Enjoy the beauty of the area and its changing cycles and patterns from season to season and the many lessons and examples nature has to offer. Special places like Grass River are disappearing at an alarming rate. Learn how you can help save and preserve our wetlands, woods and water and their inhabitants for future generations.

"In about 1947 my family including my grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hawley of Alden, had a picnic in what is now part of Grass River Natural Area. We parked where Comfort Road makes a turn by the old railroad track and walked on a logging road into the woods. Then Granddad, my Dad, and I walked a long ways back into the Cedar Swamp to an old beaver dam. Somewhere there is a photo of me standing on top of the dam. Along the way Granddad talked about the birds, wild flowers (including yellow lady slippers and pitcher plants), and different kinds of trees. He talked about how important it was to have a cedar swamp and that it was very rare; and he talked about the different fish in the cold creek. Two years ago my sister, my daughter, two grandsons and I spent several hours in the Grass River Natural Area. It was pure joy to show them a piece of my childhood and to experience again the serenity of life in the swamp. Our family lives in Virginia, Texas, and California now. The world is a better place knowing this piece of nature has been preserved for younger people to learn about and experience."
  — Marian Kirk, Chesapeake, Virginia

"The Grass River Natural Area is an incredible resource for our school and community. Currently GRNA offers a Wetlands Curriculum in early fall and late spring. Our teachers appreciate that the lessons complement their curriculum and are benchmarked to Michigan science standards. Our students enjoy and learn from the 'hands-on' activities."
  —Terry Star, Principal, Lakeland Elementary School

"Last Fall our first, second and third grade classes had the opportunity to visit the Grass River Natural Area on field trips. With a wide variety of plant and animal habitats, Grass River is an exceptional outdoor classroom. Our teachers greatly appreciated the quality of the hands-on learning experience and lessons that meshed well with our science curriculum. Several teachers commented on the organization and the effective operation of the program. Many of them felt that the hands on activities were awesome and qualified this experience as one of if not the best field trips ever."
  —Lawrence Kubovchick, Administrator, Concord Academy Boyne

From home school parents – –
"GRNA is one of our favorite places. It is so very kid-friendly which makes it easy to spark a love of nature in children."



"...the naturalists were able to take some rather advanced concepts and bring them down to the children's level while at the same time maintaining some "technical" information that we can later build on; i.e. water quality and indicator species. The children had a fabulous time and can't wait to return."

From Teachers – –
Wetland Curriculum:
  "Great lessons"
  "Meets our curriculum needs"
  "This was an absolutely wonderful experience for my classroom. My students are
  excited to tell their parents all about their trip."

Site Reactions:
  "Beautiful. What a treasure"
  "Wonderful place."
  "I can’t wait to visit with my family"

From Students – –
  "Awesome"
  "That was the best field trip ever!"
  "I caught a fish. I named the fish Spike because he looked sharp and nice. At
  the end I had to let him go."
  "I liked walking on the boardwalk. We got to explore."
  "The best part was walking the trails because we saw things real cool
  like flowers, animals, bugs and a snake."
  "It was all about science and we learned about animals and insects and we all had fun."
  "I caught 3 tadpoles, 1 dragonfly nymph and 1 thing that was long
  brown and had little hairs on the side of his body. It was really fun."

Click here to share your favorite Grass River memory.