Nature has our backs. Let’s return the favor.
Our public preserves remain free and open from dawn to dusk – and your support helps keep them that way!
Chipman Preserve
Comstock Township • Kalamazoo County • 228 acres
Big and friendly, Chipman Preserve features restored prairie and oak savanna habitats, and miles of trails to walk, run, or cross-country ski.
228 acres
Comstock Township
Kalamazoo County
Big and friendly, Chipman Preserve features restored prairie and oak savanna habitats, and miles of trails to walk, run, or cross-country ski.
Quick facts
Click to quickly jump to . . .
• Maps
• Getting there
• Natural features & conservation
• Preserve history
• Photo gallery
Parking
Gravel lot
40 car capacity
Trails
Length: 5.5 miles
Mowed trails over hilly terrain feature vivid displays of spring and summer wildflowers, prairie and savanna restorations, old fields, mature oak-hickory woodlands, and shady pine forests. The trail system has recently been simplified and color-coded, and orientation maps will soon be placed at key intersections.
Dogs
Dogs are welcome but must be kept on a 6-foot leash at all times. Dog waste must be packed out. Learn more.
Restrooms
None
Recreation
Cross-country skiing, fall color, hiking, snowshoeing, spring wildflowers, summer wildflowers, trail running, wildlife viewing.
Maps
An interactive trail map that allows hikers to follow their progress through the preserve is available for free download from the Avenza Map Store!
1. Add the Avenza Maps App to your phone (available for free on iOS and Android).
2. Download the Chipman Preserve Trail Map to your phone.
3. Take a hike!
Prefer to have a paper map?
Click on the map image for a PDF that you can print or leave open on your phone while you hike.
Getting there
Natural features
At Chipman Preserve, one of the largest oak savanna restoration sites on private land in Michigan, Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy is working to restore over 200 acres of oak savanna and prairie – habitats that were once common in the Kalamazoo area but that have now almost completely disappeared.
Small remnant populations of rare savanna and prairie plants found on the preserve are being encouraged through fire and brush removal. Additional species are being restored through seed and transplants from other local remnant habitats. Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy is grateful to the many volunteers who have helped with habitat restoration work at Chipman Preserve over the years, including the Wednesday Warriors, Winter Warriors, and Seed Collectors/Pluggers.
All of the work has been worth it! Visitors in late May will find themselves knee-deep in wild lupine, sprinkled with red wild columbine and bright yellow Golden Alexanders. By mid-summer orange butterfly-weed and yellow coneflower buzz and flutter with pollinatiing insects. Fall brings the silvery fluff of milkweed and little bluestem grass tossing in the wind.
Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy is lucky to have many community partners who are interested in observing, studying, and building wildlife habitat at Chipman Preserve. Ronda Spink, coordinator for Kalamazoo Nature Center’s Michigan Butterfly Network, is one such supporter. Her all-time high for the preserve is 632 individual butterflies and 26 species – in a single walk-through. “I definitely think the diversity is tied to the plants that are there . . . the habitat restoration and management is making a huge difference for all pollinators.”
Michigan Bluebird Society has boosted bluebird, house wren, and tree swallow populations at Chipman Preserve by posting nest boxes, documenting 324 baby birds in 2017. Local birders have found that several species suffering sharp declines are showing up at Chipman Preserve, including blue-winged warblers, Eastern towhees, yellow-breasted chats, and American woodcocks. Sharon Gill, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at Western Michigan University, and her students, have documented about 100 breeding pairs of field sparrows (another species in decline) at Chipman and seen about 50-60% of banded birds return the next year.
Other wildlife that makes Chipman Preserve its home include red-tailed hawks, great horned owls, coyotes, eastern box turtles, and red foxes.
Nature has our backs. Let’s return the favor.
Our public preserves remain free and open from dawn to dusk – and your support helps keep them that way!
History
A 182-acre donation was made by John and Patricia Chipman in 2003; an additional 46 acres was purchased by Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy in 2004.
John and Patti Chipman loved sharing their land with friends and neighbors. They shared a vision that it could be a place for families to come and appreciate the out-of-doors for generations to come. They turned to Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy (SWMLC) in 2002 saying, “We want to leave a legacy for all to enjoy.”
John passed away in 2011, but not before getting to see his beloved property become one of the most popular SWMLC preserves, where children can come and “just be free” as he hoped. Patti’s generosity has continued, and has seen their estate plan continue to support SWMLC.
The Chipmans’ plans not only provided a beautiful nature preserve and a home for SWMLC’s office, but also long-term support for SWMLC’s mission to preserve wild and scenic places for today — and keep them healthy for tomorrow.
