RECOGNIZING THE CONSERVATION VALUE AT GRASS LAKE CENTENNIAL FARM

APPLIED ENVIRONMENTAL was recently contracted by Legacy Land Conservancy, a local non-profit land trust, to perform environmental due diligence services for a 170-acre farmland property located in Grass Lake, Michigan.  Legacy protects and preserves land in Washtenaw and Jackson Counties, and is currently working with the owners of the generational family farm to protect their land—forever—with a conservation agreement.

As part of the due diligence process, a thorough assessment of the property must be completed to ensure the conservation values won't be harmed or hindered by past uses.  APPLIED ENVIRONMENTAL is uniquely suited to assist community partners like Legacy with an Environmental Site Assessment (ESA).

Our team completed a Phase I ESA on the Grass Lake property to assess if current or historical property uses have impacted the soil or groundwater beneath the property and could pose a threat to the environment and/or human health.  The ESA revealed the presence of three underground storage tanks (USTs) and an aboveground storage tank (AST).  Two of the USTs contained gasoline historically used for fueling farm equipment and the remaining UST and AST contained fuel oil used for heating the residential structures.  APPLIED ENVIRONMENTAL facilitated the removal of the USTs and AST and conducted soil sampling to evaluate whether a release had occurred from any of the storage tanks.  The only impacted soil was at the base of the 250-gallon heating fuel oil AST.  APPLIED ENVIRONMENTAL oversaw the removal and the proper disposal of the impacted soil and conducted verification sampling to ensure all impacted soil was removed. 
 
We are grateful to Legacy Land Conservancy for the opportunity to be a part of their efforts to protect and preserve land for generations to come.