BioBlitz Featured Location: Michigan Nature Association

Type: Presentation

Description:
Explore the diversity of nature at various Michigan Nature Association sanctuaries.

Dowagiac Woods Nature Sanctuary
31748-32498, Frost St, Dowagiac, MI 49047
A mixed matrix of floodplain, southern-mesic forest, and hardwood swamp allows for nearly 50 species of nesting birds and several reptiles, such as the black rat snake. Along with nesting birds like the barred owl and yellow-throated warbler, neo-tropical migrants use the river and forest habitat.

Timberland Swamp Nature Sanctuary
5950-5960 Ware Rd, Springfield Township, MI 48350
Visitors can get a firsthand look at the hardwood swamp and second-growth hardwood forest on the two-mile loop trail. The path is often swampy and wet, so it’s recommended to bring proper footwear and stay on the trail.

Lefglen Nature Sanctuary
5343 Wolf Lake Rd, Grass Lake, MI 49240
Lefglen has a variety of plant communities, including wooded uplands, oak barrens, cattail marsh, and prairie fen. 690 native plant species from 116 plant families have been found here. More than 50 species of birds nest here, and Lefglen’s beautiful Lake Nirvana is completely surrounded by wetlands where sandhill cranes have been known to nest.

Franklin F. and Brenda L. Holly Nature Sanctuary
4384 W Dewey Rd, Ludington, MI 49431
There is a shrub-dominated wetland in the southwestern corner which is predominantly composed of buttonbush and alder. There is a hardwood swamp around the fringes of the wetland and the uplands are primarily composed of northern mesic and dry-mesic forest with a few small sandy ridges reminiscent of pine barrens.

iNaturalist Project