Join us to preserve one of the last remaining old-growth forests in Southwest Michigan.

Chikaming Open Lands is seeking to acquire a 40-acre tract of forest on Elm Valley Road adjacent to Warren Woods State Park. Upon acquiring the property, we will designate it as a nature preserve, permanently protecting this extremely desirable woodland in its natural state. Some of the features that make this property special include:

• A high-quality, mature beech-maple forest; in fact, one of the last remaining old-growth forests in Southwest Michigan.
• Its location next to Warren Woods State Park, which will provide an open space corridor along with several other nearby protected properties.These corridors, particularly ones like this that run adjacent to a river system, provide critical habitat for native plants and animals, promoting biodiversity and a healthy, balanced ecosystem.
• The opportunity to open the property to the public, building a trail system through the preserve and providing a new place where members of our community can enjoy the beauty of this rare virgin forest. There is also potential to connect the trail to the existing system in the State Park.

Most important, this acquisition allows us to create an accessible, welcoming place where everyone in our community--residents and visitors alike--can enjoy the restorative benefits of nature. And as many of us have discovered over the last few months, that is a commodity that is in high demand, now more than ever.