Stewards of Kleinstuck

04/20/2026

We’re excited to share that some much-needed trail work is happening in Kleinstuck this week! We are working on an important trail re-route. Over time, water flow and foot traffic have led to erosion on steep sections of trail from the Stearns Ave. and Kazoo School entrances. Josh from TrailSense (who has done trail work locally for the Kalamazoo Nature Center and Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy) will be working to protect the hillsides, reduce erosion that is impacting the marsh, and make a nicer footpath. This is part of ongoing stewardship: small changes that make a big difference in protecting the land we all share. We appreciate everyone's cooperation and patience as this work takes place.

04/10/2026

This Saturday, April 11, at 10:00AM, celebrate spring with a fun run, open to all ages and abilities, hosted by the Oakland Drive - Winchell Neighborhood Association and supported by many local organizations. The free event begins at the YMCA entrance to Kleinstuck Preserve and ends at Glen Park North on Wellington Rd. Help the runners get off to a great start in the Preserve or cheer them across the finish line and enjoy games and other activities with community partners at Glen Park North until noon.

02/20/2026

We’re in the midst of an ambitious restoration project at our “Little Sister” property. This is the land adjacent to Kleinstuck that is owned by us, Stewards of Kleinstuck (btw, Heather will be giving a presentation on LS for Kalamazoo Area Wild Ones next month… https://kalamazoo.wildones.org/events/?wo_event_id=11940).
This is a multi-step process that will play out over many years: 1. Invasive species removal 2. Planting native under/over-story woodies 3. Removal of invasive species 4. Planting native herbaceous plugs 5. Removal of invasive species 6. Planting of native seed mix. Ideally we would also like to add a prescribed controlled burn, if possible because oak systems are fire-dependent ecosystems.
This winter’s work is focused on slowly killing invasive Norway Maple trees with a strategy called “hack and squirt” which is what Colin is doing in this pic. As the tree slowly dies it creates great habitat, especially for woodpeckers.

01/23/2026

We hope our community will join us at City Hall on Monday, January 26th at 7pm to join the public comment chorus urging the City Commission to reject a zoning change (from residential to commercial) on property adjacent to the Asylum Lake Preserve. See comments for much more detail!

01/11/2026

Thanks for the restoration help today, neighbors!
We dispersed a Wet Meadow seed mix from Native Connections and then we removed invasive shrubs.
Here’s the plant list:
Bluejoint Grass
Porcupine Sedge
Fox Sedge
Virginia Wild Rye
Soft Rush
Rice Cut Grass
Switchgrass
Fowl Bluegrass
Dark Green Bulrush
Angelica
Swamp Milkweed
Boneset
Sneezeweed
Southern Blue Flag Iris
Great Blue Lobelia
Seed box
Monkey Flower
Foxglove Beardtongue
Black-eyed Susan
Wild Senna
Riddell’s Goldenrod
New England Aster
Blue Vervain
Tall Ironweed
Golden Alexander

01/02/2026

Enjoy this wonderful drone footage of last night’s hike by Jim Ratliff

Kalamazoo's Kleinstuck Preserve and Little Sister Preserve at night. Community New Year's Day walk, January 1, 2026.

01/02/2026

Thanks to everyone who came out last night to ring in 2026 with a communal hike and some inspiring words of wisdom from Steve Keto.
This is a great community we have here and we’re so grateful that protecting our wild lands is important to you.
On deck for the new year for stewarding the preserve is an emphasis on the Little Sister property.
1. We are in the midst of removing/killing the canopy of invasive Norway Maple trees.
2. Follow up with the removal of invasive shrubs and vines in the understory
3. Planting of native canopy/understory trees and shrubs
4. Planting plugs of a diversity of sedge species
5. Adding a seed mix of native forbs for “Southern Dry-Mesic Forests”

We will continue to have our monthly volunteer workdays on the second Sunday of every month from 10-noon, which is open to everyone. Meet at the YMCA outdoor tennis courts.

Keep Kalamazoo Wild!

Photo credit: Jim Ratliff (drone images) and Collin Klute