Sibley Prairie is one of the last substantial tracts of lakeplain prairie left in Michigan, a landscape shaped by retreating glaciers more than 10,000 years ago and classified as globally imperiled. The Michigan Natural Features Inventory estimates that only 1% of what was once common lakeplain prairie in the state survives.
A coalition of Michigan environmental organizations has until the end of 2026 to raise $6 million to purchase 440 acres of Sibley Prairie — a globally imperiled lakeplain habitat in Brownstown Township near Detroit — after striking a purchase agreement with Fritz Enterprises, the scrap metal recycling company that has owned the land for decades. As of mid-February, the groups had raised just over $500,000 toward that goal, with a total fundraising target of $9.7 million when restoration costs and an endowment fund are included.
“If this is lost, it’s lost forever,” said Jack Smiley, president of the Michigan Land Conservancy, which is representing the coalition of environmental organizations.
A rare landscape under pressure
Sibley Prairie is a lakeplain prairie — flat, low-lying land formed on the margins of the Great Lakes as glaciers retreated more than 10,000 years ago. The landscape supports specialized flora and fauna adapted to cycles of spring flooding and summer drought that few other species tolerate.
The Michigan Natural Features Inventory estimates that only 1% of the state’s original lakeplain prairie remains. The habitat was once commonly found in Berrien County near Lake Michigan and along the shores of Lake Huron from Saginaw Bay south to Monroe County.
“It is really a special piece of land,” said Jennifer Harper, a biology lecturer at Eastern Michigan University. “We don’t have a lot of places like that in southeast Michigan left that are relatively untouched by humans.”
The 440 acres for sale hosts more than a dozen rare plants, including Vasey’s rush and tall green milkweed, which are threatened and legally protected under Michigan law. Songbirds, frogs, and six of Michigan’s nine bat species also inhabit the site. The prairie provides flood mitigation for surrounding areas and its vegetation sequesters carbon dioxide.
Two smaller parcels of Sibley Prairie — one of 3 acres and another of 38.8 acres — are already protected and managed by the Southeast Michigan Land Conservancy.
“This is the largest piece remaining and the highest quality piece within the remaining lakeplain prairie area,” Smiley said. “It’s really in Detroit’s backyard and people can come from all over the state to come down and see and enjoy this place.”
The deal with Fritz Enterprises
Fritz Enterprises, a Brownstown Township-based scrap metal recycling business, began acquiring parcels of Sibley Prairie in the late 1970s. Len Fritz, the company’s current president, said the land was originally purchased at the township’s request to prevent illegal dumping and other criminal activity on the site.
The company accumulated roughly 440 acres, primarily between Sibley and King roads, bordered by Telegraph Road to the east and train tracks to the west. A rock-crushing operation that once ran on part of the land closed a couple of decades ago, Fritz said. Most of the land remained relatively untouched prairie.
In 2023, Fritz Enterprises listed the parcels for sale. The following year, the company placed the land on an auction site called lastbidrealestate.com. That listing prompted Smiley to approach Fritz Enterprises about a conservation purchase.
Fritz Enterprises agreed to sell the coalition the 440 acres on the condition that the groups pay $1 million upfront for a purchase option and raise an additional $5 million by the end of 2026. The coalition borrowed the $1 million option payment from a private individual.
“We felt that it would probably be the easiest way to go about doing it as opposed to developing it,” Fritz said.
Beyond the $6 million purchase price, the coalition is also working to raise $3.7 million for restoration, public access infrastructure, and an endowment to sustain the site over time.
Grant application and township partnership
The coalition is also pursuing a Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grant — a state program that directs revenue from state-owned oil, gas, and mineral extraction toward conservation and outdoor recreation land purchases.
Brownstown Township is partnering with the coalition on the grant application. Township Manager Brian Peters said the details of the application were still being finalized as of early March. The township plans to hold a public hearing and vote on a resolution to submit the grant application at its March 16 board meeting, at 6 p.m. Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grant applications are due April 1.
Peters acknowledged that preserving the prairie means the township would forgo property tax revenue that would come with development. He said he does not view that as a deterrent.
“This makes an attraction where people will be coming here and recreating here and those adjacent sites become more desirable for development without disrupting the important habitat that’s on this particular site,” he said.