knew that I wanted my life to revolve around doing that. Because if we don’t protect the earth, then no other issue matters.”
Around this time, Wood also decided she wanted to continue doing this in northern Michigan. So, after her year volunteering for AmeriCorps was up, she moved to Traverse City and got a job on the administrative side of For Love of Water (FLOW) in 2015. About a year later, she left FLOW to work for the Leelanau Conservancy, where she still works today.
The Leelanau Conservancy owns and maintains almost 4,000 acres of natural areas in the county for public use, and it protects much more land through conservation easements with private landowners. Wood worked under the organization’s communications director, Carolyn Faught, for three years, and was promoted to that position when Faught retired.
Wood moved to the southeast part of the county and lived on M-72 at this time. Wood describes the rolling fields of farmland in Leelanau County as “the anchor for why I stay here.” She feels that she has a natural affinity for this area, which she theorizes could come from distant memories of her Irish ancestors buried somewhere inside her.
“I’m Irish American, and to me, the landscape here is very similar to Ireland. It feels like home. And I think it feels that way to a lot of people. I think it’s a ‘thin place,’ which in Celtic mythology is a term used for a place between heaven and earth. I think that’s why so many people are drawn to this place,” Wood said.
At the same time, Wood says that she’s “aware of the issues that come with people moving here,” and says she is a member of Leelanau County’s Housing Action Committee, which meets every two months. Its next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 18 at 3 p.m. in the government center at Suttons Bay.
Although some people use the term negatively, Wood proudly says that she’s a millennial. She says she’s concerned with issues affecting her generation, like affordable housing and the mental health crisis. Wood is helping coordinate the Community Mental Health Association of Michigan conference in Traverse City next spring.
Finally, Wood is also on the board of the Skegemog Raptor Rescue Center in Traverse City. She says this nonprofit organization has helped care for and rehabilitate 100 birds so far this year. Wood said she wants to help raise awareness of this “young” organization and improve their communications and fundraising efforts.
