What an incredible group of volunteers!

THANK YOU for all your hard work at the Earth Day Workday at Bow in the Clouds Preserve!

A hearty thank you to everyone who donated their time, energy, good cheer, and expertise at last Saturday’s Earth Day Workday at Bow in the Clouds Preserve in Kalamazoo! This was the third year in a row that this event has been sponsored by Great Lakes Brewing, who made a generous contribution to our organization and held an after-event party at Old Dog Brewery, treating everyone to a beer.

The volunteers gather to hear Mitch's instructions for the day's projects.

Led by Mitch, Nate, and Nicole, more than 40 volunteers worked on a variety of projects, which included: painting over the graffiti on the barn (it was artistic but inappropriate); cleaning up enough garbage from the roadside to fill a small trailer; doing trail maintenance on the loop trail that runs along Nazareth Road; spreading seed in the upland area and around the Swan Pond, which the Winter Warriors recently cleared of glossy buckthorn; and opening up an area near the bridge that will be the site of a new trail in the next phase of improvements.

The trail crew found this snapping turtle shell while doing trail maintenance.

The volunteers did an awesome job of prepping the preserve for next month’s Unveil the Trail event (Saturday May 11th), where we will celebrate the “official opening” of the new barrier-free trail and overlook platform. Hope everyone can join us to see and celebrate all of these recent improvements, and to learn about plans for even more projects at this urban jewel!

Photos by Nicole Speedy, Mitch Lettow, and Nate Fuller.

Thank you all for making Bow in the Clouds an even better neighborhood nature preserve!

Opening up an area near the bridge that will be the site of a new trail in the next phase of improvements.
Graffiti on the wall of the barn: artistic but inappropriate . . . at least it wasn't mean!
Freshly painted! Maybe the neighborhood artists will find  new ways to spend their time . . . like walking the trails!
The trail crew cheerfully picked up trash from the loop trail near the road.
Look at all the trash the volunteers collected!
Volunteers worked in groups to remove invasive shrubs that crowd out native plant species.
Volunteers hand-spread seed in the upland area.