Detroit Bird Alliance Speaks at Brownstown Twp Meeting re Sibley Prairie

Several Detroit Bird Alliance (DBA) Board Members attended and spoke at the recent public hearing to support the Brownstown Township application to the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF) to purchase Sibley Prairie. Sibley Prairie is the largest remaining lakeplain prairie in the whole of Michigan, a landscape found almost nowhere else on earth. 

The DBA was joined by Michigan Land Conservancy (MLC), Southeast Michigan Land Conservancy, Friends of the Rouge, Michigan Botanical Society, Grosse Ile Nature and Land Conservancy, Lincoln Archery Club, the International Refuge Alliance, the Southwest Michigan Butterfly Association who share the belief that SIbley Prairie should be preserved.

The vote was unanimously in favor of approving the MNRTF grant to apply to buy Sibley Prairie. Under the MNTRF grant, Brownstown Township would own and manage the preserve. If the grant is not sufficient to purchase the land, the Southeast Michigan Land Conservancy would take title and manage the prairie. The MLC’s goal is to raise $3.7 million to fund necessary infrastructure, and to ensure the management of SIbley Prairie in perpetuity. 

DBA has pledged $30K in this effort to preserve this rare ecosystem that is vital to numerous species of birds, insects, and mammals. 

Learn more about this issue from Michigan Public. Learn more about the Coalition to Save Sibley Prairie.