The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy (GTRLC) has an exciting opportunity to nearly triple the size of the Medenbrook Nature Sanctuary by adding 143 acres of high-quality forestland. The proposed Saffron Forest addition would strengthen a vital wildlife corridor, improve access for stewardship activities and safeguard this landscape’s ecological health for generations to come.
Over the past 25 years, the sanctuary has steadily grown to protect roughly 48 acres of pristine wetland habitat, including significant undeveloped frontage on Medenbrook Creek and Little Platte Lake. Its high-quality bog, hardwood conifer swamp and northern shrub swamp communities host plentiful pitcher plants, scattered tamarack and native orchids. The sanctuary also anchors the northwestern terminus of the Deadstream Swamp, one of Benzie County’s most important wildlife areas and a haven for species that depend on large, unfragmented landscapes.
The proposed addition will expand a buffer of protection for these sensitive areas while reinforcing a critical ecological corridor that links state-owned land in the Deadstream Swamp complex to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Situated directly east of the existing sanctuary, this property creates critical “edge habitat” used for nesting, foraging and hunting by species like the Cooper’s Hawk, a state species of special concern.
The addition also opens up new possibilities for additional stewardship efforts. Today, Medenbrook is best accessed by boat, limiting GTRLC’s ability to conduct monitoring, botanical surveys, invasive species control and restoration work. The proposed addition’s upland areas provide safe and reliable access to the sanctuary, allowing GTRLC to carry out these stewardship activities more efficiently and effectively.