The #GrandTraverseBand of #Ottawa and #ChippewaIndians is one step closer regaining #tribal #ownership & #stewardship of a 187-acre chunk of land on the #LeelanauPeninsula.
The land that became #TimberShores was #illegally transferred to private ownership in 1855.
#NOAA is giving more than $6.5 million for the purchase of the Timber Shores site. It's also chipping in on #restoration efforts. The money comes from a larger $11-million pool that also funds continued work on the #FishPass project in the #BoardmanOttawayRiver.
The remaining amount for the purchase, roughly $3.5 million, will come from a #Leelanau County nonprofit called #NewCommunityVision, which negotiated a $10 million purchase of the land. The #nonprofit says it's still $2 million away from that amount but expects to have it by the end of 2024.
Under the agreement, New Community Vision will purchase the land, then transfer it to the Grand Traverse Band for restoration & #preservation. It will be renamed #Mashkiigaki, which means marsh lands & place of the medicine.
The tribe’s #NaturalResources Department will restore Mashkiigaki’s shoreline, wetlands & creek corridor, which are important spawning grounds for cisco & other native fish species.
https://radio.wcmu.org/local-regional-news/2024-07-19/former-timber-shores-site-closer-to-becoming-tribally-owned-nature-preserve
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