Bob Putze Preserve
The Bob Putze Preserve is the first residential landowner conservation easement agreement
for the TLC. The conservation easement adjoins the Port Huron State Game Area along the
west side of Abbottsford Road; a very nice northern forest community with lots of Eastern
White Pine, and tall Red Pines that Bob Putze planted in 1964. Edge species like Big-tooth
Aspen and planted spruce are gradually dying off in the increasing shade, while shadetolerant
American Beech and Sugar Maple are colonizing the understory, a natural process
known as forest succession which leads to a mature native forest community. The groundlevel
vegetation is diverse and of good native quality with the usual species of cool sandy
soils in the Port Huron area including at least three species of clubmoss, a distant cousin of
ferns, along with Canada Mayflower, Wintergreen, and Low Sweet Blueberry. A small area of
wetland is covered by Royal Fern with Michigan Holly shrubs. Bob Putze’s forest is potential
habitat for Michigan Endangered Painted Trillium, a rare species now known only from Saint
Clair in all of Michigan, and occurring within a mile of Bob’s land.
Bob Putze is a very conscientious and reverent man who loves God’s creation and cares for
every animal that ventures onto his land. Bob feeds them all, including deer, turkeys, rabbits,
raccoons, opossums, and stray cats. Even Pileated Woodpeckers come to his suet feeder,
and Flying Squirrels live in a nest box by his driveway. Bob has always felt a spiritual
connection to his land. For years, he wanted to ensure that the woods would remain natural
and undeveloped after he is gone. The conservation easement signed with the Thumb Land
Conservancy in March of 2017 provides the legal basis for that protection in perpetuity.
The Bob Putze Preserve is characteristic of the drier and more northerly forest remaining in
the region. In the Port Huron area, northern forest complex is a second-growth woodland
complex of mesic to dry-mesic northern forest, dry-mesic southern forest, hardwood-conifer
swamp, and southern hardwood swamp on sandy soils extending across large parts of
Kimball, Clyde, and Port Huron Townships. The vegetation of this complex is a unique blend
of northern and southern flora, skewed largely toward northern species. This generally
northern community complex covers a broad and flat landscape of coarse to fine sands
deposited across the glacial lakeplain, the dominant cover being swamp forest. Smaller
upland sand ridges are typically scattered throughout the complex, deposited in glacial
drainageways or as glacial lake beaches and inland dunes.
Northern forest communities occur almost exclusively north of the “tension zone” or “transition
zone”, a rough division of northern and southern flora in the northeastern United States,
extending from Maine through Minnesota and dividing the lower peninsula of Michigan
roughly in half. North of the transition zone, conifer trees are a major component of the forest
along with broad-leaved hardwood trees. South of the transition zone, conifers are largely
absent. The combination of climate and soils north of the transition zone favors northern
vegetation, and south of the zone favors southern vegetation. In Michigan, the transition zone
is broad, roughly 100 miles wide in some areas, running from near Muskegon on Lake
Michigan, to the Saginaw Bay and across the northern tip of the Thumb. Some consider the
transition zone to extend down through the lower part of the Thumb, but most restrict it to
northern Huron County. Although there is some disagreement as to the precise location and
extent of the transition zone, it is certain that many northern plant species reach their
southern range limit there, and conversely, many southern plant species reach their northern
limits. Regardless, the occurrence of large northern plant communities south of Saginaw Bay
is unusual. The primary factor in the southern extension of northern flora in the Thumb is the
cooler growing season near Lake Huron. Northern vegetation extends down from Huron
County in a narrow coastal zone through Sanilac County, spreading out to the south and west
over the low, flat, wet sands of Saint Clair County on the glacial lakeplain.. Other factors
include extensive sand soils, a generally high water table perched above a shallow layer of
lakeplain clay, and the historic influence of fire.
Several rare or uncommon plant species occur almost exclusively in this northern forest
complex in Saint Clair County. The complex contains all of the currently known and extant
populations of Michigan Endangered Painted Trillium – Trillium undulatum in Michigan.
Michigan Threatened Northern Prostrate Clubmoss – Lycopodiella margueritae was recorded
from the area in 2002 but now its occurrence is apparently questionable due to a recent
change in the taxonomic status of the species. Other uncommon plants that may be found in
the complex include Creeping Rattlesnake Plantain – Goodyera repens, Downy Rattlesnake
Plantain – Goodyera pubescens, Tesselated Rattlesnake Plantain – Goodyera tesselata,
Trailing-arbutus – Epigaea repens, Pink Lady-slipper orchid – Cypripedium acaule, and Showy
Orchis – Galearis spectabilis.
Koester Preserve
The 79.4-acre Koester Conservation Easement in Fort Gratiot Township, Saint Clair County,
was established on April 4, 2020 and protects one of the larger forest tracts remaining in the
township. The property is located along the south side of Keewahdin Road and Pine Grove
Avenue, extending south one-half mile. The land owners, Darrin and Kim Koester, constructed
their residence on 5 acres in the north end of the parcel. The conservation easement allowed
the Koester’s to afford the property taxes on this large parcel, which had not been sold for
many years. Upon sale, the property taxes would have increased significantly and made the
land unaffordable for the Koester’s as a residence.
The Koester Preserve includes a large area of relatively mature, non-fragmented southern
swamp and hardwood-conifer swamp forest complex on seasonally inundated to moist sands
with scattered upland knolls. Wetland vegetation includes Silver Maple, Green Ash, American
Elm, Eastern Cottonwood, Bur Oak, Swamp White Oak, American Hornbeam, Spicebush,
Dwarf Raspberry, Spotted Touch-me-not, False Nettle, Clearweed, Marsh-marigold, Sensitive
Fern, Royal Fern, Spinulose Woodfern, Fowl Manna Grass, Lake Sedge, and Tussock Sedge.
Upland vegetation includes Red Oak, Black Oak, White Oak, American Beech, Basswood,
Sugar Maple, Red Maple, Tulip Tree, Sassafras, Serviceberry, Witch-hazel, Jack-in-the-pulpit,
White Avens, Solomon-seal, Wild Geranium, and Yellow trout-lily. Many of the native forest
plant species are typically of a more northern distribution in Michigan, including Paper Birch,
Eastern White Pine, Eastern Hemlock, Speckled Alder, Black Chokeberry, Meadowsweet,
Low Sweet Blueberry, Dwarf Raspberry, Wintergreen, Goldthread, Canada Mayflower, Wild
Sarsaparilla, Foamflower, Wood Anemone, Bracken Fern, Royal Fern, Northern Lady Fern,
Ground-pine, and Ground-cedar. Likewise, there are species that are typically more southern,
including Black Oak, Sassafras, Tulip Tree, and Spicebush. This sort of southern-meetsnorthern
forest is characteristic of the Blue Water Area, a transitional vegetative region where
nearby Lake Huron maintains cooler summers and warmer winters.
The south end of the parcel was partially logged in recent years but tree removal appears to
have been limited largely to dead ash. The logging left a lot of deep tire ruts in the south end,
but the forest plant community is still intact.
The Koester’s developed their residence on land that was cleared decades ago and covered
by planted pines along with very common or weedy species such as Apple, Black Cherry,
hawthorn, Gray Dogwood, Autumn-olive, Common Buckthorn, Tartarian Honeysuckle,
Common Blackberry, Late Goldenrod, Panicled Aster, and grasses. Portions of this area have
so many apple trees, it appears there may have once been a small orchard here. The TLC
assisted the Koester’s in avoiding regulated wetland impacts, optimize the conservation
easement boundaries, identify invasive shrubs such as buckthorn and honeysuckle, plan and
control methods. The TLC will also assist them with management of the conservation
easement in the future to improve the native forest community.
