I joined the Leelanau Conservancy Facebook Cause Page (Facebook Link) as my parents and aunt and uncle are members of the Conservancy and truly believe in everything the Conservancy stands for. I grew up on the beach on Gills Pier and love everything about the Peninsula- family time, boating, hiking, golfing, the Happy Hour, the Cheese Shack, Riverside, and the Manitous! I look forward to spending as much time as possible with my soon-to-be son on the Peninsula. Here is a picture from one of our fishing adventures. Not sure if you've ever been out there when the sun hits the water, but it is truly special. Thanks for all your hard work!

– Scott Gardner, Troy and Gills Pier, MI

Here are a few shots from the snowshoe hike at the DeYoung property this past Saturday. It was a cold, windy day! Fifteen brave people and two docents experienced what it must have been like for Louis DeYoung to be outside doing farm chores in the early days.

– Sandy & Jim Richardson, Suttons Bay, MI

This is a photo of my grandson on a perfect cloudless blue sky day at Sleeping Bear Dunes. Sean represents the FIFTH generation of the Barry family coming to Glen Lake and the Leelanau area. After spending a week with grandma and grandpa, he didn't want to go back home. This beautiful land will do that to even a child.

– Cheryl Barry, Livonia, MI

It was a lovely day in August 2008 for us to climb the Sleeping Bear Dunes, Glen Arbor, with our four grandchildren (L-R): Alex, Reesie, Kennzie and Ansel Hartmann.

– Cyndie and Jim Hartmann, Holland, MI

A deer had somehow curled into the lake ice near the shore and was being covered by the howling snowstorm coming across the big lake. At first it looked like a snowy piece of wood. A coyote walking by turned and noticed it, then a head lifted up , and I realized it was a deer. A scream from the deck frightened the coyote. Fierce weather coming in, sub-zero temperatures, high winds. A call to a special and valiant neighbor brought him in his wet suit and his friends. Neighbors arrived, a life-line was put together, he crawled out on the ice, the line separated, was tied again, an extension ladder to lay on the ice was found. The crawl to the deer, who lifted her front quarters and tried to pull away, but could not, was precarious because of water under the thick slushy ice (though shallow). This photo catches him actually talking to the deer to calm her, this is a moment of communication as she turns to listen to him. The noose was finally placed around her neck, the guys pushed and pulled her in, her body and head covered with clotted ice hunks. We stood there, stunned. She finally staggered to her feet, fell on the ice, then managed to get her bearings and ran clumsily up the beach and into the woods.

– Kathie Snedeker, Gills Pier, MI