 Howard Christensen Nature Center (photo from their website) |
a news release of Howard Christensen Nature Center
On June 30, 2026, the Howard Christensen Nature Center in Kent County, Michigan, will become a nature preserve with only hiking trails.
Dear Howard Christensen Nature Center Community,
HCNC will cease to exist as of July 1, 2026. The land was gifted to Kent Intermediate School District in 1975 by the Christensen family to become the nature center in Howard’s memory. KISD stopped providing field trips in 2005 and closed the doors. Another group tried to continue but were unsuccessful so it closed again. In 2011, a community group formed Lily’s Frog Pad, Inc, a nonprofit organization and they began renting the property from KISD for $1/year. Lily’s Frog Pad, Inc holds the name and manages HCNC. Most of us are volunteers who share a passion for the center and its mission.
Over the past year we have been working with the goal of re-establishing a funding partnership with KISD. Without input from us, we were blindsided to learn in January 2026 that the ISD was no longer interested in owning the property and were in search of a buyer. We asked them to reconsider and provide justification. Area superintendents were surveyed as to their support of HCNC as a valuable resource for the education of children through field trips. During this time, our board made a conscious decision to keep this information confidential in order to maintain the lines of communication with KISD.
On February 23, 2026, we learned that the area superintendents had expressed no interest in retaining the center. The Land Conservancy of West Michigan was named as the potential buyer. As part of the deal, $160,000 of tax payer money was allocated for demolition of all of the buildings. This is close to what we had asked for to improve the center. Once again, we had no input into any of these discussions. We have no standing as the original lease and all possible extensions expired in June 2025 and KISD had put off writing a new one.
We met with the Land Conservancy on March 13, 2026. While we appreciate the work they do, we stressed that this was a legacy property important to the community. It isn’t a conservation mindset to demolish solid buildings with updated roofing and mechanicals. They understood but were not able to share details or make any commitments. Our subcommittee attended the KISD board meeting on March 16, 2026 with the intention of speaking. It was upon arrival that we learned that one of the agenda items was the sale of the property. We pleaded with them to reconsider.
The vote passed unanimously. Our last day of operation is June 30, 2026. The center will become a nature preserve with only hiking trails. We are heartbroken. HCNC belongs to the community….the community that has invested so much time, money and energy over the past 50 years. We have been good stewards. Hopefully, the Land Conservancy will be as well. Moving forward, we have two tasks. We are in the process of closing down and dissolving the nonprofit organization. We have a lot of decisions to make and will keep you posted through email, Facebook and our web site.
To begin with, we are accepting no new memberships and admissions are free. Our last two events are also free. The second goal is to reach out to anyone in the community who might have the resources to at least purchase the buildings to save them. Contact us if you have any ideas or would like to help exploring this avenue. Please contact KISD or LCWM if you have any comments or questions about the transaction as we were not involved. Thank you again for 50 years of wonderful support of HCNC. If there is any positive in this, the legacy of the Christensen family will live on in the trails, and the property can’t be developed.
The Board of Directors of HCNC
See the history of the Nature Center at Howard Christensen Nature Center
These links are checked on the date of the article. As the article ages, some links may become invalid
Go To www.getoffthecouchnews.blogspot.com for all the news
See Get Off The Couch
No comments:
Post a Comment