Strategic
PLan

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has received increasing national attention as both a recreational paradise and a refuge amongst a changing climate. Because of this, new economic drivers have emerged such as recreational tourism, second-home owners, and remote workers. We are faced with not only the dual challenges of protecting the remaining wild places and restoring areas that have been severely impacted by the industrial movements, but we are also now faced with rapidly changing land uses, demographics, and climate.

The UP Land Conservancy is addressing those challenges with a three-pronged strategy focused on connection

1) Connect Contiguous Land

Connect protected lands together to create or maintain contiguous corridors

Photo credit: Wilderness Mindset

Connect people with people on the land through land-based education and outdoor recreation opportunities

2) Connect People with one another

Connect people with people on the land through land-based education and recreation opportunities.

3) Connect People with the Land

Connect people with the land by protecting lands that are most important to our communities and providing meaningful opportunities to participate in their stewardship

Goals and Objectives

UPLC's mission, vision, and values are woven into the goals and objectives of our Strategic Plan. It will guide our focus and priorities over the coming years as we aim to bridge the gap between conservation challenges and opportunities across the Upper Peninsula. We are encountering an ever-growing need to accelerate our conservation efforts— we will meet this call by strengthening our current operations, expanding our programming, and deepening our engagement with all facets of our community.

Permanent, legal protection of critical conservation lands

Conserve forest and water resources that contribute to contiguous conservation lands, establish riparian buffers, protect wildlife & migration corridors, and provide ecosystem services to people such as drinking water filtration.
Work with partners to develop a data-driven mapping tool to identify priority areas for land protection and to support the project selection process.
Ensure that perpetuity is at the core of our protections by growing our Stewardship Fund Reserves using innovative funding sources, evaluating older projects against current standards, and by fostering a culture of communal land stewardship.

Management for climate change resilience

Include climate change resilience in land management, and utilize resources including peer reviewed science and traditional ecological knowledge to apply best practices.
Partner with other organizations to provide climate change resilience resources and management principles to landowners and the public.

Expansion of support and capacity

Increase operations funding to ensure staff resources and compensation, such as salary and benefits, are commensurate with workload.
Hire more staff to complement the current team and to fulfill roles that support growth in protections, programming, and operations.
Improve workflows and database practices to increase efficiency and effectiveness as staff capacity increases.

Recruit and retain talented, professional staff

Seek a bold, multi-year capacity enhancing grant that will accelerate the rate and quality of work that is done by professional staff and prepare UPLC for a large-scale capital campaign.
Strengthen philanthropic connections to increase participation in legacy giving, business sponsorships, and increase the number and amounts of individual gifts by at least 25%.
Explore novel sources of funding and grants for UPLC in order to meet strategic conservation goals and introduce more educational programming.

Connection & direction from our communities

Seek direction, local leadership, and input from engaged communities in regional priority areas across our service area. Particularly, focusing on building meaningful relationships with local indigenous communities.
Develop programming and outreach that focuses on the interconnectedness of people with the land, emphasizing the significance of protected places to health, well-being, and cultural values.
Evaluate inclusivity of UPLC lands and programming, and focus our efforts to benefit underrepresented members of the community, in part by assessing our lands for opportunities in ADA accessibility.

Expand impact through partnerships

Chocolay%20Bayou%20Restoration%20post%202.19_edited.jpg