There's a special place in Heaven for people who lock down their land from development, whether it's through conservation easements that help preserve the family farm or by donating privately owned forests, rivers, and lakes to park districts or groups such as the Nature Conservancy.
But the story of Clive and Clarice Taylor takes such commitment to a higher level.
Clarice and Clive Taylor on site of the land they donated Oct. 4. THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON
While I'm sure they'll reap tax benefits from their generous donation just like anyone else who donates, their passion goes well beyond wanting to keep their land from becoming another strip mall.
You see, the Taylors - who donated their 43 acres earlier this week to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion into the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge - carved their own piece of paradise from scratch out of what was for decades a soybean farm.
Scenic shots from the 43 acres Clive and Clarice Taylor donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion into the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. THE BLADE/TOM HENRY
Mr. Taylor, a self-taught outdoorsman and nature lover, and his wife built seven ponds, planted hundreds of trees, wildflowers, and other plants - such as cattails, water lilies and the ecologically threatened American lotus - while tirelessly removing invasive phragmites and other exotics.
The couple built an observation deck, and a nesting platform for bald eagles. Their property is home to beaver, mink, coyotes, great blue herons, snowy egret, deer, and many other forms of wildlife, including hundreds of bees and crickets.
It took a lot of money and sweat equity, but it was that important to them.
“It was a work of love,” Mr. Taylor told me. “I love trampling through the marsh.”
Scenic shots from the 43 acres Clive and Clarice Taylor donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion into the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. THE BLADE/TOM HENRY
What drives someone to do that?
Obviously, a lot of love for nature.
To call the site environmentally unique is an understatement.
Located in northeastern Monroe County’s Berlin Township, it is off Labo Road just west of U.S. Turnpike Road near the Monroe-Wayne county line.
It is hydrologically connected to the sprawling and environmentally sensitive, 4040-acre Pointe Mouillee State Game Area.
Scenic shots from the 43 acres Clive and Clarice Taylor donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion into the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. THE BLADE/TOM HENRY
Both of them had some amazing - and, yes, even humorous - stories to tell about how they scoured the region and salvaged whatever raw materials they could find to make improvements at their site, mostly for better hiking trails as nature took hold and their land became less of a farm and more of a wildlife refuge again.
John Hartig, Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge manager, told me one of the main stipulations the Taylors made was to have their property used by future generations for environmental education, not just as land to expand the refuge acreage.
Scenic shots from the 43 acres Clive and Clarice Taylor donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion into the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. THE BLADE/TOM HENRY
Mr. Taylor is a throwback to another era, a Renaissance man who grew up along the water in southeastern Wayne County, in Gibraltar, Mich., and built his own boat at age 19. That was in 1960, six years before Gibraltar was incorporated as a village.
He told me he learned a lot about nature, hydrology, and the outdoors from years he spent working at the former E.W. Heinrich Marina.
His wife said he holds a high school diploma, but never had the patience for college. He was too enamored by the outdoors.
Sure, he had a close friend help him. But I was struck by the sincerity in her eyes when I asked her how he did it without hiring teams of hydrologists, biologists, other scientists, and planners.
“He knows. He just knows,” she said, explaining that much of his education about nature is intuitive. “He just has an eye for it.”
Scenic shots from the 43 acres Clive and Clarice Taylor donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion into the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. THE BLADE/TOM HENRY
She estimates the couple put about $500,000 into the property during the 15 or so years they owned it, a pittance for what it would cost if they didn't do so much of the work themselves.
Here are just a sampling of photographs I took while out there.
It's a special place, most of which is set off in the distance. But you wouldn't know that driving along Labo Road and thinking you're just passing another farm on a country road.
The Taylors now live in a scenic part of Gibraltar Island known as Horse Island.
Scenic shots from the 43 acres Clive and Clarice Taylor donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion into the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. THE BLADE/TOM HENRY
Scenic shots from the 43 acres Clive and Clarice Taylor donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion into the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. THE BLADE/TOM HENRY
Scenic shots from the 43 acres Clive and Clarice Taylor donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion into the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. THE BLADE/TOM HENRY
Scenic shots from the 43 acres Clive and Clarice Taylor donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion into the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. THE BLADE/TOM HENRY
Scenic shots from the 43 acres Clive and Clarice Taylor donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion into the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. THE BLADE/TOM HENRY
Scenic shots from the 43 acres Clive and Clarice Taylor donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion into the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. THE BLADE/TOM HENRY
Scenic shots from the 43 acres Clive and Clarice Taylor donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion into the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. THE BLADE/TOM HENRY
Scenic shots from the 43 acres Clive and Clarice Taylor donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion into the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. THE BLADE/TOM HENRY
Scenic shots from the 43 acres Clive and Clarice Taylor donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion into the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. THE BLADE/TOM HENRY
Scenic shots from the 43 acres Clive and Clarice Taylor donated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for inclusion into the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. THE BLADE/TOM HENRY
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