Diana Kern / Legacy Land Conservancy Legacy Land Conservancy executive director Diana Kern.

Diana Kern has extensive executive leadership background and a passion for nonprofit management, fundraising, and governance. After 17 years of progressive leadership roles with McKinley, Diana left for the nonprofit world where she served for NEW (Nonprofit Enterprise at Work) as Vice President, and then for Eversight as an Executive Director and Vice President of Philanthropy. Diana joined Legacy Land Conservancy at the beginning of 2019 and brings a conservation lens. Diana has lived in Michigan for over 50 years and has served on numerous nonprofit boards, committees and task forces, including joining an all-volunteer group of community leaders in 2013 to raise over $1.6 million to fund the build and opening of the Ann Arbor Skatepark. Currently, Diana serves as a board member for The Ark in Ann Arbor, Michigan and is a member of the Ann Arbor Host Lions Club. When not working on land conservation issues, she can be found bird watching, hiking, and listening to music.

ABOUT LISA WOZNIAK:

Michigan League of Conservation Voters / michiganlcv.org Michigan League of Conservation Voters executive director Lisa Wozniak

Lisa’s career spans over two decades of environmental and conservation advocacy in the political arena. She is a nationally- recognized expert in non-profit growth and management and a leader in Great Lakes protections. Lisa is a three-time graduate from the University of Michigan, with a bachelor’s degree and two ensuing master’s degrees in social work and Education.

Lisa serves a co-host and content partner in 89.1 WEMU’s ‘1st Friday Focus on the Environment.’

RESOURCES:

Michigan League of Conservation Voters

Legacy Land Conservancy

Diana Kern

TRANSCRIPTION:

David Fair: This is the first Friday of the month of August, and with that, we welcome you to 89.1 WEMU’s First Friday Focus on the Environment. I’m David Fair, and there are all sorts of changes going on when it comes to federal policy and the associated spending initiatives. And today, we’re going to explore some of the local implications on the environmental side. My First Friday co-host and partner is Lisa Wozniak, and she’s executive director of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. Today, Lisa, it’s about land preservation!

Lisa Wozniak: Yes, it is! And it’s good to be here, Dave! And the administration has certainly targeted environmental health and preservation, and the impact is definitely reaching us in our corner of the country, and that includes preservation of farmland and forests, wetlands and waterways in our region, including Washtenaw County. So, here to talk more about direct impact is Diana Kern, and Diana is the executive director of the Ann Arbor-based Legacy Land Conservancy. Thank you so much for joining us today, Diana!

Diana Kern: Oh, it’s my pleasure to be with you!

David Fair: Before we dive into recent events, I think it important to understand the Legacy Land Trust’s role and impact. It began as the Washtenaw Land Conservancy in 1971, merged with the Potawatomi Land Trust and became the Washenaw Potawatomie Land Trust in 1989. In 2001, it merged with Waterloo Land Trust and became Tthe Washtenaw Land Trust. And in 2009, the name was changed to Legacy Land Conservency. It’s been about extending reach and impact. How much land has been preserved over the 54-year existence of the organization?

Diana Kern: Yeah. Well, we’re well over 10,000 acres of land preserved at this point. And we do encompass, I would call it, the greater Jackson and Washtenaw area, obviously, working with others and partners across the Southeast Michigan. Those are our biggest impact area.

Lisa Wozniak: And how has the mission changed or evolved over the decades, Diana?

Diana Kern: You know, our mission has evolved and changed some. I will say that we try to protect land in two significant ways: one, by working with private landowners to put conservation easements on private land, which is a significant impact since 68% of all the land here in Southeast Michigan is still in private hands, and most of that affects our water quality, etc. And also by way of having public nature preserves, we do have nine of those. And those public nature preserves are open to everybody. And we try to do some significant work to return the land by doing things like removing invasive species and using it as an opportunity for people to engage in nature and learn.

Diana Kern: It is about partnership. It’s about expanded reach and impact. I’m curious as to how your work with the Southeast Michigan Conservation Coalition fits into the broader rivers to preserve the farmland in forest areas in the region you’re talking about.

Diana Kern: Yeah. We have always realized that the way that we can make the biggest impact in protecting land and water is through partnerships. We decided to submit an award for an RCPP, which is a program of the farm bill. We decided to do that as a lead partner and brought a bunch of people together under us to look at trying to protect about 4,000 acres of forest and farmland through a federal award.

Diana Kern: This is WEMU’s First Friday Focus on the Environment. Our conversation with Diana Kern continues. And the other voice you hear today is that of my partner, Liza Wozniak.

Lisa Wozniak: So, Diana, let’s talk about that partnership and that award. The money that was awarded to Legacy Land Conservancy was, if I’m right, $24.6 million. I guess you said part of the farm bill. And it was to help conserve 4,000 acres of farmland and forest in southeast Michigan. But I understand that that money has been rescinded. How did you learn that it had been rescinded?

Diana Kern: Yeah. You know, we originally were awarded the money back in October or November of last year. It was told to us through all of the information that we received that that money was funded through the farm bill, which would have been the 2024 farm bill. And then, everything kind of got put on hold after the change in administration in Washington, D.C. So, we were lingering on hold but still doing all the work to work with our local NRC office to get all the paperwork done. And the, unfortunately, we’ve received notification in June that the money had all been rescinded. And unfortunately for us, we were not really given the reason for it, so there’s no transparency as to how those decisions were made, and that was a pretty troubling for us. We were also told, within that notification of the rescission, that we could appeal, and there were five ways that we could try to appeal. And we have appealed, so we put forward our appeal paperwork. We did that in July, so very recently here. And we’re hoping that, potentially, it may be re-reviewed, and the decision may be reversed.

Diana Kern: Well, that is certainly the hope, but let’s talk about the impact of how that money might have benefited or will benefit the area. Roughly, $20 million of it was slated to be used for purchasing conservation easements to ensure that the farmland in the area stays in production and helps preserve the forest land. What longer-term impacts might that have on the agricultural industry in our region and on small family farms?

Diana Kern: Absolutely! So, at least about 25 farmers and families would have benefited by being able to ensure that their family farms stay in agricultural production beyond them. So, conservation easements stay on the deed and ensure that the land stays in farming. If you are aware of any of the reports of the American Farmland Trust, it indicates that Michigan is going to become a very critical state to food production as climate impacts change where we can produce food. So, our prime soils that we have here in Michigan are at risk. And when we lose those prime soils, they’re gone forever. So, it is important that we’re thinking ahead, and that those local farmers here in Southeast Michigan have an opportunity to keep their soils and their farms active beyond just them. So, it’s a fairly big impact! Also, farmlands and farm here are really involved in economic impacts in this area. It’s estimated that agricultural exports just from Michigan have a $4.4 billion economic impact across our state. So, it’s pretty important to keep our prime soils and our farms operating.

Lisa Wozniak: That’s a huge number–$4.4 billion across the state! Do you have any numbers that estimate what sort of Southeast Michigan contributes to that?

Diana Kern: You know, I don’t have any offhand, but it’s a significant amount. Most of our farms here in Southeast Michigan are the local farms that are doing farm-to-table work or providing food locally. Actually, Michigan is second only to California in the variety of types of produce we grow. It’s really become a vital part of our state’s economy. And it’s really one-third of our tax revenue, believe it or not, in Michigan. So, it’s all over and a lot here in southeast Michigan. One of the counties that’s under most risk for losing its prime soils is Lenawee.

Diana Kern: Once again, we’re talking about land preservation with the executive director of the Legacy Land Conservancy, Diana Kern, as our guest on WEMU’s First Friday Focus on the Environment. Beyond policy and legal action, Diana, this funding loss has the potential to create real human impact. Can you share more about the challenges that now face those who are depending on the funding to protect their land and to support their livelihoods?

Diana Kern: Yeah. All of the farmers and families that we’ve been working with here in southeast Michigan are under pressure. Obviously, their land could be sold for many different purposes. But, for sure, the families we’ve been working with, they’re struggling to find that extra money that would allow them to do things like upgrades to their farms, practice more conservation types of farming, engage in new equipment, things like that that they would need in order to keep farming being viable for them and their families. So, that affects it because the money they would have received for placing conservation easements now is at risk to them, and they may not get it. And it just puts all of these farmers under more stress.

Lisa Wozniak: So, while you wait for the answer to the question from the USDA’s National Appeals Division, I assume that the Legacy Land Conservancy is going to keep fighting for conservation in Michigan. So, what’s next for the organization and your partners?

Diana Kern: We’re just going to go ahead and keep working on what we do. We have what we call a pipeline of projects and landowners that will continue to keep looking for funding sources. It is harder and harder. There are not really very many private foundations that engage in doing land protection for conservation easements. So, that becomes tougher, but we continue to do our work. We’ll leverage money. What is helpful is when local communities and local municipalities understand that, in order to help protect the important lands within their communities to think about doing small millages, we try to go out and talk to municipalities. We try to do town halls and talk about the value of taking control of your own land protection in your communities by passing small millages and allowing us to leverage federal money and other money along with your millage money to protect the lands that are most important. We’ll continue to do that. We have several projects still on the table. This is a setback for all the farmers in the region and the economy in the region, but Legacy still has an awful lot to do, and we’ll continue to work on protecting the most important land.

Diana Kern: Well, thank you so much for making time today and bringing us up to speed, Diane! And we’ll look forward to the work that lay ahead and learning more about that!

Diana Kern: Yeah, I will let you know that we did find out that our appeal is moving forward. We received notification this week that our appeal has been accepted, and we’ll be having a pre-hearing in early August. So, we hope and keep our fingers crossed, and everybody can do that with us that potentially this region will still see some of that funding.

Diana Kern: That is Diana Kern, Executive Director of Legacy Land Conservancy and our guest on WEMU’s First Friday Focus on the Environment. My co-host and partner is Executive Director at the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. And, Lisa Wozniak, I appreciate all of your work and look forward to our visit in September!

Lisa Wozniak: Thank you, David! I look forward to it as well!

Diana Kern: I’m David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti.

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