Richmond Woods Nature Preserve

Straddling both the Pere Marquette and White River watersheds, Richmond Woods Nature Preserve protects a pristine sphagnum bog and a high-quality sedge meadow wetland. Those wetlands protect water quality and are also home to the American Bittern, a bird in the heron family that is classified as special concern in Michigan. Red-headed woodpecker and red-shouldered hawk, two other special concern birds, inhabit the preserve’s forests. Adjacent to U.S. Forest Service land, Richmond Woods Nature Preserve helps protect a large expanse of Michigan’s iconic forest and wetland habitats. 

The Land Conservancy of West Michigan is using prescribed fire and planting to restore oak savanna and open oak forest conditions on the preserve.

Forested parts of the preserve include an 85 acre dry-mesic northern forest of red oak, black oak and white oak, white pine and red maple, and a 13 acre hardwood conifer swamp dominated by white pine with yellow birch and red maple as minor components.