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Belle Isle: Whose park will it be?

By Sherri Welch
Photo by NATHAN SKID/CDB A view on Belle Isle, near the heart of the city, takes in nothing but nature.

Belle Isle, the third-largest island in the Detroit River after Grosse Ile and Fighting Island, is the only island park in the country designed by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.

The island is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and boasts five miles of scenic shoreline and a 985-acre park that's the 10th-largest municipal park in the U.S.

The city of Detroit owns the island, in the middle of the Detroit River, but the state seeks a long-term lease so it can operate Belle Isle as a state park. Negotiations are ongoing, as Detroit Mayor Dave Bing seeks specific promises from the state about the investments it plans to make.

The island is also home to the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, Detroit Yacht Club and numerous other historic buildings, many designed by Albert Kahn. They include the Detroit Boat Club; the Belle Isle Casino, a two-story, Spanish-style Renaissance Revival building that serves as a meeting place; the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory, modeled after Thomas Jefferson's Monticello homestead; the Belle Isle Zoo; and the Belle Isle Aquarium.

Over the past 40 years, several nonprofit conservation groups have helped restore the island. The groups merged last October, creating the Belle Isle Conservancy.

The conservancy is negotiating an agreement with the city of Detroit that would enable it to reopen the aquarium for a couple of days each month -- seven years after it closed because of a lack of operating funds.

So far, the conservancy has repopulated 12 of the 60 tanks with native species caught in Michigan's waters, other freshwater species and saltwater species donated from people all over the state.

The attraction is Michigan's only public aquarium, the conservancy said. It hopes to reopen it to the public soon, free of charge.
