$375,000 Grant To Help Improve Forests Going To SWM Land Conservancy

woods6-21
woods6-21

A grant of $375,000 has been awarded to the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy and four regional partners to help improve the health of damaged forests. The SWMLC, Ottawa County Parks, the Nature Conservancy of Michigan, Chikaming Open Lands, and the Shirley Heinze Land Trust were selected for the grant from the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Climate Adaptation Fund. The SWMLC says over the course of two years the group plans to plant more than 40,000 trees, using species and creating forest habitats that can better adapt to climate change and invasive species. Over the next two years, the partners will also work to improve forest health and plant new forests across nature preserves and county parks spanning over 70 miles from northwest Indiana to the Grand River in west Michigan. Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy Stewardship Director Mitch Lettow says weather and other conditions in recent years have damaged many forests. He pointed to the Wau-Ke-Na, William Erby Smith Preserve in Fennville, which has been hit hard by the Emerald ash borer and heavy spring rains.