Summary
The George and Althea Petritz Nature Preserve is a protected north-end Beaver Island landscape mapped by OSM as way 995232698. The 2023 Beaver Island Master Plan lists it among the Little Traverse Conservancy’s preserves and birding sites; a 2015 Charlevoix Courier article gives its area as 28 acres and places it within the Beaver Island Birding Trail.
A July 2025 Northern Light local-history account says the preserve was dedicated on August 7, 2012. It describes a sand-dune view toward Lake Michigan, trails formed in part by earlier Coast Guard travel to Lookout Point, and the later preservation of land assembled from Petritz family property and adjacent acreage. The dedication date is explicit in that account; the precise boundary and acquisition instruments remain to be verified against Conservancy records.
Open questions
- Can Little Traverse Conservancy acquisition records establish the exact acreage, parcels, boundary, and public-access terms?
- Is the OSM polygon identical to the legal preserve boundary, or only a mapped approximation?
- What documentation connects the surviving Heritage Park building to the former Lookout Point tower?
Sources
- OpenStreetMap contributors, George and Althea Petritz Nature Preserve polygon via Overpass API, retrieved 2026-07-28 (ODbL 1.0).OSM way 995232698 is tagged as a nature reserve; the representative point above is computed from the polygon in EPSG:4326.osm · protected_areas
- Beaver Island Master Plan (Beaver Island, Mich., 2023), pp. 91, 119.Lists the George and Althea Petritz Preserves among Little Traverse Conservancy holdings and identifies the preserve as a north-end birding site.
- Charlevoix Courier, January 2, 2015, "Beaver Island businesses gearing up for fall tourism."Describes the preserve as a 28-acre Little Traverse Conservancy preserve included in the Beaver Island Birding Trail.
- Marilyn Clark Duda, "Petritz Preserve Paths," *Northern Light*, July 2025.Reports that George and Althea Petritz Preserve was dedicated on August 7, 2012, and describes its sand-dune vista, trails, and connection to the former Coast Guard lookout at Lookout Point.