William Erby Smith Wau-Ke-Na Preserve North Hiking Trails - Fennville, Michigan - Hiking and walking trailheads on Waymarking.com

Taken from their website:"The preserve is divided into North and South Tracts. The North Tract features a variety of habitats, including Lake Michigan beach shoreline, clay bluff seeps, oak-hickory forest, beech-maple-hemlock forest, pine plantation, old field, pond,, and buttonbush swamp. The forests are used by migratory songbirds, raptors, and have some state-listed plants. The clay bluff seeps are the only Grade A example documented in Michigan.
William Erby Smith’s bequest of Wau-Ke-Na (“forest-by-the-water”) is the largest of Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy’s preserves and includes forests, fields, streams, ponds, bluffs, and beaches. Wau-Ke-Na gets its name from the rich forest along the shores of Lake Michigan that makes up the northern tract of the preserve. These woods are home to magnificent specimens of red oak, tulip tree, yellow birch, American beech, sugar maple, hemlock, sassafras, and more. On the southern tract, Mr. Smith spent a great deal of time and resources improving wildlife habitat, creating wetlands, and sowing grasslands. Fields of prairie grasses and wildflowers provide foraging and nesting areas for rare birds like sedge wrens, bobolinks and eastern meadowlarks.

Wau-Ke-Na is a special place for wildlife. Building on Mr. Smith’s efforts, SWMLC continues to create wildlife habitat in the southern tract. On the northern tract, efforts are underway to enhance and expand the beech-maple forest by transitioning the pine plantations to hardwoods, providing better food and shelter for wildlife."
There is about 1.5 mile out and back trail to the beach. The trail splits off in two sections, one has an awesome overlook of Lake Michigan while the other goes East thru a forest and ends at a small farm.

Trailhead/trail website: [Web Link] Trail allowances or restrictions: Hiking Cross Country Skiing Trail type: Dirt, mowed grass and some gravel Parking: Not Listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   03/13/2020 theHostas visited it