STEWARDSHIP SITES
Starting in early 2016, the TLC assisted Port Huron Township in Saint Clair County with management of wetland and forest around the vacant Super Kmart and Sam’s Club at the northeast corner of I-69 and 32nd Street. Wetland was constructed north and east of the stores, and natural swamp forest preserved as mitigation for a wetland permit issued by the Michigan Department of Environmental quality back in 1992. In total, about 18.5 acres of wetland and forested upland was protected by a State of Michigan conservation easement. Management of the area was lacking for years and became even more critical when the Super Kmart closed.
In 2017, at the suggestion of TLC member John Fody, the TLC began removal of Garlic Mustard and other invasive weeds in the Port Huron State Game Area along the south side of the confluence of Mill Creek with the Black River. The small stewardship area is located along the base of a large slope on an ancient floodplain terrace about 60 feet above Mill Creek and Black River, covered largely by mature mesic northern forest of Sugar Maple and Eastern Hemlock with American Elm in historically disturbed areas.
From 2016 through 2022, the TLC contracted with Algonquin Power Company of Oakville, Ontario, Canada to provide stewardship of their 12.35-acre Deerfield Wind Energy Preserve, about 4 miles west of Port Hope. The Deerfield Wind Energy Preserve was placed under a State conservation easement as mitigation for wetland impacts resulting from the nearby Deerfield Wind Energy turbine project. 1.235 acre of State-regulated forested wetland was permanently converted to open wetland for the purpose of clearing a 60-foot wide right-of-way for an electrical transmission line.
From 2011 through 2015, the TLC contracted with the Saint Clair County Drain Commissioner, Saint Clair County Road Commission and Pro-Tel Development to provide five years of annual monitoring and stewardship required by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality as a condition of two wetland permits issued to the SCCRC and Pro-Tel Development. The SCCRC permit authorized impact of 0.57 acre of emergent marsh and 0.14 acre of shrub swamp wetland for the removal of the old Michigan Road crossing of the North Branch of Bunce Creek, and replacement of the crossing structure with a new bridge over the Canadian National Railway in Port Huron Township.
