Stewards of Kleinstuck

10/06/2026

Music is everywhere.
This Saturday is the 5th annual “In a Landscape” concert in the middle of the Kleinstuck woods. The inspiration for this event was inspired by the concepts of the late American composer John Cage, who preached the idea that everyday sounds are just as much “music” as symphonies in gilded concert halls.
We’ll meet at those dead outdoor tennis courts at the Maple street YMCA promptly(!) at 6:00 and then silently hike about 15 minutes to the performance location where Song of the Alvar will perform with the sounds of the woods for about 45 minutes.
Song of the Alvar is a new project by Peter Kaiafas (oud), Brian Harding (upright bass), Mike Weis (percussion), and Ike Turner (guitar, miscellany).
BYOC (Bring Your Own Chair)
This event is part of the Connecting Chords Festival
$10

09/12/2026

Invasive bittersweet vines are trying to take over Kleinstuck, but we're not giving in! Join us tomorrow, Sunday 9/12 from 10am -12pm to volunteer with us and help remove bittersweet and other invasives that are threatening our native trees. No experience necessary!

09/05/2026

💡Turn your lights out at night to protect migrating songbirds!💡

Celebrating Birds and their Habitats Image by Tim Tesar – Prothonotary Warbler The Audubon Society of Kalamazoo (ASK) has been a part of the Kalamazoo community since 1945, when Kalamazoo area bird watchers decided to organize. For many years it was the only all-volunteer nature organization in t...

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.