To the editor:
In the 2016 fundraising for the original 700 acre Palmer Woods project, the Leelanau Conservancy communicated to prospective donors that the land would be used for cross-country skiing, hiking, and passive recreation. No reference was made to mountain bike trails, and mountain bike trails are certainly not “passive recreation.”
Nevertheless, in the 2019 fundraising for the 350-acre addition to Palmer Woods the Conservancy accepted funds from a major donor in return for agreeing to construct mountain bike trails on the entire 1,050 acre “park.”
It is now clear that some of those who donated to the original project would not have donated had they known that mountain bike trails would later be constructed on that property — certainly the numerous neighbors who are upset about the mountain bike trails, and undoubtedly others who consider these trails as a departure from the Conservancy’s stated mission of “Conserving the Land, Water and Scenic Character of Leelanau County.”
The Conservancy’s Transparency Policy, published on their website, states that “we place a high value on transparency and honoring donor intent”.
To honor the intent of those donors who made the original 700 acre park a reality, the Conservancy should offer full refunds to those who would not have donated had they known that mountain bike trails would be constructed on that property. This is very doable if the desire is there.
The Conservancy should hold itself accountable to its own publicly stated transparency policy. If they do not, this policy is just empty words.
Harvey Warburton Empire
