News & Blog

Overcoming Oak Wilt

It was confirmed: oak wilt had claimed the lives almost all the red and black oaks across this section of woods. Oak wilt is a disease caused by the non-native fungus Ceratocystis fagacearum, and is lethal to oak trees. But as devastating as oak wilt

A Day on the Burn Crew

Long before the state of Michigan was made up of a patchwork of geometric farm fields, sprawling cities, meandering highways, and stretches of forest, the state was made up mostly of a dynamic mixture of three landscapes--prairie, oak savanna, and oak forest. Those habitats shifted

Flower Creek Dunes Addition Complete

17-acre Addition to Flower Creek Dunes Nature Preserve is Complete The Land Conservancy of West Michigan has announced the completion of a campaign to add 17 acres of Lake Michigan sand dunes, including 1,000 feet of Lake Michigan frontage and 1,200 feet along Big Flower Creek,

Save Michigan Hemlocks

The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) is an invasive species that has devastated the hemlock forests in the southeast United States. It was first detected in West Michigan in 2016 and now threatens the hemlocks of our own lakeshore and northern forests. The known extent of HWA

Arctic(ish) Adventure

Recently I have been reading stories of polar explorers. I have long been fascinated by the men and women who strike out into the most desolate places on earth. I love the pictures of their hardened, stoic faces poking out through furry hoods, covered in

New Conservation as Year Ends

A little extra celebration was had this holiday season as a flurry of land protection happened in the last days of 2017. Two conservation agreements were completed as the year wrapped up, bringing the 2017 total to six new conservation agreements and the total acreage