Finding common ground with our neighbors has been a struggle during the past half decade.

Americans seem to have managed to split opinions on nearly all aspects of life, even the parts where working together would serve an obvious common good. In many instances, it seems to take more effort to disagree, yet somehow folks find ways to cement themselves in their corners.

Maybe that’s why it has been so refreshing to watch Michiganders in northwest Lower Michigan chip in with such robust support for the ground we stand upon. After all, that land played a substantial role in bringing us all to this place we call home.

The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy’s years-long fundraising effort launched with a goal to collect about $70 million to help preserve the natural places that make our region so unique. As the campaign rolls to a close at the end of this month, it pulled together $93 million and managed to protect 7,500 acres across a five-county region.

And those dollars don’t account for the perpetual volunteer lift necessary to restore, improve or maintain that landmass.

It’s a collective pull that deserves more recognition than ink and paper can provide.

The fact is, the two things that inspired most of us to set roots in this part of the mitten are land and water. And both need constant stewardship.

Mark Twain famously said “Buy land, they’re not making it anymore.”

In many ways his investment advice was correct, and many seem to have listened. Today, we are thankful folks interested in land preservation turned Twain’s wisdom toward keeping forests, streams, marshes, grasslands and shoreline in their natural state.

They’re definitely not making any more land in northern Michigan, and development pressure chomps up tens of thousands of acres of the little remaining untouched landscape each year.

Especially today, as we watch a post-pandemic buying rush sweep our region, preserving land in its natural state for access and enjoyment is more important than ever.

We are thankful the hard-working folks at the GTRLC spent the past half decade pulling together donors, landowners and volunteers on common ground. It was and is a momentous effort.

It’s also a selfless act that serves a greater, common good.

Thousands of those acres and miles of shoreline now are available for anyone, regardless of means, to enjoy in perpetuity. Many of those spaces also are now accessible to folks with disabilities thanks to the campaign.

It’s in these moments, when our neighbors stand on common ground to accomplish extraordinary feats, we are reminded that the truly important things tie us all together despite the divisiveness that surrounds us.

That, like us, so many of our neighbors love the land and want to share it.