Stewards of Kleinstuck

Working together to restore the natural balance in the Kleinstuck preserve in Kalamazoo.

We're just a bunch of people from the neighborhoods surrounding the Kleinstuck preserve who've come together to try to restore the balance of native plants in the preserve. We've noticed over the years that the landscape has changed greatly with many of our beautiful Michigan natives being driven out by invasive species. The pond has been largely filled in by erosion and invasive plants and without active land management the preserve with continue to decline. One of the major problems with these invasive species is that they don't have natural predators in this area so they dominate and drive out the natives creating areas with only one or two varieties of plants. These areas of limited diversity are very unstable and vulnerable. So our goal is to gradually remove the invasive species and allow the natives to return and restore the balance. These efforts will benefit the land quality in and around Kleinstuck, but also the ground water quality, much of which drains down through Kleinstuck.

Want to help?

We've got lots of opportunities coming up when we'll be out in the woods pulling and cutting invasive species. NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY! We'll give you all the information you'll need. We need people to do the cutting, pile brush, and compact piles of brush. We will meet at Kazoo School on Cherry St. before hand and then walk together down to the work site. If you have your own tools--hand saws, loppers, gloves--please bring them, but if you don't we usually have extra and of course always need people to simply haul brush. Kids welcome! We hope to see you there!

We are trying to create a log of native species currently residing in Kleinstuck. If you have recently spotted a plant or animal of interest to you in Kleinstuck, please click here to tell us about it!

NEW WORK DAYS!

 

URGENT CALL FOR GARLIC MUSTARD PULLERS!

The garlic mustard is going to seed, which means hundreds of seeds per plant that last up to 5 years! We need to pull it out now to maximize our efforts.

Next Work Day: Wednesday, May 28 from 6:30 - 8pm

  • Meet at Kazoo school playground.
  • Bring warm, tough gloves. 

Upcoming Work Days

We have scheduled a whole bunch of new works days! We will meet up for work days at Kazoo School playground (unless otherwise noted on this site). Bring warm, tough gloves, and: sharp loppers and/or saws (we will have some extras if you don't have any tools). Please remember to only do what you can, even just an hour of your time can help us make a huge difference.

 Sunday  June 8
 3 - 5 pm
 Wednesday June 11 6:30 - 8 pm
 Sunday  June 22
 3 - 5 pm
 Wednesday  June 25
 6:30 - 8 pm
 Sunday
 July 13
 3 - 5 pm
 Sunday
 July 27  3 -5 pm
 Sunday
 August 10
 3 -5 pm
 Sunday  August 24
 3 - 5 pm
 Sunday
 September 14
 3 -5 pm
 Sunday September 28
 3 - 5 pm
 

 

 

 

Webmaster Chapel Taylor: Juliet8826@yahoo.com