Blog

Chikaming Open Lands Launches Accessibility Initiative to Improve Access Across Preserves

Posted on January 22, 2026

Chikaming Open Lands (COL) has launched a new accessibility initiative aimed at improving access and inclusion across its network of nature preserves. As part of this effort, COL is partnering with students from the University of Chicago to gather community feedback through a short public survey.

The survey is designed to better understand how people experience COL preserves and to identify barriers that may limit access - whether physical, cultural, informational, or otherwise. Feedback gathered will help inform improvements to existing preserves and guide planning for future properties and projects.

“We want our preserves to be welcoming and accessible to as many people as possible,” said Dan Engel, Stewardship Manager at Chikaming Open Lands. “Hearing directly from community members is essential to understanding what’s working and where we can do better.”

Survey participants are encouraged to reflect on aspects of COL preserves they found challenging during visits, as well as any barriers that have prevented them from visiting altogether.

The survey takes approximately five minutes to complete and will remain open through Friday, February 27. Community members are encouraged to share the survey widely to help COL collect diverse perspectives.

Take the survey: https://tinyurl.com/COLaccessibility

To offer additional feedback or if you would like to get more involved, please contact: 

Mary Beth Pudup, University of Chicago: mbp@uchicago.edu

Dan Engel, Chikaming Open Lands Stewardship Manager: dengel@chikamingopenlands.org

CHIKAMING OPEN LANDS ACQUIRES NEW NATURE PRESERVE IN CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP

Posted on December 12, 2025

Contact: Ryan Postema, Executive Director
Chikaming Open Lands 
Phone (269) 405-1006 
rpostema@chikamingopenlands.org 
12291 Red Arrow Highway Sawyer, MI 49125

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2025

CHIKAMING OPEN LANDS ACQUIRES NEW NATURE PRESERVE IN CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP

Chikaming Open Lands (COL) is pleased to announce the successful completion of fundraising and the acquisition of the Founders Preserve on Three Oaks Road in Chikaming Township. The new preserve permanently protects 87 acres for wildlife habitat conservation, recreational use, and environmental education.

The protection of this property was made possible by the generosity of more than 200 donors, including vital support from foundations and the community. Together, they raised more than $1.2 million to acquire and steward this desirable property in less than a year. A key driver of the campaign’s success was a $250,000 challenge grant from The Carls Foundation, which inspired additional giving and accelerated momentum toward the finish line. COL was also able to commit grant funds previously received from The Pokagon Fund through the Partners in Conservation Program.

“Every gift, large and small, played a role in making this preserve a reality.” said Ryan Postema, Executive Director of Chikaming Open Lands. “Conservation truly is only possible because people in our community choose to invest in protecting the land they love.”

The Preserve honors COL’s four founders - Steve Smith, Jean Smith, Jeanie Van Nice, and the late Peter Van Nice - whose early vision helped shape the future of land protection in the area. Since its founding in 1999, COL has protected nearly 2,500 acres across Berrien County.

“The addition of his beautiful land to the impressive roster of COL preserves is a gift to our members, local residents and the vibrancy of our natural world,” said Jeanie Van Nice. “I am deeply honored that it will be dedicated to Peter, Jean Steve and myself.” 

The newly protected property features a diverse mix of forests, wetlands, and fallow farmland, providing important wildlife habitat and opportunities for restoration. COL’s plans for the property over the next year include developing a management plan to guide the use of the property; providing public access, with a parking area and hiking trails to be constructed; and beginning habitat restoration and enhancement projects.

As plans are implemented, COL looks forward to welcoming the community to Founders Preserve through guided hikes, volunteer stewardship days, and educational programs. To stay informed about upcoming opportunities and project updates, follow Chikaming Open Lands on Facebook and Instagram, or sign up for our weekly e-newsletter.

COL's Founders: Steve Smith, Jean Smith, Jeanie Van Nice, and the late Peter Van Nice 

Michigan’s Most Misunderstood Mammals

Posted on October 30, 2025

October is the time of year when bats make their annual appearance on front porches, in haunted house décor, and swooping through Halloween night skies. They’re often portrayed as creepy, dirty, or even dangerous: creatures of darkness linked to vampires and fear. But this Halloween season, it’s time to flip the script. Bats aren’t spooky villains. They’re vital allies in our ecosystems, quietly performing extraordinary work every single night.

During the week leading up to Halloween, the world celebrates Bat Week (October 24 - 31): an annual celebration of bats and the many roles they play in our ecosystems. Bat Week strives to show the critical importance of bats and raise greater awareness of conservation efforts worldwide. Far from frightening, bats are essential to healthy habitats. A single bat can eat thousands of insects in one night, including mosquitoes, crop pests, and disease-spreading bugs. In doing so, they naturally protect crops, reduce pesticide use, and help keep ecosystems in balance.

Yet despite their importance, bats face serious challenges — especially here in Michigan.

Michigan’s Bats: Small but Mighty

Michigan is home to nine species of bats, all insectivores that play critical roles in controlling pests and maintaining healthy forests and fields. Unfortunately, many are declining due to habitat loss and white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has devastated bat populations across North America.

This disease disrupts hibernation, causing bats to wake too early and burn through fat reserves they need to survive winter. Bats suffering from white-nose syndrome may appear disoriented, fly during the day, or cluster near cave entrances in cold weather.

If you spot a bat acting strangely, you can report it through the DNR’s Eyes in the Field app — an important tool for tracking outbreaks and protecting remaining populations.

How You Can Celebrate Bat Week and Help Michigan’s Bats

Simple choices in your yard and community can help bats thrive:

• Leave the leaves to give insects (and the bats that eat them) a safe place to overwinter. If you don't want to leave the leaves covering your entire yard, consider leaving them in your flower beds and landscaping around your house.

• Plant native species to attract healthy insect populations and reduce pesticide use.

• 🦇 Watch The Invisible Mammal — a new documentary celebrating bats: theinvisiblemammal.com

• 🏡 Build or buy a bat house to create safe roosting space: batweek.org/make-bat-house

• 📍 Report local bat roosts through the Michigan DNR Bat Roost Monitoring Program

• Can you tell the difference between bat fact and fiction? Test your knowledge with the NPS Bat Mythbuster activity
  

A New Way to See Bats

This Bat Week, let’s move past the myths and see bats not as spooky creatures of the night, but hardworking neighbors keeping our skies clear of mosquitoes, our forests healthy, and our ecosystems in balance. Bats may never lose their Halloween mystique, but with a little understanding, we can make sure that fear gives way to fascination and that Michigan’s bats continue to thrive for generations to come.

Pictured: the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) – endangered: This species of bats numbers less than 300,000 in the world and is endangered. The Indiana bat can be identified by its dull brown to gray fur with a pinkish tail membrane. They tend to roost in dead or hollow trees in the summer and form large winter colonies in limestone caves. Photo Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The Quiet Work of Protecting Dayton Wet Prairie

Posted on October 15, 2025

Down a quiet country road in Bertrand Township lies a place few have seen: 

Dayton Wet Prairie Preserve.

Chikaming Open Lands acquired the 40-acre site from The Nature Conservancy in 2011. Split between two parcels on Curran Road, it is small but ecologically significant — a rare remnant of Michigan’s lost wetlands, shaped by mineral-rich groundwater, seasonal flooding, and fire. With nearly 50% of the state’s original wetlands gone, Dayton Wet Prairie endures.

Within these wetlands, uncommon species still survive — from Michigan lily and fringed gentian to the DeKay’s brown snake and sedge wren. Some are so sensitive, and unfortunately so coveted, that their names are not shared publicly. Their presence makes Dayton Wet Prairie both fragile and among the most important places COL protects.

Pictured: Fringed fentian (left) and Michigan lily (right)

In an ecosystem as rare and delicate as Dayton Wet Prairie, stewardship demands both caution and commitment. The same water that sustains the fen also makes it difficult to manage. With no off-road vehicles allowed, most work is done on foot — or even by drone, as when reed canary grass was treated this year. Each visit is purposeful: monitoring seasonal changes, documenting wildlife, or addressing new challenges.

Pictured: McCoy Creek at Dayton Wet Prairie

Guided by the preserve management plan, first written in 2011 and updated in 2023, COL has steadily restored the prairie through invasive species control, habitat management, and long-term monitoring.

Tackling Invasives

Phragmites: Non-native stands are controlled with herbicide, cutting, and controlled burns to prevent small populations from spreading.
Shrubs: Buckthorn, multiflora rose, and encroaching native dogwoods and willows are cut back, while select shrubs remain along McCoy Creek to stabilize banks.
Thistle and Reed Canary Grass: Targeted spraying gives native grasses, like cordgrass, room to thrive.

Habitat Management

Controlled Burns: Controlled burns reduce woody growth, recycle nutrients, and encourage native plant growth.
Native Seed: Seed collected on-site and spread in restoration zones diversify and strengthen rare species, including native phragmites.

Wildlife

Butterflies: Annual butterfly surveys contribute to the Michigan Butterfly Network’s understanding of population trends.
Reptiles: Regular surveys have found multiple protected species, including at least one rare turtle and two rare snakes.
Birds: Breeding bird surveys with the Berrien Birding Club confirm Dayton Wet Prairie as a birding hotspot, with sightings from sandhill cranes, cedar waxwings, and warblers to bald and golden eagles. Species of special concern, such as the red-shouldered hawk and prothonotary warbler, have also been recorded.

Pictured: controlled burn at Dayton Wet Prairie (left) and COL Conservation Specialist Alex Schrader hand-wicking invasive phragmites (right)

In addition to other management efforts, cleanups and new signage discourage dumping, while previously disturbed areas have been reseeded with native plants. Some results, such as cleared thickets, are immediate. Others are more subtle, like a cedar plank dam that slows water through an old ditch — restoring natural hydrology and helping the ecosystem flourish.

Most people will never visit Dayton Wet Prairie, but its protection benefits all. Its wetlands filter water into McCoy Creek and the St. Joseph River, shelter rare species, and safeguard a piece of Michigan’s pre-settlement landscape that cannot be replaced.

Stewardship here is muddy boots, patient monitoring, and deep respect for the land. This quiet but hopeful work allows rare plants to bloom and clean water to flow.

View the full newsletter here. 

Some of the most important places we protect are the ones you may never see.

Mighty Acorns Returns for 10th Year with New Homeschool Program

Posted on October 14, 2025

COL celebrates a decade of helping students build knowledge, curiosity, and care for the natural world through hands-on learning. 

Chikaming Open Lands (COL) is proud to announce the return of Mighty Acorns for its 10th year of connecting children to nature through hands-on, science-based learning. Since launching Michigan’s very first Mighty Acorns program in partnership with River Valley Schools in 2016, the program has grown to serve New Buffalo and Bridgman schools and now reaches approximately 350 students each year. This fall, COL is excited to expand access even further with the addition of a brand-new Homeschool Mighty Acorns program.
 
Developed by educators, naturalists, and scientists through the Field Museum in Chicago, Mighty Acorns integrates classroom curriculum with outdoor exploration on COL preserves. Aligned with federal education standards, the program gives students in grades 3–5 opportunities to:

• Explore nature through guided field experiences three times a year (fall, winter, spring)
• Reinforce classroom lessons with interactive games
• Participate in stewardship activities such as removing invasive species and building trails
• Develop a personal connection to the land through free exploration

A special legacy of the program remains visible today: the Mighty Oak Loop trail at Robinson Woods Preserve was named in honor of Mighty Acorns students who helped build it.
 
New This Year: Homeschool Mighty Acorns
For the first time, homeschool students will have the opportunity to participate. The pilot program launches this fall with the 3rd-grade curriculum, which focuses on birds. Families will attend one field day each season at a COL preserve. Specific locations and details will be provided to registered participants prior to the start of the program. Registration for Homeschool Mighty Acorns is now open.
 
Applying Knowledge Beyond the Preserve
In addition to the new homeschool offering, COL is also working with select 5th grade classes to expand the program’s reach beyond COL preserves. These students will apply their knowledge to broader, project-based learning opportunities, connecting what they’ve learned about stewardship to real-world applications in their own communities.
 
Planting Seeds for Future Growth
COL is currently seeking funding to offer Mighty Acorns to more school districts in Berrien County, creating more opportunities for children to experience hands-on environmental learning in our community.
 
“Every year, we see how Mighty Acorns sparks curiosity, builds confidence, and creates a sense of ownership among students,” said Grace Fredenburg, Education & Outreach Coordinator at COL. “Watching them grow in their understanding and love for nature, and then apply that knowledge in creative ways, is the most rewarding part of my job. We’re excited to continue building on this momentum and hope to bring the program to even more students in the future.”
 
To learn more, visit www.chikamingopenlands.org/mighty-acorns.