If you’re lucky enough, you’ve seen Virginia snakeroot in bloom. If you’re like me, you almost passed it by. You may have bent down to part the goldenrod and geranium to find the little nondescript plant there on the ground, its curvy tubular flower hidden beneath
The following post is from guest blogger Jill Henemyer. Jill is an avid birder and long time member and volunteer for the Land Conservancy of West Michigan. *** Here in West Michigan we are privileged to live next to the Lake Michigan shoreline, an important link along
My father owned 80 acres of cedar swamp in Newaygo County, bisected by a small, cold-water creek with an elusive population of brook trout. Opening day of trout season, typically the last Saturday in April, was a day of great anticipation. Fishing gear, lunch, and
We tend to think there’s nothing like our Lake Michigan coastal dunes. Not so. Coastal dunes are found throughout the world, providing a wide variety of dune forms, shapes and ecosystems. This summer, faculty and students from the Departments of Geologic and Environmental Sciences and Mathematics
Early Emergent Recently I was on the banks of the Pere Marquette River and noticed a familiar plant crawling from the earth – skunk cabbage. It’s one of the early risers from the banks of rivers and wetlands in West Michigan and beyond. The plant actually
In my previous job, working for a nonprofit in Northern Michigan, I lived on a dirt road ten miles outside of any population center. When walking outside at night, I was immersed in the inkiest black of night – until I looked skyward. Free of
Spring is the time of year when I take the chance to get back outside and renew my connection with nature especially after this past winter of little snow and not much cross-country skiing. I’ve discovered a new walking route that takes me along the
This morning I stopped by Saul Lake Bog Nature Preserve to prep for some upcoming fieldwork (we’re restoring more than 7 acres of prairie and savanna this year). As I stepped out of the truck, a primordial squawk from just overhead led me to pick
Each Spring, when Peter and Ginny Gustafson’s children were young, they gave a prize to the first child to hear the whip-poor-will make its endlessly repeated call. The fifty acres of the Gustafson property is a welcome refuge for bats and birds and many other