Get Your Tickets for the Preserve Pedal

Preserve Pedal poster (from Land Conservancy of West Michigan)

a news release of Land Conservancy of West Michigan

As part of our 50th anniversary celebrations, we are hosting the Explorathon: a three-event series highlighting connected, protected natural lands and the impact of collaboration in conservation in West Michigan. The second installment in the series, the Preserve Pedal, is this weekend!

Cyclists will ride across Eastern Kent County’s rolling hills and along the Grand and Flat Rivers, with opportunities to stop at parks and preserves and learn about the importance of protecting places where biodiversity can thrive.

Get your tickets for the Explorathon: Preserve Pedal on June 6, 2026!

Thank you to our sponsors, Grand Rapids Chair, Tim & Jane Stoepker, and Loose Spokes Bicycle Shop for helping make this event possible!

When: Saturday, June 6, 2026, 7:30 a.m.

Where: Bike begins at the Wittenbach Wege Center in Lowell, Michigan Choose Your Route

We will offer three different routes: a 7-mile, 25-mile, and 50-mile ride with stops to highlight parks, preserves, and the partnerships that make keeping nature nearby possible.

Ride on your own or join a group ride and bike in community! Choose from four different guided and paced groups.

This is a non-competitive, self-guided ride. Check in at any time during the registration hours and ride at your own pace. If you’re interested in riding with community and receiving some extra naturalist interpretation along the way, join a group ride! Learn more when you purchase your tickets. Tickets are required to attend.

Learn more and buy your tickets on our website


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Alpena County Nature Preserve Nearing Fundraising Goal

Potter's Point (photo by Sarah Harding Real Estate)

from Up North Live

Chris Engle, the communication associate for Huron Pines, says they are attempting to protect 41 acres on the Lake Huron shore. The parcel includes Potter's Point and Misery Bay.

This is located just south of the city of Alpena, Michigan.

$1.1 million have been raised to date, but they need $1.5 million to make the purchase and protect the land.

The property will become a nature preserve with walking and paddling opportunities, accessible to everyone. They hope to complete the fundraising by the end of this summer, and then there will be some preparations that will need to happen before it will be open for public use.

See Huron Pines


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Hiker Rescued from Whaleback Natural Area

rescue in operation (photo from Leland Township Fire & Rescue)

from WOOD TV

A hiker who suffered a medical emergency in the Whaleback Natural Area on Tuesday was located and extraced by Leland Township Fire and Rescue.

Whaleback Natural Area is in the Leelanau Peninsula north of Traverse City, Michigan.

The hikers exact location was pinpointed, and the rescue crew was able to travel directly to the site. However, a hand carry for extraction was required over difficult terrain. The rescue took over 90 minutes.

Cell and radio coverage was spotty, but the crew was able to summon help to carry the person to a waiting ambulance. The hiker was transported to Munson Medical Center and is expected to make a full recovery.

Leland Township Fire and Rescue thanks friends and neighbors for their help!

See Whaleback Natural Area


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ID that Engorged Tick

engorged ticks (graphic from Michigan Health Department)

partially from American Lyme Disease Foundation

If you discover a tick on you that has already feasted, it's always a good plan to save the tick in a zip-seal plastic bag so you can take it to your doctor.

This chart may help you identify which type of tick has bitten you.

After tick removal, monitor the bite site over the next few weeks for any signs of Lyme disease or other tick-borne illnesses, such as a rash or fever. Not all ticks carry disease, and not all tick bites will result in disease. However, if you have concerns or symptoms develop, consult with a healthcare provider. They may advise you based on the type of tick, your geographical area, the duration of attachment, and the local prevalence of tick-borne illnesses.


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Extra- Special Free Karner Butterfly Tour Sunday!

graphic from Bigelow Creek Nature Preserve

a news release of Bigelow Creek Nature Preserve

Witness the Magic of the First Flight of Karner Blue Butterflies, a federally endangered species who calls our Oak Savannahs home.

From 10 am - 1 pm on Sunday, May 31, 2026, Bigelow Creek Nature Preserve in Newaygo, Michigan, which is normally closed to the public, will be hosting free tours to see the endangered Karner Blue Butterfly and its habitat.

Join us at Bigelow Creek Nature Sanctuary, MNA's newest property in Newaygo County, for a guided Karner Blue Butterfly flight tour. Walk the land with local naturalists, learn how this endangered butterfly depends on native habitats, and see firsthand what careful stewardship looks like on the ground.

Your registration supports the Newaygo County Environmental Coalition’s work to protect and restore native ecosystems across our county. This small-group tour offers time for questions, quiet observation, and connecting with the land we share.

You must sign up in advance.

Register for a ticket


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Clearing the Pine for Paddlers

clearing the Pine River (still extracted from video by Hoxeyville Outfitters and Pine River Paddlesports)

compiled from several sources

The Pine River has some of the fastest navigable water in Michigan and two Northern Michigan outfitters, Pine River Paddlesports Center and Hoxeyville Outfitters, spend time each spring clearing downed trees from the waterway.

But this year, they added a new strategy. In addition to cutting from shore or from a canoe, they are repelling from a rope suspended above the river down to chainsaw large trees. The spring flooding in Michigan has left a larger than usual amount of debris, and the outfitters expect the work will continue all summer.

The goal is to make the river as safe as possible for paddlers. They state that personal safety as they do the clearing is a priority, and the work is potentially dangerous. However, they don't want users to be surprised by a sudden obstacle when they round a bend in the river.

Owners, Jacob Miltner and Rylie Gates, say they have decades of combined experience doing work like this. Each year they clear about 45 miles of the Pine River. Except for the repelling, the two businesses do this work every spring. Few people have known what they do to keep the river clear.

They carefully plan how to approach each obstruction. This is not something the average person should try.

See the full video at 9 and 10 News


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North Country Trail Association Introduces New Executive Director

Kate Hagner (photo from the NCTA)

a news release of the North Country Trail Association

Editor's note- With nearly 1200 miles of North Country Trail located in Michigan, about half in the Lower Peninsula, NCT news is definitely Get Off The Couch news.

The NCTA welcomes Kate Hagner, the North Country Trail Association’s new Executive Director. Mid-June, she will begin leading the Association from her home in Vermont.

Kate comes from nearly 20 years of service with the Student Conservation Association. Most recently, she was the Senior Director for Enterprise Operations, providing organizational leadership and aligning systems, processes, and teams to support strategic growth, program effectiveness, and mission impact. She led in other management and director roles for 12 years prior. Kate holds a B.A. in English from Smith College and an M.A. in English and Writing from the University of Texas.

“I’ve lived in Minnesota, upstate New York, and now Vermont – places all connected to the geography of this trail,” said Kate. “Meaningful outdoor experiences do not need to happen only in iconic destinations. I love that the North Country Trail is close to where so many people already live and work. Because of the NCTA, [the trail] is a thread connecting people, place, and time. As Executive Director, I will work to strengthen that thread – to protect it, expand it, and invite more people to see themselves as part of it.”

“I am confident that under Kate’s leadership, the NCTA will continue to thrive, strengthen partnerships, and build momentum toward the forever trail,” said Jan Ulferts Stewart, NCTA Board President.

Cheryl Kreindler will remain Interim Executive Director until Kate is fully onboarded.

You may post a welcome message to Kate at Kudoboard


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See the Depths of Lake Superior, Live

Lake Superior Dive poster

from Great Lakes Now

We suggest to stay ON the couch for this event! However, you'll be able to watch an exploration of the depths of Lake Superior on June 6, 2026.

Join a livestreamed expedition to the deepest point in the Great Lakes! Explore a hidden underwater world from your own screen and have your questions answered LIVE.

More than 1,300 feet beneath the surface of Lake Superior lies the deepest point of the Great Lakes. It’s so deep that no light reaches it, and it has not been visited in 40 years.

Great Lakes Now is teaming up with freshwater explorers Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick to send a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to the bottom of Lake Superior. High resolution cameras will broadcast the descent in real-time and document the environment in unprecedented detail.

What We’re Hoping to See:
• The kiyi, a rare deepwater fish that is believed to live only in Lake Superior
• Alien looking deepwater sculpin
• Forests of colorful hydra
• The deepwater-adapted siscowet lake trout

The date and time of this livestream are subject to change due to weather conditions. Sign up for the Great Lakes Now newsletter to get reminders and updates delivered directly to your inbox: Great Lakes Now


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Students Restoring Scottville Nature Center

pond at Ed Malkowski Nature Center (photo by jhy)

from an article in the Ludington Daily News

The Ed Malkowski Nature Center in Scottville, Michigan, is a very small area with a pond and short path that was created a number of years ago by students from the Mason County Central Schools. Malkowski is a former principal.

Teacher Jacob Boone has been taking 8th-graders to the area to clean up the trails and begin to remove some of the invasive species. Some native plantings are being added.

A mini grant from the Mason County Youth Advisory Council has made the project possible. The trail is currently cleared. Some additional repairs will be done to the bridge over the small creek.

Boone says, "I'm trying to teach kids to respect the gift of nature... Helping to improve it is a great way to do that." The teacher stated that they even found trash cans thrown in the pond when they began work.

There is not a set end goal. Boone would like to keep improving the area by using it as an outdoor classroom and teaching resource. The trail is open to the public and the access is just south of the Johnson Road entrance to the school complex.

See Ed Malkowski Nature Path


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Brower Lake Nature Preserve Celebrates 50 Years

wild lupine in bloom (photo from Land Conservancy of West Michigan)

from Land Conservancy of West Michigan

At Brower Lake Nature Preserve in Kent County, Michigan, purple lupine is in bloom where less than ten years ago stood a monoculture of one non-native tree species: Scotch pine.

At this preserve, the Land Conservancy of West Michigan has been working to restore native oak barrens and oak-hickory forest habitat through selective forest thinning and prescribed fire. Year after year, as we watch habitat become more established, we see more biodiversity in the understory of this woodland. Each new blade and blossom is a heartening confirmation that we are heading in the right direction.

The path we are on is a long one, and we will need to keep showing up to keep our promise of protecting these places in perpetuity. As we celebrate our 50th Anniversary this year, we are taking a moment to appreciate how far we've come. Do yourself a favor: Take a walk at Brower Lake Nature Preserve and take it all in.

See Brower Lake Nature Preserve


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Man Arrested in Connection to Duncan Bay Nature Preserve Fire

Duncan Bay Nature Preserve fire (photo by Erik Galloway)

from Up North Live

The Duncan Bay Nature Preserve near Cheboygan, Michigan, burned Friday evening. The fire is 100% contained. The exact cause of the fire has not been released, but a 29-year-old man was taken into custody on Saturday.

Multiple fire departments battled the blaze, and aircraft were also used to drop water.

The Little Traverse Conservancy which manages the preserve says, "Thankfully no one was hurt and we understand a suspect has been detained. The trails and beach are accessible and we will be working to repair damages.”

UPDATE, May 27, 2026 Sean Huddleston, 29 was charged with arson, malicious destruction of property, and two counts of malicious destruction of a building. He is accused of intentionlly setting the fire which burned 40 acres in the preserve. He is being held on $1 million bond.

See Cheboygan Daily Tribune
And see Up North Live


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M-20 Opens Over Lewis Farms Tunnel

M-20 Tunnel (photo from Oceana County Road Commission)

from Oceana County Press

While the actual tunnel will not be open for use for several more weeks, M-20 that passes over the pedestrian tunnel to Lewis Farms in Oceana County, Michigan, has reopened.

In addition to the tunnel, a right turn lane on M 20 for eastbound traffic to access 68th Avenue has been added. The road is widened, and a portion of 68th Avenue has been paved.

Although it appears complete, the tunnel is not yet open for pedestrian and tram use because the contractors are waiting for various electrical materials. A central divider fence separates foot traffic from the trams which will transport people from a parking area to Lewis Farms

See Pedestrian Tunnel Under Construction in Oceana County


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