Stewards of Kleinstuck

Who are we?

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!

Visit Western Michigan University's website for more information on the history and research that has and continues to be done on the Preserve.