We are celebrating Conservation Director Justin Heslinga's 10-year anniversary of working with the Land Conservancy of West Michigan. Over the course of the last decade, Justin has been an instrumental leader in caring for the natural lands LCWM has worked with the community to protect.
This summer, ground broke on one of the final pieces of the restoration work at The Highlands, a natural area protected in collaboration by the Land Conservancy and Blandford Nature Center. ย Construction began on the stream daylighting project in early July. The project will bring
This post is excerpted from an article originally published in the Grand Valley State University College of Liberal Arts & Sciences e-newsletter, CLAS Acts, and is republished here with permission. Anyone fighting a battle in a Michigan backyard with volunteer maple trees could be forgiven for
Work has begun to โdaylightโ an underground stream at The Highlands, a natural area protected by Blandford Nature Center and the Land Conservancy of West Michigan. Several partners met to break ground on the project on July 11, 2022.ย As part of the ongoing restoration of
An anonymous donor has given their family property to the Land Conservancy to create a public nature preserve in Newaygo County.
We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Valerino Castro, a man who played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Land Conservancyโs first nature preserve.ย Valerino and his wife Maria owned the land thatย isย nowย Saul Lake Bog Nature Preserve.ย Under their care, the land
If you have recentlyย hiked throughย Saul Lake Bog Nature Preserve, you may haveย noticedย thatย someย of the trees bearย blue or red markings.ย If you guessed thatย those markingsย denoteย treesย that will be removed, you are right.ย Unfortunately, oak wilt hasย been discovered on the preserveย andย hasย alreadyย killed dozens of oaks. The diseaseย will continue to spread without action,ย andย that
Thanks to the communityโs generous support, theย 43 acresย adjacent to the preserve are protected forever and open to the public. The Land Conservancy of West Michigan announcedย it has finalized its purchase ofย 43 acres of forestedย backduneย habitat adjacent to Flower Creek Dunes Nature Preserve.ย The addition, named the Huston-Rausch-Paprocki Reserve,
Afterย the winter chill sets in, and theย dormantย plantsโย myriadย hues of brownย are covered by aย crisp white blanket,ย fieldworkย stillย beckons for the staff of theย Land Conservancy of West Michigan.ย Although the bulk of our work requires plants to be green and actively growing, there is still plenty to doย after the leaves fall.ย So,
Spring is coming! Now is a great time to start thinking about which native plants and trees you will grow in your yard this year. Why native plants? There are many reasons to landscape your yard with native plants. Plants that are native to our region provide