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Blandford Nature Center‘s founder, the late Mary Jane Dockeray, often talked about acquiring the neighboring golf club to expand the nature center, noting that it would be Blandford’s “last major land conquest.” For many years, that wish was nothing more than a distant pipe dream.

In 2017, with the help of the Land Conservancy of West Michigan, that pipe dream became reality. The two organizations collaborated on the purchase of the 121-acre Highlands Golf Club in Grand Rapids with a vision to transform the property into a natural area for community recreation and education.

It is rare for a piece of manicured or developed urban land to return to nature. For over a century, the land had been subjected to the annual application of fertilizers and chemicals. Now, the long-term restoration of this landscape will allow the land to heal and flourish after decades of abuse. It will also bring about substantial improvements to water and air quality in the city and will help with the city’s goal of increasing the urban forest canopy. The project also offers hands-on educational opportunities and is a model for large-scale urban restoration in the region.

In its first years as a natural area, the grass at The Highlands has grown high and wildlife has moved in, including fox, deer, muskrat and a multitude of birds and insects. Volunteers have planted acres of native wildflowers and grasses which have already begun to flourish, along with hundreds of native and climate resilient trees. We’ve created eight new wetlands on the property, attracting ducks, herons, migratory waterfowl, turtles, frogs and more. These efforts are bringing biodiversity to the middle of the city.

The Highlands is made possible with support from