Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy’s Wau-Ke-Na Conservation Master Plan

The Wau-Ke-Na (“forest-by-the-water”) preserve, bequeathed by William Erby Smith to the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy, is the largest of the land trust’s preserves. It includes numerous ecosystems, ranging from forests and fields to streams, ponds, bluffs and beaches. The preserve’s name harkens to the rich forest along the shores of Lake Michigan that makes up the northern tract of the property. These woods are home to magnificent specimens of red oak, tulip tree, yellow birch, American beech, sugar maple, hemlock, sassafras and more.

On the Wau-Ke-Na Preserve, fields of prairie grasses and wildflowers provide foraging and nesting areas for rare birds like sedge wrens, bobolinks and eastern meadowlarks. The 365 acre preserve includes 1,300 feet of pristine beach frontage along Lake Michigan, and encompasses forests, fields, bluffs, streams and ponds. These ecosystems are particularly critical to rare bird species including the sedge wren, bobolinks and eastern meadowlarks.

Conservation concerns within the Wau-Ke-Na project area highlight the land trust’s goals to preserve and restore habitat that support species diversity and resilient ecosystems. The Conservation Master Plan identified 30 distinct management units, based on eco-types, and specific management techniques for each unit have been recommended as part of the Action Plan.

The land trust’s nature preserve and habitat restoration goals, reflected in their 2008 Management Plan Update, highlight the importance of maintaining the resiliency of these ecosystems. The primary management goal of the nature preserve is to manage the land to “restore and create habitats that support a rich diversity of native species.” The land trust’s habitat restoration goals for the property are:

• To manage the landscape in a manner that achieves the greatest diversity of native flora and fauna while at the same time offering passive-use recreation opportunities to the public.

• To manage the noted remnant plant communities to promote the recovery and long-term sustainability of these ecosystems.

• To transform landscapes that have irreversibly been altered to another type of sustainable habitat.

SWMLC worked with local landowners, neighboring land trusts and nearby homeowner associations and local government officials in a “charette” to identify conservation priorities for the Wau-Ke-Na Preserve. This planning process built critical community awareness and support of the land trust’s goals to maintain and improve ecological health of the natural lands in their stewardship. The SWMLC holds informational workshops and works with a volunteer stewardship team to raise community awareness about their stewardship objectives as well as implement the conservation management plan on the Wau-Ke-Na property.

Implementation of the plan is ongoing. Thirty management units have been identified on the 365 acre Preserve, and the management plan recommends management techniques for each unit. The Wau-Ke-Na short-term restoration goals and management measures include:

• Control Rainwater from Sheeting Offsite

  Measures to be taken include removal of vegetation that is uncongenial to infiltration of rainwater; disable on-site drainage ditches that contribute to dewatering of the landscape; and selective removal of trees and brush within overgrown disturbed habitats.

• Stewardship of Remnant Habitats

  Implement stewardship program for long-term sustainability of the remnant lake plain prairie habitats, lake bluff seeps and southern mesic forest habitats.

• Transformation of Landscapes into Native Plant Communities

  Reintroduce native landscapes within areas where native communities have been destroyed.

• Enrichment of Existing & Created Plant Communities

  Implement a long-term enhancement planting program to achieve the greatest diversity of native flora & fauna by seeding additional species every few years and adding native shrub and hardwood species within areas that undergo selective clearing.

These program goals will help SWMLC achieve the long-term objective of preserving resilient ecological communities on the Wau-Ke-Na preserve.