Groveland Township couple donates land to protect Duck Creek

ORTONVILLE

The protected portion of Kirk and Sheri Falvay’s property consists mostly of a wet meadow and some mature woodlands through which Duck Creek slowly meanders. PHOTOS COURTESY OF BHHC

Duck Creek’s cool water input, coupled with the area’s cool groundwater inflow, allows Kearsley Creek to remain cool enough to sustain trout during warmer spring and summer weather.

Image

By Matthew Fahr

mfahr@medianewsgroup.com

A donation by a Groveland Township couple will permanently protect a stretch of Duck Creek.

Kirk and Sheri Falvay have signed a conservation easement with the Blue Heron Headwaters Conservancy for a five-acre portion of their property.

Conservation easements are legal, cooperative agreements that enable landowners to retain ownership of their land.

BHHC has agreed to permanently protect the property’s ecological resources in exchange for the landowner’s commitment to restrict or forgo future land development.

Duck Creek, a tributary feeding into the South Branch of the Flint River, supports diverse wildlife, helps recharge groundwater, and plays a key role in the health of the broader watershed. The creek flows northeast from the Falvay’s property and merges with Kearsley Creek just south of downtown Ortonville.

The new conservation easement parcel is part of a larger, mixed-wetland complex covering approximately 79 acres in Groveland Township.

“We’re incredibly grateful to the Falvays for their vision and generosity,” said Jason Meekhof, executive director of BHHC. “Their conservation easement ensures that this land will never be developed and that Duck Creek will continue to flow clean and clear for generations to come. This gift strengthens our commitment to protecting the entire Flint River watershed, one property at a time.”

“We’ve always believed in being good stewards of the land,” said Kirk Falvay. “Duck Creek has brought us peace and joy for many years, and we want to make sure it continues to do the same for future generations. Working with Blue Heron Headwaters Conservancy made that vision possible.”

The newly protected property will remain privately owned and is not open to the public, but its ecological impact benefits the entire community.

BHHC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1972 as the Independence Township Land Trust and was formerly called the North Oakland Headwaters Land Conservancy.