Aman Park

Aman Park is a 331-acre preserve six miles west of the city of Grand Rapids. The park contains a number of natural-surface trails through maturing second-growth forests including dry-mesic forests, southern mesic forests and floodplain forests along Sand Creek. Tree species present include northern red oak, eastern hemlock, red maple, American beech, black cherry, white oak and white pine, with silver maple and sycamore common in the lowlands.

The park is well-known for its diverse and expansive spring wildflower display including Virginia bluebells, trilliums, trout lily, and dutchman’s breeches.

Researchers often assess plant conservation values to determine an area's Floristic Quality Inventory (FQI), this helps determine current ecological conditions and guides management and restoration goals. Lower scores describe an area with plants that tolerate human disturbances (i.e. roadsides), and higher scores, an area with sensitive plants in undisturbed areas (i.e. old-growth forests). An area with an FQI of 50 or more indicates an area that is Very High Quality: rare on the landscape, of considerable biodiversity value to the state, and worthy of protection. Researchers from Calvin University, in an ongoing plant survey, have calculated the FQI of Aman Park to be 95 with over 580 species present!