Charter Sanctuary
Preserving and restoring desperately needed bird habitat has been Kay and Jim Charter's personal crusade for years. Many bird species, particularly the migratory songbirds that travel back and forth between North and South America each year, are in serious decline. The main culprit isn't corporate greed or runaway pollution, Kay says - it's the gradual loss of appropriate habitat as homeowners, businesses and farmers replace needed native plants with exotic species that do not host the insect biomass that support birds.
By the fall of 1992, the Charters, had become accutely aware that the birds they loved to watch were in decline. Opting to take action, they sold their bay front home and poured the proceeds into 47 acres of mixed habitat. There, they established a safe haven for the warblers, orioles, buntings and other feathered jewels at the place they came to call Charter Sanctuary.
At this small avian paradise near Omena, Michigan, the Charters soon began to explore ways they could use their land as an outdoor classroom where others can learn how to help our troubled bird population. As the couple has learned, anyone can help by simply incorporating native plants into their individual landscapes.
"People need hope," Kay says. "They need to feel there's something they can do themselves. And that's what we give them. We teach them how to make a difference in their own backyards. By simply using our own property wisely, we can actually restore half of what's already been taken from Mother Nature. And that's a lot."
More than 60 species of birds have nested on Charter Sanctuary, and about 100 others have stopped to forage there during migration.
But a bird sanctuary that is visited by large groups of tourists quickly ceases to be a sanctuary. 
By the time Saving Birds came into existence, it was obvious that something had to be done to accommodate visitors in ways that would be less intrusive and disruptive to the birds. Thus was the organization born, complete with a nature center. The Discovery Center is located on a three-acre site next to the sanctuary, where guests can still search for birds without adversely impacting those that are nesting. Visits to the Sanctuary proper are possible by prior arrangement by calling the SBTH office.