News & Blog

A community rallies for Ottawa Sands

We celebrated the transfer of this property to Ottawa County Parks in October 2019. [caption id="attachment_16180" align="alignright" width="443"] Hikers explore Ottawa Sands during the dedication.[/caption] On a blustery, gray day in mid-October, supporters of Ottawa Sands County Park gathered to celebrate its dedication—the final chapter in a...

The Highlands

Thanks to the community of Grand Rapids, this former golf course's future as a natural area was secured in spring 2019. The soft breezes and peaceful trails belie an exciting year of transformation at the Highlands. Completion of the acquisition campaign and a series of groundbreaking...

Night Beach Forever

Preserving the dunes, and a dear friend's memory, in perpetuity. When 35-year-old Evelyn Stone passed away in 2018, Jessa Ávalos and her friends wanted to find a way to honor her memory and her love for West Michigan’s dunes. “When our friends think about Evelyn, they think...

Eleanor Iorio renders landscapes in fiber

PRESERVED! Artist Interview Series Eleanor Iorio is this year’s Preserved! Youth Ambassador. She has grown up surrounded by art, and at 17 years old, she has spent much of her life experimenting in different mediums. Her focus is needle-felted fiber landscapes. [caption id="attachment_15953" align="alignright" width="237"] Eleanor Iorio[/caption] Iorio learned...

Cayla Tinney paints waypoints to memory

PRESERVED! Artist Interview Series Nature pervades most facets of Cayla Tinney’s life. She is a visual artist and an ecologist inspired by the rhythms, poetry and memory she sees in the landscape. Tinney grew up in Northern Michigan, where she said the “outside” was ever-present. [caption id="attachment_15928" align="alignright" width="339"]...

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