MAPLE CITY, Mich. – It’s going to take a lot of work to ecologically restore a beloved Up North ski resort left abandoned for 25 years – plus a legion of volunteers.

The Leelanau Conservancy this year completed a successful $8 million fundraising campaign to take over the defunct Sugar Loaf ski resort, about 30 miles northwest of Traverse City in Leelanau County. The nonprofit expects to take ownership of the 285-acre property in spring 2026 and “that’s when the fun will really begin,” an official said.

Tom Nelson, the nonprofit’s executive director, said the biggest environmental problems include human impacts and invasive species practically overrunning the site.

“It’s been 25 years of invasive plant species coming in and there’s a lot of ecological restoration that needs to happen,” he said. “There’s quite a bit of erosion from human impacts that have tended to get a little worse over time with the weather, and we’ll be working on healing those places as well.”

Nelson said both invasive autumn olive shrubs and spotted knapweed have heavily colonized the old ski resort, both in the forested and open meadow areas.

“There are sections of the property that have acres and acres of autumn olive. It’s like a forest. Frankly, it’s so thick that it will be the biggest job,” Nelson said. “A lot of that cover of autumn olives is 25 feet tall. When I say autumn olive forest, I mean it.”

Invasive autumn olive seeds were historically sown across Michigan for wildlife food and habitat and then spread aggressively, degrading environments and challenging native plant growth through the years. Seeds inside the plant’s red berries are further dispersed by birds and mammals.

Removing the aggressive invasive species will take careful work because cutting stumps and roots will only cause them to resprout. And at the same time the conservancy doesn’t want to disrupt the native plants and trees trying to survive amid the invaders, Nelson said.

“We will have equipment. We will have volunteers. But for some of the heavy-duty work we will need to call in some contractors to help us,” he said.

The conservancy also plans to plant plenty of native wildflowers, shrubs and trees following the removal of invasive species.

Related: $8M fundraising goal topped, Sugar Loaf will turn into new outdoor adventure spot

The $8 million in planned efforts at the property will include $1.5 million in expected ecological restoration and about $6.5 million toward public access improvements.

“The next three to four years will probably be a work in progress, a mix of people enjoying the property as we are doing ecological restoration, building more trails and creating some picnic areas and viewing areas,” Nelson said.

The first project will be to build a parking lot near the roadway and a hiking trail for visitors to reach the summit, where downhill skiers used to spend winter after winter.

Apparently, there is a roster of conservancy volunteers who are “pumped” for the coming projects and will be needed as soon as next year, Nelson said.

“They are super excited to get out there and begin doing restoration, begin building trails. We have just an extraordinary group of volunteers who just love to do that work on our other properties,” he said. “Many of them are hikers or mountain bikers, and often, if you ask them, they will tell you that they love working on the trails more than they like hiking and biking.”

Nelson said the conservancy is expected to take ownership of the property in spring 2026 after completing a site plan review with the local township government.

Sugar Loaf closed in 2000, and in the years since, the property lay dormant except for trespassers.

The landmark ski resort first opened in 1947 and reached peak popularity in the 1970s and ‘80s, rising to become the largest employer in Leelanau County. A series of owners through the years never managed to revitalize the property.

Local officials began citing the resort for blight violations in 2014. The long-decaying resort was eventually demolished in November 2021.

Related: Defunct Sugar Loaf ski resort sold to unknown buyer

The current landowner, whom the conservancy said wishes to remain anonymous, was willing to donate the property to the nonprofit so long as the organization could effectively revitalize the area for both environmental conservation and outdoor recreation.

“We were a little concerned when we first started about what the reaction would be in terms of it not being a ski resort, per se, not being a job creator, an employer like it had been at one time and we feel that, too,” Nelson said.

“We watched the years go by with all the hopes and then hopes dashed. And so, when we announced it and just experienced this outpouring of joy and enthusiasm, it was beyond our wildest dreams.

“We’re still getting folks telling us stories about their time there, and people who had met there and got married and had families and took their children there, and so many wonderful stories. It’s been incredibly heartwarming.”

Requests for volunteers to help with the project are expected to go out next year.