West Michigan Cluster - The Stewardship Network

West Michigan Cluster was formed in 2006 to increase the overall stewardship efforts in Western Michigan. Our region includes Kent, Ottawa, North Allegan, Muskegon, and Newago Counties. The Cluster is made up of a diverse group of non-profit and for-profit organizations as well as governmental agencies including: The Nature Conservancy, the Land Conservancy of West Michigan, Ottawa and Kent County Parks, Ada Township Park, Calvin College, Wittenbach/Wege Agriscience and Environmental Center, and Howard Christensen Nature Center.

Like the other clusters, we held a brainstorming session where we listed and prioritized what our region's needs were. We determined that collaborative communication of stewardship events was top priority. Therefore, utilizing the Stewardship Network's Community Calendar and database we are able to post all stewarship events on our region and email reminders to our members. This has been and excellent means of increasing the awareness of programs across organizations.

Also, we hold educational workdays/workshops on stewardship related topics such as Invasive Species ID and Management and Dune Restoration workdays. Our participants have enjoyed having access to experienced land stewards and having the opportunity to help protect our region's natural lands.

Our Cluster is growing fast. We look forward to the success that other clusters have had and hope we have our own set of accomplishments to share with others. Please feel free to contact us to share ideas.

To become a Participating Organization within the West Michigan Cluster, please click here to read our Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and become one of a growing number of MOU Members.

New! Are you looking to share a ride to an event? Follow this link to the carpooling section of our forum to post requests or offers for ride shares!

The abundant spring wildflowers at our local natural areas are being threatened by the invasive garlic mustard. You can help protect the flowers by assisting in pulling garlic mustard plants. Contact Melanie Good at melanie@naturenearby.org for more details and locations.

Learn the art of dune stabilization using non-traditional methods that mimic the surround natural landscape. Hands-on work day focusing on how to determine cause of erosion, appropriate restoration techniques, and construction material choice. Participants will work directly with field professionals to repair a coastal dune (anchoring, design, planting, and installation).

This workshop will teach participants about the impacts of phragmites on our native wetlands. Topics include how to identify phragmites, native phramites vs. non-native phramites; its biology and distribution. Methods of control will also be discussed including herbicide treatments, techniques and the permitting process.

Dr. Dave Warners will talk about basic identification of native plants, the ethics of collecting, and how to over winter the seeds and prepare them for planting The participants will spend time outside in our native gardens collecting seed and learning basic identification in addition to some inside lab work.

Come learn different techniques to creating/restoring a prairie/oak savannah. This program will be at a created prairie discussing the steps of installing a prairie. Participants will see numerous stages of a prairie creation project and will help plant seed.