Conservancies involved in sale of Seven Mile Point registered to same address

In the wake of the recent sale of Seven Mile Point, local residents have expressed mixed reactions. While some accept the inevitability of the sale, others express disappointment with the loss of public access and the leadership of the involved organizations.

The leaders of Keweenaw Natural Areas and the American Songbird Management and Restoration conservancies say the sale and closure of public access was necessary and ethical, but paperwork filed with the state and IRS show the two organizations registered to the same Ahmeek address as recently as April 2023, as well as other information that disagrees with the nonprofit leader’s narrative.

Seven Mile Point, via Wallpaperflair.com

Seven Mile Point Background

Seven Mile Point is a pristine, wooded site on the north shore of the Keweenaw Peninsula, overlooking Lake Superior. Located in Allouez Township, an 8-mile drive from Ahmeek, it is a conservation area, home to eagles, wolves, loons, snowshoe hares and a beaver named Stephanie, according to the North Woods Conservancy website. North Woods Conservancy has been doing business as Keweenaw Natural Areas(KNA) since 2018.

A 7-page history of Seven Mile Point written by John Griffith says that the Lake Superior Land Company subdivided Seven Mile Point into 24 lots in the late 1990s. KNA – which Griffith founded with his wife, Jane in 1992 – tried to buy all 24 lots to protect the scenic and natural resources and the traditional public use, but he says the land company “wanted houses there” and refused to sell to them.

According to Griffith, KNA managed to negotiate the purchase of the final remaining lot in 2001, ending up with a large mortgage and no source of income other than public donations and an annual raffle. The lot KNA bought is at the western, lakeside end of Seven Mile Road, a private road through the properties. It comprises 32 acres and over 1,800 feet of Lake Superior shoreline, including a cobble beach and the ancient bedrock point.

As a condition of its purchase of the Seven Mile Point property, KNA negotiated an agreement with the other property owners along Seven Mile Point Road to provide driving access on their private road to the beach only at certain times, with KNA monitoring the access whenever it was open. KNA also installed a gate at their property line on the private road.

“It was never a public beach or public property,” said Griffith in an email. “That is a misconception. The limited guest access across two miles of private road was negotiated by KNA with the owners of the private road.”

Despite KNA’s efforts to control access to the private road at the times agreed, a scarcity of volunteers made it difficult to do so, Griffith said. More and more rowdy visitors were using the road, threatening homeowners, making noise, setting fires and leaving trash, he explained.

A Difficult Decision

The limited public access and other restrictions on the property made it difficult for KNA to find grant funding for the property, according to Griffith. He said this year, with mortgage debt that it could not pay, KNA faced the specter of default and the sale of Seven Mile Point to developers.

Griffith said that to avoid development and protect the property for conservation, KNA sold it to another conservation non-profit, American Songbird Management and Recovery (ASMAR), which has no website or public face of its own. Griffith said the sale allowed KNA to pay off its mortgage on the property.

“Members of Keweenaw Natural Areas (KNA) brought Seven Mile to ASMAR’s attention,” said Sue Lafferty, chair of ASMAR’s board of governors, in an email. “KNA initially asked for a partnership or other ideas on how to permanently protect the property.”

Eventually, KNA sold the land to ASMAR.

“KNA is ecstatic that instead of selling for development, KNA found a conservation buyer that will protect the habitats, species, and viewscape at Seven Mile Point in perpetuity,” said Griffith.

ASMAR is registered as a non-profit conservation organization with a focus on resident and migratory songbirds. Griffith says he is only active with ASMAR as a volunteer liaison to the Keweenaw, and that his wife has “never been an ASMAR officer or board member.”

“I have agreed to keep an eye on the property and continue to liaise with the lot owners, and also am encouraging ASMAR for more Keweenaw action,” Griffith added.

Public Reaction

“I have heard only a handful of objections to the sale,” Griffith said. “Most responses have been acceptance of the facts on the ground, chagrin that more was not done by them, and of course sadness they can’t go there anymore. I understand them 100%, as I share them, as does the board.”

Sue Ellen Kingsley said Copper Beacon’s call was the first she had heard about the sale of Seven Mile Point. Kingsley’s husband, Terry Kinzel, was the lead founder and first vice president of the Keweenaw Land Trust—another conservation organization in the Keweenaw whose mission is to protect land, water and quality of life through conservation, stewardship and education.

Some time ago, the Keweenaw Land Trust looked into merging with North Woods Conservancy — now KNA — but decided not to do it, Kingsley said.

Closing beach access really seems wrong, she added.

“Public beach access was their big thing when they were raising money,” she said.

Legally speaking, the beach is not part of the property sold by KNA to ASMAR, Kingsley went on to say.

“The beach is owned by the State of Michigan, and no one can deny access to it,” she said.

A 2004 Michigan Supreme Court ruling held that the public has a right to walk along the shores of the Great Lakes “…below and lakeward of the natural ordinary high-water mark…”. However, they do not have the right to trespass on private property to get to the shoreline.

Kingsley said she often walks the beach at Seven Mile Point, accessing it from surrounding land, not using Seven Mile Point Road.

Questions Arose

The new owner, ASMAR, will not allow public access to the Seven Mile Point property, according to Lafferty.

“To maximize habitat protection and breeding success, most ASMAR sanctuaries are not open to the public,” she said.

The loss of beach access upset some KNA donors and volunteers. They blamed KNA for shutting down beach access.

“KNA accepted a lot of donations toward this parcel from the general public, largely on the basis of continued public access.,” said one longtime KNA supporter, who wished to remain anonymous for the sake of their continued volunteer work with local conservation organizations. “People who are donors feel slighted. Their donations were to be used for public access.”

The volunteer went on to say he knows that the Griffiths are personally dedicated to achieving conservation outcomes in the Keweenaw. But he is concerned about whether KNA made a profit on the sale.

Lisa Karrio, assessor for Allouez Township said the land value of the Seven Mile Point property that KNA sold is $675,988. The sale price recorded was $790,000, she added. According to Forbes Advisor, land value is often less than market value or sale price. According to an archived version of the North Wood Conservancy website from April 2002, the purchase price of Seven Mile Point was $365,000.

John Griffith stated emphatically that neither KNA nor he and his wife made any profit on the sale.

“Jane and I do own private property in Allouez Township, and we did recently place a conservation easement on it, but this property has nothing to do with Seven Mile Point,” he said. “Zero. To state it directly again: Jane and I don’t own, and never have owned, KNA or Seven Mile Point or ASMAR. Period.”

It is true that no one owns non-profit incorporations like KNA or ASMAR. They are operated by a board for the benefit of the community, under special tax rules. They do not pay property taxes.

KNA owns and manages five other conservation areas across the Keweenaw.

“Our mission is simple: to acquire natural areas to protect native habitats and wildlife, and provide public access for the benefit of residents, visitors and our tourism-based economy,” said Griffith.

He and his wife Jane are both conservation biologists.

Paperwork Incongruencies

Griffith says ASMAR originally operated in the Southwest. Lafferty says they perform research and recovery projects and establish bird sanctuaries throughout the United States, Mexico and Central America. ASMAR was awarded $77,000 for the study of birds in California, which is also listed on the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation(NFWF) website.

However, no registration for ASMAR could be found on California’s business registry, and ASMAR’s IRS 990 tax filings available online list their only address in Ahmeek and active only in Keweenaw County. The form also lists Jane Griffith as principal officer, and John Griffith as a director. Filings with the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) show that Jane Griffith is the original and sole incorporator of ASMAR, and the registered agent for ASMAR was changed from Jane Griffith to Susan Lafferty in April of this year.

Filings with LARA also show that until July 10 of this year, ASMAR and KNA were registered to the same street address.

ASMAR also gave a grant of more than $5 million to KNA in 2021. None of KNA’s 990s, which should hold record of them receiving and using the grant, is available after 2018. This letter from the IRS re-establishes KNA’s status as a 501(c)(3) charity in 2022, and makes it clear that they can lose their status for not filing the required form 990 for three years in a row. The timing of the ASMAR donation roughly coincides with KNA’s purchase of more Gratiot River land, one of their major projects.

An updated 2021 Form 990 for ASMAR was provided directly to Copper Beacon by Lafferty, dated July 10, 2023. Copper Beacon has been unable to verify if this form has been submitted or accepted by the IRS.

In it, the principal officer is Lafferty instead of Griffith, and information about a NFWF grant was added. There is also information about the direct acquisition of The Northern Cardinal Sanctuary in Ahmeek for $35,148. The paperwork says ASMAR received more than $23 million in contributions and grants in 2021, and only granted money to KNA.

The Griffiths abstained from the KNA vote to sell Seven Mile Point.

“We abstained precisely to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, since we are active in both KNA and ASMAR as volunteers,” said Griffith.

The board members that lead both organizations are volunteers, and Griffith is a member of both in the most recently available IRS paperwork. However, neither of the Griffiths are listed as directors or officers in current LARA information for ASMAR, updated with paperwork from July 10 of this year.

Copper Beacon continues to investigate.

If you’re interested in republishing this story, please email us at editor@copperbeacon.org.

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