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04/23/2006
NMEAC honors environmentalistsMillikens receive the Clarence Kroupa Award
Penny Krebiehl, right, of Traverse City and Jane Ecclestone of Cedar, center, wait to deliver the Environmental Educator of the Year Award during Friday night's celebration. The two were adorned in frog masks in preperation for Saturday’s Earth Day Parade. TRAVERSE CITY — Some members of Concerned Citizens for Arbutus Lake moved north to retire, believing they would spend quiet time reading by the lake or fishing. They didn't expect to become environmental activists. But when a developer announced plans last year to build 91 lakefront homes and 136 interior homes on 462 acres adjacent to the lake, plans changed. "If it weren't for (the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council), we wouldn't be here; we came up here to retire," said Myrna Yeakle, president of the concerned citizens group. Friday, the group received the "Environmental Grassroots Group of the Year" award from NMEAC, one of numerous awards presented to environmentalists at the council's annual Environmentalist of the Year Award banquet. Another notable award went to former Michigan Gov. William Milliken and his wife Helen, who received the Clarence Kroupa Award for their work for the state's environment. The Millikens, who made numerous strides for the environment during the governor's 14 years in office, both spoke briefly and said they were honored to be recognized by NMEAC. "As stewards of our earth, we have miles to go before we sleep," Helen Milliken said, paraphrasing a Robert Frost poem. Yeakle and other members of her grassroots group perhaps embody that spirit, taking time from retirement to safeguard a lake they love. She and other board members, Jim McDowell and John Hoffman, insist they were not motivated merely because they opposed a large development in their backyard. "This has not been and never will be a 'not-in-my-backyard' issue, this has always been about protecting the lake," Yeakle said. Their fight began in February 2005, when a developer submitted a site plan to East Bay Township for a development that many neighbors believed was too large and would imperil the health of Lake Arbutus. They were worried because the development called for high density near the lakeshore, encroached upon a shallow lagoon which is home to much of the lake's wildlife, and because the homes would have been located on a steep shoreline and could have caused erosion. Opponents believed the developer was not concerned with conducting a proper environmental study and was unwilling to work with neighbors. "If they do it the correct way and they come in and they protect the lakeshore ... everybody wins, the lake wins, the developer wins," Hoffman said. In October, after the township planning commission required an environmental study amid pressure from the grassroots group, the developer withdrew the application, saying they could not extend a purchase agreement with the owner of the property. Yeakle said she and others in the group are uncomfortable taking credit for halting the development — in the end, they aren't sure how much impact they had. But she credited help from their law firm, Olson, Bzdok & Howard, and from NMEAC for what they were able to accomplish.
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