During their camping vacations, George and the family’s five boys began working on a bunkhouse. “The boys worked on it every morning and then they’d have the afternoons free to canoe or swim,” Jan said. Twenty years ago, Jan and George built a regular cabin and other associated outbuildings. George was able to arrange for ten-month appointments with the university and spent two months of the year living at their northern retreat. “We didn’t know if we would make it or not, but we did, and it was good for us.” The couple continued living this good life together until George passed on in 1995.

Today, Jan still spends her summers at the Sturgeon River cabin and is often visited by one family member or another. The sounds of laughter are ever present to her from the numerous adventure seekers who float by the property which is situated just downstream from the main “put in” point of a local canoe and kayak outfitter.

Jan’s personal land ethic began as a young girl. “When I was growing up, my grandparents lived right near our farm in Minnesota,” Jan explained. “They had an acre on their farm that had never been cut over so it was original pine trees and I just loved them. They put in the deed that that acre was never to be destroyed. I remember the value of something like that. Those trees are still there.”
She was familiar with conservancies, and her son, Jim, told her about Little Traverse Conservancy. “We thought we had a beautiful piece of the river that we could help protect by putting it in a conservation easement.”

MaryKay O’Donnell of the Conservancy’s land protection staff noted that the Sturgeon River is a blue-ribbon trout stream and has the fastest flow of any river in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. “It was simply a pleasure working with Jan on her donation of this easement,” MaryKay said.