Each spring, as plants respond to the lengthening days with new buds, leaves, and flowers, the Land Conservancy begins a dose of prescribed burns across many of the Conservancy's nature preserves. Several of the preserves contain ecosystems that depend on occasional fires to keep them
The following post is from guest blogger, Cindy Crosby. The post originally appeared on her blog, Tuesdays in the Tallgrass. “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being
Last summer, we asked visitors to several of our nature preserves to take and send photographs from particular locations, so that we could track the changes. We've been receiving photos from you through social media and by email for the past 8 months now, and
Highlands Golf Club Given New Life as a Future Natural Area The Land Conservancy of West Michigan and Blandford Nature Center have collaborated on the purchase of the 121-acre Highlands Golf Club in Grand Rapids to transform the property into a natural area for community recreation
An Exciting Landmark Reached With the completion of several new conservation projects at the end of 2016, The Land Conservancy of West Michigan recently surpassed a total of 10,000 acres of preserved natural land in West Michigan. Five new projects were completed in December and were protected with conservation agreements,
Today is the winter solstice. The sun is at its lowest point in our Northern sky. Today will be the shortest day of the year and the night will be long and cold. But tomorrow begins the slow lengthening of days. And though we are
Restoring Land, Restoring Hope. On Black Friday, 23 people came out to Saul Lake Bog Nature Preserve and planted a prairie. While the rest of America was out fighting crowds, standing in line, and getting into altercations over parking spots, 23 people were outside, breathing fresh
As a young boy I lived in central Illinois, a region better known for its endless seas of windswept corn than any magnificent natural wonders. So I was lucky, perhaps, that my parents’ house backed up to one of the largest oak forests in the
Flooding in Louisiana, earthquakes in Italy, tornadoes in the Midwest. We constantly hear about the destructive forces of nature and the toll they take. But what else can nature do? On a recent walk, I was reminded of the other side of nature. It’s ability
Post Update: This week, a crew will be working at Maas Family Nature Preserve to remove trees from six acres of forest that is encroaching on rare oak barrens. Some may wonder, "why is the land conservancy removing trees at one preserve while planting trees at