The 310 acres of undeveloped dune land north of the Kalamazoo River has been the holy grail of West Michigan conservationists for years.

Now the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is mounting an effort to acquire 150 acres of that land to create an unbroken stretch of publicly owned Lake Michigan shoreline from Saugatuck Dunes State Park to Oval Beach. It’s an effort we endorse, though we fear it may be too little and too late.

The DNR has applied to the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund for $500,000 to kick-start a campaign to raise an additional $9.5 million in private contributions to buy the land from property owner Aubrey McClendon. We hope the effort is successful because the McClendon property is a unique treasure.

There is nothing like the property, with its Lake Michigan beachfront and rare and sensitive intercoastal dunes, in private hands anywhere in West Michigan, and if the property is developed it is unlikely it will ever be available to the public again.

Acquiring land from McClendon would allow the DNR to extend Saugatuck Dunes State Park southward and create a 4-mile stretch of publicly owned lakefront. “It could be the crown jewel of the state park system and be an economic driver for the area,” said Vaughn Maatman, executive director of the Land Conservancy of West Michigan.

But we worry that the effort may be too late. McClendon’s plans to develop upscale housing on part of the property has been known for years. Another state agency, the Department of Environmental Quality, has given McClendon’s Singapore Dunes LLC permission to cut a road through the property; that road has been graded, but is not yet paved. If and when that happens, and if and when the first home sites are sold, the opportunity to preserve the land will be lost. The trust fund board will not rule on the DNR’s application until December, and private fund-raising would take months, at best.

And while $10 million sounds like a lot of money, it’s not much for 150 acres of waterfront land. It cost $22.1 million for a public-private consortium to buy the 173 acres McClendon owned south of the Kalamazoo River (now the Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area) from McClendon in 2011, and that land wasn’t developable. Neither do we know if the Oklahoma tycoon is even interested in selling.

The entire 310-acre property was listed for sale for $40 million in 2013 but has since been taken off the market; the real estate broker representing McClendon recently said, “We’re going to re-evaluate where we are.”

Finally, we’d like to ask one thing of the DNR: If the department is successful in acquiring the land, please make at least part of it easily accessible. We understand the environment is sensitive and conservationists don’t want the land to look like Holland State Park or Oval Beach. Neither do we, but we don’t believe this beautiful stretch of dune land should be off-limits to a large percentage of the population either.

Saugatuck Dunes State Park is one of the great natural spaces in Michigan, but it is not easy for the elderly, the disabled and families with small children to enjoy it.

We don’t think that a small parking lot and a boardwalk or staircase is incompatible with environmental preservation.

– The Holland Sentinel