Well Site, East Bay 1-15C

photo: Nate Richardson

It’s always a little jarring after a cool, relaxing walk in the woods to stumble out into a hot, dusty, clear-cut oil field replete with pumping infrastructure in various stages of decay.   These places are not pretty, but somehow I don’t mind them. For somebody who spends a disproportionate amount of his waking hours seeking beautiful natural landscapes, this is admittedly odd. I’ve been bumping into these places my entire life and, although I greatly value natural beauty and healthy functioning landscapes, I have a connection to the oil fields. I remember watching the derricks slowly bob their heads from the family car and being comforted by the slow, steady movement of the gentle giants. Of course, I also personified the derricks into Eeyore-type characters so later, when I saw them motionless and alone in their fields, no longer useful, just odd-looking, forgotten horses put out to pasture, the sadness I felt for them, however irrational, was very real.

It’s been a while since the days of attaching emotion to multi-ton inanimate oil-extracting infrastructure and I, along with many others I suspect, are not sad to see the heyday of oil starting to fade into the rear view mirror.  However, while walking through East Bay 1-15C field I couldn’t help think about what oil has meant to this area. The Niagaran reef formation,  from which all the oil and gas in this area comes, has poured financial resources into our communities. The 1-15c well site is actually on Brown Bridge Quiet Area property owned by Traverse City and is one of several others. Royalties from the Brown Bridge Quiet Area wells total eight million dollars and yield .5 million in interest revenue yearly. The Rotary Club of Traverse City also owned land once rich with oil and gas resources and was the impetus for Rotary Charities of Traverse City which distributes oil and gas interest revenues in the form of grants that support life enhancing causes including affordable housing, education, environment, culture and recreation, strengthening families, community capacity building and health. Over a 30-year period Rotary Charities has distributed over 36 million dollars to communities in the five-county region.

Perhaps the point is that there is often more to things than first meets the eye… sure the landscapes are unhealthy, ugly and uncomfortable but these ugly places have provided dollars that have started organizations like the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy which has protected over 34,000 acres of land and 100 miles of shoreline in our region over 20 years. So the next time you are climbing through the dunes, walking your favorite forest path or beach, or paddling a pristine river it may be, in a circuitous way, thanks to “Texas Tea”… in this area anyhow.

Rotary Charities History

Brown Bridge Quiet Area Management Plan