Saving Palmer Woods

HOW PALMER WOODS BECAME ONE OF THE LARGEST PROTECTED PIECES OF LAND IN LEELANAU COUNTY REVEALS SOMETHING DEEP ABOUT OUR LOVE OF WILD PLACES.

- Lou Blouin

Many people—even those who love the land the most—struggle to put into words what’s so remarkable about Palmer Woods. The attempts naturally seem to get hijacked by words and phrases like “majestic” or “there’s just something about it” or “you just have to see it for yourself.” All of which, while inadequate, are still true.

But the man who spent much of his life there can articulate it quickly, clearly, even poetically at times. There’s awe in Dan Palmer’s voice when he talks about the resilience of the northern hardwood forests—land that was once clearcut of virtually every tree and yet in the matter of several generations, recovered to be one of the fastest-growing forest ecosystems in the world. Or when he recalls the improbable set of events that allowed him to slowly acquire hundreds of acres of forestland that now support rare predators like bear and bobcat. Or when he remarks on the subtle personality quirks of the property’s deep glacial valley—like how the mix of trees, wildflowers and ferns on its two contrasting slopes depends on whether they favor morning or afternoon sun.

You can hear it most in the way he talks about “the woods”—a two-word phrase that instantly and accurately translates his sense of wonder to anyone who spent any of their childhood in a Northern Michigan forest. When he mentions it, the now 87-year-old is clearly recalling memories from his own youth: “I grew up in Frankfort, and I’d sleep overnight in Sleeping Bear with just a blanket and a fire. Some people like the beach and the sun. I like the woods.”