HOLLIDAY NATURE PRESERVE ASSOCIATION
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Newsletter of the
HOLLIDAY NATURE PRESERVE ASSOCIATION
Our 33rd Year
Volume 33 Number 1 HNPA.ORG Winter 2021
Upcoming Activities
P
lease join in! Our walks last 90 minutes or
so. Activity lengths vary but stay as long as
you can. Make sure you check our Face-
book page for updates during these un-
certain times, since everything is subject to
change.
All events are family friendly. Sorry, no dogs
allowed. Questions? Contact us at
HollidayAssociation@hnpa.org of via our
Facebook page.
COVID-19 Note:
While masks are not required on our walks, we
do encourage them and try to employ social distancing (except for quick group photos).
While we feel we are able to enjoy our walks and activities in the Preserve, we ask that
you weigh your risk before participating. Please don’t come out if you are at risk or pose
a health threat to others. Thanks.
➢ “Winter Scenes and Work Review” Walk
Sat., Jan 23, 10 a.m. Koppernick Section. Koppernick Road, south of Joy Road, west off of
Hix Road. We will walk across the recently renovated bridge over Deer Creek, then
downstream to review the woody debris pulled out this fall, then finish by hiking the
Beech and Tulip trails. Three easy miles and two hours. Phil leads this walk.
➢ “Cabin Fever Remedy” Walk
Sat., Jan. 30, noon. Koppernick Section. Koppernick Road, south of Joy Road, west off of
Hix Road. We'll take the Tulip Trail loop, stopping to discuss two partnership projects we
have with Wayne County Parks.
➢ “Winter Forest Bathing” Walk
Sat., Feb. 20, noon. Cowan Section. Parking at Cowan entrance, Central City Parkway,
west of Wayne Road, north of Warren Road. Enjoy some quiet away from technology.
Boots best for some of the slippery up and down sections.
➢ “Step into SPRING” Walk
Sat., Mar. 20, noon. Koppernick Section. Koppernick Road, south of Joy Road, west off of
Hix Road. The scent of spring should be in the air as we look for early signs of a new
season.
➢ NOTE: Our Annual Meeting will be scheduled for later in the year.
Page 2 HNPA.ORG Winter 2021
A Look Back at Our Fall Activities
Here’s a look at our work chain saw and hammer woody debris collecting
projects and walks last skills. Sue Smith focused log jam upstream of Hix
fall. Sorry we didn’t have on the swallow-wort, Road bridge. His team of
room for more photos. since it needed to be 10 volunteers worked
Oct. 10 Work Day bagged for burning. several hours removing
Boardwalk repairs were floating wood. The big,
also done and done heavy tree trunks were
quickly, and soon every- winched up and out onto
one was cutting and pull- an ever growing pile of
ing invasives. After three wood, on the floodplain.
hours, we had several
Oct. 24 Walk
piles of cuttings and
three leaf
bags of
vines.
Many thanks
to our volun-
A baker's dozen volun- teers. We
teers came out to work at will have to
Koppernick and remove return to
an assortment of invasive keep swal-
plants, including buck- low-wort in
thorns, honeysuckle, Chi- control.
nese bittersweet, and the
recently discovered
Black swallow-wort vine. Oct. 17 Work Day Our Fall Color walk had a
bright sun to provide us
Phil Crookshank led a with a great Fall color
work day focused on our show of various reds,
Brandon Scott (above)
came all the way from
Lansing to provide his See page 3
Page 3 HNPA.ORG Winter 2021
A Look Back at Our Fall Activities cont.
From Page 2 turned out thanks to our
browns and yellows. The Facebook page postings.
walk was guided to visit (Thanks Pam). We took a
the invasive plant remov- nice slow walk, which al-
al site, talk about black lowed time to tell nature
dog-strangling vines and stories and identify the
test boardwalk and trees.
bridge repairs.
Dec. 12 Walk
Oct. 31 Work Day
the old Joy Road bridge We started our walk in
Phil led a second woody crossing into the
debris management work Cowan section. Ever
day at the same Tonquish more materials were
Creek site since much brought in to make
work remained to be benches and tables,
done. and for fires. HNPA
partnered with WC
Parks to restore area.
The pile in the photo
above with the tires
was only one of several. the rain. Even so, eight
Nov. 13 Walk people in rain gear, pon-
chos, and umbrellas were
A surprisingly large anxious to just get OUT-
group of 17 came for our DOORS!
“Crunching Leaves” Plus, this was first chance
walk. Several new people to see the new
Nine people helped out, parking lot,
and again our winch was side walk and
put to good use. Upon boardwalk
completion, wood piles across from
on both sides of the creek Nankin Mills.
were much bigger. These As we crossed
piles serve as habitat and the street to
will decompose in time. the Ellsworth
entrance, the
Nov. 3 Work Day rain stopped.
For a long time, there The group
was a gathering place at
See Page 4
Page 4 HNPA.ORG Winter 2021
A Look Back at Our Fall Activities cont.
From Page 3 was impressed walked across floodplain
by the quality to the new Ann Arbor
of the board- Trail connector that takes
walk’s con- walkers over the new
struction. bridge instead of walking
Unfortunately, a along the road, which
falling tree has was very unsafe.
already dam- Once back at the Mill, the
aged it. rain returned.
We then
What is Black Swallow-Wort?
B lack swallow-wort
(aka black dog-
According to Michigan
State University, swallow-
swallow-wort in areas
where the vines are
strangling vine) is a per- worts kill the larvae of abundant.
ennial climbing vine with monarch butterflies,
dark shiny leaves and are toxic to deer and
purple flowers that grows livestock, and choke
rapidly and can cover out more desirable
other vegetation. plant species.
Seed pods are milkweed- MSU estimates that up
like and carried on the to 25% of monarch
wind or water. eggs may be laid on
Hauling Logs and Building Bridges
of volunteers spent sever-
al weekends clearing a
section of Deer Creek in
the Koppernick Section
and repairing a bridge
that crosses it. That
bridge work included
adding two ramps.
T his fall, our resident
jack-of-all-trades, Phil
Phil and the HNPA board
thank all of you who
for making the repairs
possible. We’ll tour the
Crookshank and his crew support our organization site on our Jan. 23 walk.
Page 5 HNPA.ORG Winter 2021
Big Buck, Bustling Beavers
W e may not
have
lions, tigers and
bears, but sure
do have deer,
turkeys and,
since 2019—
beavers.
This buck was
seen not far from where our Oct. 31 work
project was taking place in the Koppernick
Section. And the beavers, which are in the
Cowan Section, well, as the photo shows they
are still as busy as...beavers.
Handling Preserve Problems
was reported. age.
HNPA investi- An abandoned campsite
gated, took in the Newburgh section
video, photos with tents, chairs, tables
and measure- and trash was reported
ments. WC to Wayne County Parks.
Parks and HNPA Everything has been
made a visit to packed up for removal.
deter-
mine
restora-
tion
Wayne County Parks personnel joined with ideas.
HNPA at site of encroachment, where an adja-
cent landowner incorporated Preserve property
The situ-
into his landscaping ation is
being
A serious encroach-
ment along the
reviewed by the
County’s Legal
Holiday Park mobile Depart. HNPA will
home development, in install three Illegal campground in the Preserve is
the Koppernick section, boundary sign- readied for removal by Wayne County.
Who We Are and What We Do
H olliday Nature Preserve Association (HNPA) is a group
of volunteers dedicated to the William P. Holliday
Forest & Wildlife Preserve in Westland, Livonia and
Canton. The Preserve consists of 500-plus acres of forests
and wetlands that run along tributaries of the Rouge River.
HNPA seeks to nurture a greater appreciation of this
unique resource by hosting walks, conducting improve-
ment projects in conjunction with Wayne County Parks and promoting the importance of the
Preserve to the quality of life of Western Wayne County communities. Our activities are free.
Find out more at hnpa.org or on our Facebook page.
Thanks to our Supporters
T hedonations.
following people joined HNPA, renewed their memberships or made
We thank them and appreciate the continuing support and the trust they
put in us. We use the funds for the benefit of the Preserve.
Nancy Bailey Peggy & Alan Van Kerckhove Suzanne Pudelek
Carol & Howard Behr Susan Lanning Rosemarie & Mark Rembisz
Shirley Cebula Arleen Latta Susan Smith
Theodore Coulter Dennis & Pamela McGarrah Larry & Christine Snowden
Jim Flanigan Misty & William Mitchell Suzan & Gerald Waskelis
James Gilbert Dennis & Melissa O'Neil Scott Wayne
Sally & Mickey Green Karen & Thorne Perry Erin & Scott Williams
Donna & Thomas Hall Linda Poole Dan & Candy Yando
Become one of our Supporters
M embership in the
Holliday Nature
mail our newsletters, host a
website, support Rouge Res-
Any additional funds are
used to benefit the Preserve.
Preserve Association is only cue, offer walks, educate the You may earmark additional
$5 per calendar year. Your community and promote the funds to extend your
support makes it possible to Preserve. membership.
Name: _____________________________________________
Address: ___________________________________________ Address 2: ___________________
City: ___________________________ State: ______ Zip: __________ + _______
Email Address if you wish to share it. (We won’t) : _______________________________________
$_______ Enclosed
Please make check or money order payable to the Holliday Nature Preserve Association and mail to:
HNPA, P.O. BOX 532243 Livonia, MI 48153
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