Wow, today was crazy awesome! I started my internship with Chikaming Open Lands today as their land protection intern to protect the Galien River watershed. I luckily scored a very nice little cottage close to lake Michigan, on a lot where I have permission to access the lake. This blog is about my adventures working for the land preservation non-profit and living in a several million dollars a house neighborhood on beautiful lake Michigan.
Work was good, I was kind of thrown into my desk and told to read e-mails to kind of catch up on the active properties we are looking at for easements or are currently making into an easement. For those of you who don't exactly know what an easement is, here is the definition according to the Headwaters Land Conservancy in north-west Michigan.
Conservation Easement: a voluntary legal agreement that allows a landowner to permanently protect land and limit future development in order to protect the conservation values of the land, while retaining ownership and the ability to sell.
This is what I will be doing a lot of the summer, working with people and properties to get more easements intact in this corner of Michigan.
Anyways today I was outside half of the day and met a lot of the board. We were looking at possible easement properties or preservation properties. One lot we went to today, near the Three Oaks Republic landfill was very pretty but there was a lot of garbage dumped there not from the landfill. There was a full fiberglass motorboat there that looked like ti had been there for at least 10 years. We also helped a painted turtle cross the road.
After work I went on a beautiful bike ride on Lakeshore Drive. I know why all the Chicago people come here, on lake Michigan, the main drag is Lakeshore Drive, and a lot of the restaurants are just as expensive. That bike ride was beautiful, cottage after cottage or beautifully constructed and designed summer houses with tennis courts or a gorgeous garden or a wrap around porch. The cotton trees or whatever are seeding like mad so a few yards of gorgeous homes were covered in the cotton like a morning frost in the spring.
Then I went down to the Lake to watch the sunset....great choice by me! Sunset was stunning with its reflection on the lake. The water was warm so I could beach walk with my feet in the water, no better way to unwind after a 10 hour day! I am so thankful for the big hearted VanNice's who are permitting me to use their cottage and their beachfront.
This summer is going to be great, I can tell, especially if all days are half as amazing as today. Yes i found a spider in my pajama pants and was at a desk all morning, but the people here are passionate about the beauty of the land and water. This passion makes working with them much more enjoyable.
As I have been saying, feel free to call me and book a weekend to come stay with me! I'd love company on the beach or on a bike ride or to go to the local independent theatre!!
<3 Suz
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