A 120-plus-year-old rustic camp on Torch Lake in northern Michigan will stay natural in perpetuity after reaching a $16 million conservation easement with a regional land conservancy.
The deal between YMCA Camp Hayo-Went-Ha and the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy involves 354 acres and includes some 6,058 feet of Torch Lake frontage. The deal protects the land's ecological and scenic values while allowing it to remain in private ownership and continue operating as a camp.
Camp Hayo-Went-Ha, operating on 494 acres in Antrim County's Central Lake Township, ranks in the top 6% of all properties scored for protection by the land conservancy, representing the largest remaining undeveloped property on Torch Lake.
"The camp has operated there
for over 120 years, and they have no intention of selling," said Jennifer Jay, Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy director of communications and engagement.
"But they also wanted to make this permanent commitment to preserving this land. The development pressures up here are pretty crazy. Certainly Torch Lake is very popular. This was one of our highest conservation priorities."
In addition to coveted shoreline on one of Michigan's most beloved inland lakes, the property features "big, high, beautiful, forested ridges," Jay said.
"As more and more lakefront property on all the lakes around here is being gobbled up, the ridges are next," she said. "People want the view if nothing else. But those ridges are significant for clean air, clean water, wildlife habitat, corridors, all of it."
John Carlson, CEO of YMCA Hayo-Went-Ha Camps, said camp and conservancy officials have been in loose discussions about protecting the Torch Lake property for 20 years or more. The talks "became more realistic" and the deal came to fruition over the last two years.
"There has always been a shared value about the stewardship of this beautiful property," he said. "The economies of running camps are becoming more challenging, and it's very important to us to really look out for the long-term sustainability of our organization — and environmental stewardship is at the heart of it."
The property involved in the easement was appraised at $16 million, with the camp reducing the easement purchase price to $13 million "to make that first investment in the community," Carlson said. Through "quiet fundraising," the conservancy has secured about $10 million of the needed cost, and is running a campaign drive to raise an additional $4.5 million for the easement and additional project costs, Jay said.
Hayo-Went-Ha has operated a boys camp on Torch Lake since 1904, with its Camp Arbutus Hayo-Went-Ha camp for girls operating in Traverse City. Funds from the easement sale will be used to maintain the two camps' historic facilities, Carlson said.
"We are dealing with a 120-plus-year-old facility at our Torch site; close to 115 years at our Arbutus site," he said. "We have beautiful, historic buildings — our iconic boathouse which sits on Torch Lake is something we need to continue to invest in.
"We want to invest in what we have now in these historical buildings so kids over the next hundred years can experience what kids did 100 years ago. We are able to experience the shores of Torch Lake in a very rustic way; we love that a huge part of what we do is allowing campers to unplug and learn how to challenge themselves."
Donations to support the conservation easement can be made at www.gtrlc.orgor by calling the conservancy at 231-929-7911.
"If you are ever on a boat in Torch Lake, you'll go by there and go, 'Wow,'" Jay said. "It's that remaining wild, beautiful place. It's too important from a conservation point of view and a water quality point of view for Torch Lake and really the whole chain of Lakes."
Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Deal protects 354 acres of Torch Lake shoreline for future generations
