Double Digit Sparrow Species Field Trip

On Saturday September 26 Brian Allen of the Manistee Audubon Society led a field trip of about 12 participants from Benzie Audubon and the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy to the grasslands at the Arcadia Dunes Preserve along Keillor Rd. in Manistee County. The trip was billed as a concentration on migrating sparrows and the conditions of sunny skies and light winds made it a great day. We saw eleven species of sparrows including: Savannah, Song, Vesper, Swamp, Field, Chipping, Clay-colored, Lincoln's, Grasshopper, White-crowned, and White-throated. Other birds seen including fly-overs were Golden Plover, American Pipits, Lapland Longspurs, Orange-crowned Warbler, Palm Warblers, Sandhill Cranes, and a Harrier.

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Help Save Arcadia Marsh

Volunteers of the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy Host Harvest Dinner
Benefit to raise needed funds to protect the Arcadia Marsh


(Traverse City, MI) – A group of dedicated community volunteers are hard at work cooking up a Harvest Dinner to support efforts of the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy to protect the Arcadia Marsh. They’ve recruited volunteers, sponsors, donors of services, and have secured a dozen special items to auction at the event. Kristine Harvey, one of the organizers, states “this project is bringing together people who have some of the same loving thoughts towards the marsh. We are getting to know each other, and we are learning things from each other.”

Arcadia Marsh is located at the mouth of Bowens Creek and drains into Lake Arcadia. The health and viability of Arcadia Marsh has significant impacts on maintaining and improving the water quality of Lake Arcadia. “Fresh water estuaries like Arcadia Marsh have the second-most productive ecosystems per unit area—even more productive than tropical rainforest” says Chris Sullivan, Land Protection Specialist for Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy, “We have a unique opportunity to purchase, restore, and create a nature preserve on 155 acres of the nearly 400-acre Arcadia Marsh.”

Since 1991, the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy has protected over 32,000 acres of significant natural, scenic, and farm lands and nearly 100 miles of irreplaceable shoreline in Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, and Manistee counties. As part of their ongoing commitment to protecting the Lake Michigan Coast, the Conservancy has protected over ¼ of the approximately 16,000 acre Lake Arcadia Watershed, mostly within the Arcadia Dunes project,which protects the northern headwaters area.

The Harvest Dinner will be held Saturday, October 10th, at 6:00 p.m. at Camp Arcadia,
3046 Oak Street, Arcadia. Tickets are $100, and only 200 tickets will be sold. Chef Kurt Harvey is "planning to prepare pot roast using beef supplied by Rice Farm, roasted and steamed vegetables from Manistee and Benzie County, naturally-leavened bread from Pleasanton Brick Oven Bakery, and a great deal of volunteer labor and love. Desserts will not disappoint. It will all add up to a fantastic meal for a great cause."

For information or to purchase tickets, visit the Conservancy’s website: www.gtrlc.org or call them at 231-929-7911. Tickets are also available at Camp Arcadia, 231-889-4361.