Carter Lake Preserve

Access: limited
Access to Carter Lake Preserve is limited. Please contact our office by email or by calling 269-324-1600 for more information.
Acquisition: Donated by Tom and Lisa Groos, 2000
Acres: 57
County: Barry
Township: Hastings

Natural Features
The preserve contains sedge meadow, cattail marsh, swamp forest, oak forest, oak openings, beech maple forest, and fen along the shores of Carter Lake.  Most of the habitats are in good condition.  Listed species known from the preserve include Eastern box turtle, bald eagle, and false boneset.  Other rare species include showy lady’s slipper and spotted wintergreen.

Story
Located on the northern shore of the lake that lends the preserve its name, Carter Lake Preserve is a wonderfully wild area just outside the city of Hastings.  A variety of habitats, including marsh, fen, oak woodland, and savanna, provide an abundance of food and shelter for wildlife such as wild turkey, deer, turtles, and even an occasional ruffed grouse or bald eagle.

Woodland wildflowers such as hepatica, wood anemone, and pink lady’s slipper can be found in the spring, while summer provides opportunities to observe sandhill cranes nesting in the wetland with a variety of frogs calling from throughout the property.  In the fall, the colors can be spectacular, particularly in the wet meadow, with the brilliant crimson leaves of poison sumac and tall purple stands of asters and joe pye weed.

Access to Carter Lake Preserve is limited. Please contact our office by email or by calling 269-324-1600 for more information.