Leelanau Conservancy’s newest natural area — a hiking, birding, and snowshoeing trail on 50 acres once slated for a subdivision — officially opens to the public today (Wednesday, Sept. 30). The David & Phyllis Stites Natural Area is on Broadway, .2 miles up the hill from the post office in Suttons Bay.

Leelanau Conservancy's Communications Director Claire Wood tells the Leelanau Ticker, “Its proximity to Suttons Bay is exciting — we don’t have as many natural area properties here on the eastern side of the county — but what I’m most thrilled about is the community aspect and the fact that it’s walkable from the village.” She adds that the Suttons Bay High School cross-country team members are some of the first to make use of its steep and rolling terrain. The current trail system is a .65 mile out-and-back two-track, and the conservancy plans to expand the trail system in 2021.

The Stites Natural Area is gift from Suttons Bay residents Ray and Jan Pezzi, who purchased the 50 acres over the last few years as parcels became available.

Pezzi tells the Leelanau Ticker that one 30-acre parcel had been planned for a 60-house subdivision, despite numerous deed restrictions on the land, “principally that no more than one house per 10 acres could be built.” That development was ultimately thwarted by difficulties building on the naturally steep terrain, and after neighbors sued for violation of those deed restrictions.

Once the Pezzis purchased that parcel and another 19+-acre parcel, “the question became, ‘now how do we protect this long-term, after we’re gone?’” says Ray Pezzi. “Even with deed restrictions in place, we just figured the safest approach for that land was for it to be owned by the conservancy rather than being owned by some private individual after we’re dead.”

The Leelanau Conservancy has protected more than 14,000 acres to date. But, explains the conservancy's Executive Director Tom Nelson, “two-thirds of the lands the Leelanau Conservancy has preserved remain in private ownership and stay on the tax rolls. The other third are open for public access. Properties that are of adequate size, natural features and location more easily lend themselves to becoming a public amenity, but putting the pieces together tends to be very expensive and complex. Not so here, thanks to the Pezzis.”

The gift of land from the Pezzis comes as the pandemic has put even more of a premium on real estate in Leelanau County — as the recent rush on property attests. 

Says Nelson, “It’s not lost on us that the Pezzis gift of these lands comes at profoundly important time in Leelanau’s history. As the pandemic continues and remote work becomes the norm, we are beginning to see a real, and very understandable, exodus from urbanized areas.”

He tells the Leelanau Ticker that Leelanau County is at an inflection point, thus the conservancy’s mission to preserve the most special places throughout Leelanau has become more urgent.

“For the Pezzis to do this deed for generations…and for all of the folks who support protecting the integrity of Leelanau’s natural beauty...they are giving us one thing we absolutely need right now — hope.”

Adding to that hope is public access: Over the last several months, the conservancy’s lands have experienced a dramatic increase in visitors, according to Wood. “Visits to all of the natural areas where we have trail-counters, or that I’ve followed Google search data on, were up for this entire spring and summer. It was even more extreme earlier this spring, when it was one of the only things that people felt safe to do.”

In April, Leelanau Conservancy properties open to the public saw five times the number of visitors over the year before.

The newly opened Stites Natural Area is named for Jan Pezzi's parents David and Phyllis Stites, who have longtime ties to the Northport area. Jan Pezzi cites one reason for the trail to live in perpetuity as community resource is “to offer in-town hounds some peaceful paths,” thus, leashed pets are welcome.

Ray Pezzi says the first visitors to the natural area will see “some amazing fall colors, of course, but I like it best as the leaves begin to drop…you can see the dramatic landforms as well as views over Suttons Bay, Stony Point, and West Grand Traverse Bay.” The trailhead is located on Broadway in Suttons Bay. Peak color came early to the peninsula, so the time to check out these other Leelanau fall hiking spots — including two Conservancy-protected natural areas — is now.