- 4 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
We hope you are enjoying the beauty of winter in Leelanau!
We have a couple of exciting progress updates on New Community Vision’s commitment to our mission and our supporters. Progress on creating the nature preserve is underway and we have also been working on the attainable housing.
The Nature Preserve Called Mashkiigaki
Last year’s successful acquisition and transfer of the former Timber Shores property to the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB) has allowed theimportant work of returning ancestral lands to indigenous stewardship to begin.
The GTB recently received $1.3 million from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), funding that was part of the original grant application approved in 2024. These new monies are earmarked for restoration and community outreach for the 187-acre nature preserve, now called Mashkiigaki. This is great news! We are especially thrilled to relay this information, given concerns that this important funding would slip away due to recent government cut backs.
Also, over the last few months, tribal leaders have started to “reconnect” with the cultural and spiritual aspects of the property which had been removed from their community for many decades. This includes an internal survey of the tribal community by GTB to listen and understand their memories associated with the property and ideas for its future. This is an understandably important process for tribal members, to celebrate and embrace Mashkiigaki. Other next steps anticipate tribal-led visioning sessions, including with the non-native community, as part of the NOAA grant requirements. NCV will share more information about tribal-led community engagement sessions as they take shape.
Key steps have also been taken by the GTB’s Natural Resources Department (NRD) to better understand the site from a standpoint of biodiversity as it plans for restoration activities. This has included several notable activities:
A bird survey (viewable here) conducted by three volunteer birders and NCV was completed last year that underlines the breadth and diversity of the birds living on or migrating through the property. Some 78 different bird species have been identified and a bald eagle family was seen nesting on the property! This diversity of bird species continues to underline the property’s quality of habitat.
With the arrival of the NOAA funds, the GTB has contracted the Invasive Species Network to conduct a detailed Invasive Species Survey this spring and summer to help develop a plan to remove and control invasives and make way for critical native habitat restoration. This survey will also include near neighbors to Mashkiigaki who will be contacted to participate because people living nearby are an important part of the long-term health of the nature preserve. This also promises to bring GTB and the non-native community together in nature.
The GTB’s NRD is also planning a geo-hydrological study related to restoring the creek flow and any connections to the wetland areas changed by the former Timber Shores campground, where culverts and roads impeded natural water flow patterns.
The NRD has also begun careful mapping of Mashkiigaki to explore existing trails, stream crossings, critical habitat areas and potential access points that work within the existing natural infrastructure. This work is a key step in planning for a publicly-accessible nature preserve.
Attainable Housing on the 25 Acres Adjacent to Mashkiigaki
A big thank you to all of you who participated in the community engagement listening sessions about attainable housing last summer that we had pledged to host during our successful fundraising campaign. The results of these sessions have been very helpful to New Community Vision as we plan the next steps on the 25 acres of preserved land reserved for that purpose.
The listening sessions were part of a conceptual planning process conducted by Urban Design Associates (UDA), a national affordable housing land planning firm with an office in Suttons Bay. Peninsula Housing, a not for profit land trust, also collaborated with us on these sessions.
Initial site, zoning and civil engineering analysis indicates that no more than 30 units – and likely somewhat less – are possible on the site, including a possible mix of stand-alone single-family homes, duplexes and, possibly, two smaller-scale townhouses. Environmental research on the property regarding civil engineering and initial test pits have been conducted and reviewed with the County Environmental Health Department identifying the northern area of the site as optimal for drainfields.
NCV’s mission to a conservation development approach means designing a community that fits in with its natural surroundings, with a human-scale and right-size approach, including open space and a focus on conservation. We are also committed to respecting the environmental protection of the adjacent nature preserve Mashkiigaki. All this will also influence the final number of homes.
NCV also is cognizant of the wider community priorities in the township and village to address the significant attainable housing needs in Leelanau. The NCV property will contribute to the community’s attainable housing needs, however, our township needs multiple, and a variety of, projects to meet the overall need.
Next Steps
Over the early months of 2026, UDA will prepare a couple of conceptual site plan options that integrate NCV’s conservation development approach and all of the analysis and inputs described above. These first steps to create possible attainable housing layouts for the site will serve as a planning baseline to facilitate further consultations with partners, stakeholders and donors for more detailed planning, including the anticipated costs to build.
We are excited for the progress on the restoration and nature preserve planning and we continue to work to develop a plan for attainable homes to contribute to Leelanau.
